Ocooch Hardwoods

[Brian Leavitt]

I ran across this site earlier this week. They sell hardwoods (Duh) and have a "Laserable" section. Their prices seem quite nice. I ordered a 4x24 sheet of cherry ($4) and a couple sheets of 12x24 baltic birch ($2 each) ply to try out. I was wondering if anyone else here has used this company before. I just got my order in today so I'm planning on testing it out tonight. Everything came nice and flat . So far so good...

[Bert Kemp]

I don't know but $18.40 for 1/2 brd ft of lumber seems pretty steep to me considering I can buy it for 8$ or less a brd ft

[Brian Leavitt]

I'm comparing prices to what I can get locally, which is pretty much whatever lowers has. The Baltic birch ply is way cheaper than what I can get around here. If you have a better online source, I'd be interested to know. My sources locally are limited.

[Bert Kemp]

yea the BB is about right but the hardwood yikes.and buying online then paqy shipping nope

[Brian Leavitt]

I don't mind the shipping. I would pay $15 for a warped 3' x 4' piece of the same ply locally. If I need a bunch of it, I'd be saving a good bit online, and getting flat material.

[Andrew Holloway]

I used to order from here often. First order was amazing, then every order after that the quality of the wood got worse and worse. Their only comment was that wood is a natural product and always varies.
I'm not talking slight variation here, the first order was amazing, straight grain, great colour, zero knots. Last order was barely usable, threw out about half the sheets, black knots (and holes!) all over, ugly grain pattern, rough finish in spots. Ask for a photo of the sheets before they ship them.

[David Somers]

Brian,

Not familiar with Nokesville so not sure what larger city is near you. But often there is a lumber yard in a mid to large city that will carry BB at a good price. Here we have Crosscut Hardwoods and they do $15 for a 5x5 3mm BB which is good. Quality has been excellent. My machine is a 900 wide so they kindly cut it down for me if asked. No charge. Otherwise I have to move a lot of stuff to be able to cut it down myself. Easy enough in nice weather, but harder with rain. Not that it rains here at all in the winter.

I have always had good luck with the hardwood from Ooch. Never ordered sheet stock from them so no experience there. I alternate between local Seattle sources and Ooch depending on what the Seattle/Tacoma stuff looks like.

Anyway....Do some calling and googling and dig into nearby cities. You may find someone that has, or can get BB at a better price.

[Dan Hollis]

Crosscut charges $2 per cut after the first one, which can skyrocket the cost on sheets quickly. Sadly Crosscut is pretty much the only place to get A1 ply or bamboo ply.

Dunn lumber is a much better deal, they do any number of cuts for free. They also have lots of plywood in their cutoff bins where you can get massive discounts, 50% or more.

[David Somers]

Dan,

Familiar with Dunn, but only over in Ballard. They had little to no BB at the time. Which one have you been using?
Have never had Crosscut charge me to cut the BB. But then I tend to only do a few sheets at a wack. I dont have a good dry storage area where I can guarantee they stay flat so I try to buy when I know I can use it quickly. Same with MDF.

BTW. I am down in the Arbor Heights area of West Seattle. What corner of town are you in? Just curious.

Dave

[Dan Hollis]

I live on the eastside, so i go to dunn in kirkland and bellevue.

Crosscut charged me $36 yesterday to cut down a bunch of 8x4 sheets down to size - 24"x16". I bought $250 worth of plywood so you'd think they would throw the cuts in for free. But nope, $250 isn't enough. They wanted to throw a $36 charge on top of that. Don't know how you persuaded them to do it for free. I still have the receipt here. The sales person is Scott Trumbo.

Oh yeah, the Crosscut cuts were really really rough. Dunn got the sheets nearly perfect.

[Brian Leavitt]

Dave,
I do have one lumber yard fairly close by in Manassas, but they do not carry Baltic in 1/8" thickness. There's an 84 Lumber a bit further away. I don't know if they carry BB or not, but their service is so bad I refuse to shop there.

[David Somers]

Dan,

Next time I am down there I will see what they do regarding cutting ply. Last few times I got some I asked them to cut it and they just did it. I didnt persuade them at all.
Will check with the one in Normandy Park and see what their prices are like. That is fairly close to me in West Seattle.

Brian. Bummer. Will look through some of my notes and see what other sources I have that might help you.
I know that Home Depot, and usually Lowes carry 1/4 birch ply. It is not a high end product and may have more internal knots than you want. But it was not expensive. You might ask them if they can get 1/8".

You might also check with your lumber yard in Manassas and ask if they can get 1/8" BB and have it brought in with a regular order. That would at least save you shipping. Some will do it, some wont.

[Brian Leavitt]

Thank you, David. I will give the yard a call and see if they can get me 1/8" BB.

[Keith Downing]

The problem as has been mentioned is the shipping. Unlike many other goods or services, where the more you order the more economical the shipping becomes, buying wood often works the other way. If you get over size limitations or certain weights the price starts to rise not fall.

And don't even think about paying the shipping to return things. Shipping both ways would almost always cost more than the wood.

[Dan Hollis]

If you want 1/8" ply and don't care about one side, door skins are by far the cheapest way to get it. Only downside is the odd size - 3'x6' instead of 4'x'8'.