Lumber Liquidators - Oak 300bf for $49.99

[John Respass]

Lumber Liquidators is selling a "Woodworkers Hardwood Pack 300 board feet per pack" for $49.99. I stopped by the local store to take a look at it but was told that it wasn't a stock item and was available only if I placed an order. The salesman said that he hasn't seen one of the bundles but understood it to be a mixed batch of unfinished oak flooring in random lenghts.

I would like to get some better info before I place an order. Has anyone ordered and/or saw Lumber Liquidators' hardware pack?

[Paul Prescott]

It can vary quite a bit. May be all oak, or have some mahogany, or other dark hardwoods, sometimes even small amounts of purpleheart. May also be more wood from pallets with nail holes and some even with nails, some hidden, so you need to use a metal detector on all of it. One friend got a lot of Jatoba with a mix of other hardwoods.

Most feel it's a pretty good deal but you won't know what you're getting until you get it, and the local store allows no returns.

Also, a pack is BIG and may weigh 1,000 lbs or more. Hope you have something to carry it!

[Bill Webber]

I'd be careful of Lumber liquidators. Make sure you know what you are getting before you order it. Their policy does not allow you to refuse an order after you see it. I ordered some utility grade prefinished flooring from them and on the order was this disclaimer. Not an exact quote but, "may contain knots, splits, missing tongues, and pieces less than 18 inches". As it turns out, every piece had one or more of the defects and the only pieces that were 18 inches or longer had no tongues at all. I made a lot of new tongues, put a lot of knots and holes in the middle of the room, etc. Folks admire my new attic floor. Same song, you get what you pay for.

Bill W.

[Mike Parzych]

Lumber Liq. has a horrible reputation in regards to custoer complaints. Some time ago I came across some sort of consumer's complaint website and they had some VERY irate former customers.

[Fred Hubert]

You do get what you pay for, but I personally have been quite happy in all my dealings with LL. I did a hallway in hickory, and over half our first floor in Brazilian Cherry. Great stuff, good quality. They do offer some utility grades that are dirt cheap because they are full of defects -- it's the dirt cheap utility grade, so it cannot be compared to the stuff they sell for much more (which I found to still be around 15-20% less than the competition).

I also happen to have picked up a woodworkers hardwood pack last summer and it filled the bed of my 2004 Tacoma higher than the sides. Not unsafe to do in one trip, but a FULL load. You absolutely cannot purchase firewood this cheaply, so it is really a low risk investment. Unless my math is wrong, we're talking less than 17 cents per board foot for the pack (pallet really). I figure my batch yielded a return close to 20 cents per board foot.

About 15% of what I got will never make it into a project, but it is useable for separating the good stuff when I stack it (stickering?), and all sorts of other things you might do with scraps.

I got I think 9 boards of Cherry that are 4/4, around 7' long and 6-7" wide. Lots of mahogany, a good bit of jatoba, some maple, a few pieces of hickory, and a few board feet of purpleheart.

If I had room for it I'd definitely get another. Hopefully they will still offer this when I do have room...

Additionally, I frequent another ww forum where quite a few of us got in on this deal and I think the worst yield was around half. If you need a specific type of wood go and get that, but if you want to stock up in a hurry and then see how creative you can be with various species on hand I don't think you can lose.

~ Fred

[Marcus Ward]

If it's really flooring then it's red oak. Something to keep in mind.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a pallet of this, use it to learn to resaw and cut some 3/8" "planks" to use as the wall covering for my shop. I guess I need to figure in the price of a decent metal detector!! I have the idea of sawing in tongue and grooves, mounting on the walls and ceiling on a 45 degree angle, and trying to make something look expensive that's not. If nothing else, by the time I get through 300 bd ft of resawing, I've used some pretty cheap wood for the learning curve! While I would prefer all light colored wood that would stain white for reflective purposes, I could use the dark wood as accents, or framing around the slatwall pieces I have. I guess I should price the utility grade flooring to see if it is cheaper, but 18" stuff would be a little short for the 24" joist span on the ceilings.
I also have thought that this stuff might be good for making butcher block tops for my benches, as long as I can get enough of the same wood so it shrinks and expands at the same rate and not rip the top to shreds. Jim

[Mike Hollingsworth]

i think thats cheaper than firewood!!

[Kelly Anderson]

Is this milled as flooring or is it just random legnths and widths of regular lumber, rough or surfaced?

[Fred Hubert]

Mine was almost all random widths and lengths of rough lumber. No way I had more than 5 board feet of wood that had been milled for flooring. However, there is no guarantee that ratio is consistent.

~ Fred

[Dave Dionne]

Hey Fred

Did you buy it at the Manchester store?

I tried to buy uy one there last summer but they were out, this spring I am going to buy 2 and keep what I can use for projects and the rest I will sell for campfire wood.

Thanks Dave

[Dev Emch]

Sounds to me that this is their way of getting rid of the scraps. Often companies will figure out some way to make a nickel or dime selling something instead of paying the garbage man to take it.

Might be good for kick about wood. Make a few trinket boxes, a few tool storage boxes to protect your tools, maybe a sewing box for the wife, etc. etc. etc. You may also be able to glue some scraps together and use this as setup lumber when your doing real projects. Mill it along with the good lumber so its all the same thickness. Then use it test setups on shapers, mortisers and the dovetail jigs.

Lastly, use it at as fodder in the shop's pot belly. Its gotta be cheaper than propane!

Doing some quick math, it will take about 5.12 packs to build one cord of firewood. So that is about $250 dollars per cord for hardwood fire wood. Look on the bright side, its already split.

[Fred Hubert]

Dave, I did get mine at the Manchester store. They didn't have any when I called, had to order it. When I showed up to pick it up they had two, and let me choose which one I wanted. I'd say they were roughly equal in appearance, and you can't see what is in the middle of the stack when choosing anyway because they are bound.

~ Fred