I posted a while back about how you all figure your materials.
This is in the same vain, and I'm hoping for input and some help, too.
I have my project designed, materials figured and I'm using CutList.
So today I went by the supplier to see what widths of materials they have on hand to avoid any surprises on "picking day", right?
No problem they have everything from 5" to 12" wide boards in 9-10 feet length. Pretty standard S3S materials.
I notice a big stack of 4/4 rough cherry - Exactly what I'm looking for (!!) only to find out it was a mistake and they are set to sent it back to their supplier. All is well, tho, I talked the owner into selling me 100 feet. But first he asked me why I wanted rough lumber. I told him I build furniture, not cabinets, his answer was "oh".
I live in NE FL/Jacksonville area. There are 3 major hardwood suppliers in town but they all cater to cabinet maker. Virtually all the lumber is surfaced. Two will let you pick lumber, 1 will not. The two that let you pick have limited quantities of hardwood they primarily carry plywood.
At one supplier, whoever they buy from the lumber has quite deep milling marks. My experience with some of this wood is you're lucky to end up with 11/16 material. I remember buying S3S lumber when I build my kitchen most of my door frames ended up 11/16. I'm not necessarily hung up on 3/4 I know the most important thing if its 11/16 then it ALL has to be 11/16. But I also remember throwing lumber away when I build my kitchen because I just couldn't mill it flat without getting 5/8 stock out of it.
I not complaining -- much because I'm getting FAS cherry for 3.43/bf and poplar for 2.06 - basically wholesale prices. Most of it is kiln dried, very flat (but some is not) and I have used quite a bit of it successfully in projects. But when you want a beefy 7/8" board for a top, you have to start with rough stock.
I don't mind driving for lumber, heck I drove all the way to Tennessee to get hard maple 5x5 slabs to build my workbench. But for normal project lumber in the 80-100 BF range, I'm really stuck with going to these local cabinet suppliers. One place (the most expensive) said they can order rough lumber for me minimum 150BF amounts, which means I have to take what I get, which means I probably have to over-order by 30-40%.
Any of you have similar experiences? Any of you know of suppliers in the South GA/SC area that have abundant quantities of rough lumber?
Or am I being to anal about rough lumber?
Its exciting to begin a project, but finding the materials can be a very tortuous part of the project.
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