Any good lumberyards in/near Birmingham,Al

[Jerome Hanby]

I've had about all I can stand from Lowes. Their lumber seem to be mostly crap and last trip it took them twenty minutes to figure out how to charge me for bolts and washers. There is a hardwoods Inc in Alabaster, that's not too far from where I work that will sell to the public. I don't mind going there for Walnut, Cherry, and similar items. I'm hoping there is someplace closer (and cheaper) to buy oak, poplar, and plywood. Anyone know anyone decent that sells to the public in this area? Is 84 lumber any better than the borgs?

thanks

[Greg Hines, MD]

I've had about all I can stand from Lowes. Their lumber seem to be mostly crap and last trip it took them twenty minutes to figure out how to charge me for bolts and washers. There is a hardwoods Inc in Alabaster, that's not too far from where I work that will sell to the public. I don't mind going there for Walnut, Cherry, and similar items. I'm hoping there is someplace closer (and cheaper) to buy oak, poplar, and plywood. Anyone know anyone decent that sells to the public in this area? Is 84 lumber any better than the borgs?

thanks

There is a Woodcraft near Birmingham, just on the south side of the city. I forget the little town it is actually located in, but it is convenient to Birmingham. They have a decent supply of the varied hardwoods that most of their stores stock, though they will be expensive.

To answer your other question, I do not consider 84 lumber to be any better than the Borgs, and worse in a lot of ways. HD/L have a much larger selection than 84 in most areas, from hardware to lumber.

Doc

[Jerome Hanby]

Woodcraft is in Pelham, definitely closer than Alabaster. You are right about the expense. I bought one of their small packs of 1/2" walnut. It turned out to be so bowed that it wasn't usable. I returned it, went to Hardwoods Inc, and spent about 2/3's of the refund on twice as much Walnut.

There is a Plywood place close to downtown. My one trip there they were nice enough to go ahead and sell to me since I had called ahead, but they informed me they don't normally sell to the public!

There is a Woodcraft near Birmingham, just on the south side of the city. I forget the little town it is actually located in, but it is convenient to Birmingham. They have a decent supply of the varied hardwoods that most of their stores stock, though they will be expensive.

To answer your other question, I do not consider 84 lumber to be any better than the Borgs, and worse in a lot of ways. HD/L have a much larger selection than 84 in most areas, from hardware to lumber.

Doc

[John Dorough]

Jerome,

When you say you "went to Hardwoods Inc", do you mean online or in person? If in person, where is the store in relation to Birmingham? My children live in B'ham and I would like to know if there is a good source of hardwood in that locale.

Thanks,

John

[Jerome Hanby]

Hopefully I don't have the interstates mixed up. Take I-65 South, take the Shelby Airport exit. Take that first left to wher it deadends into a cross street, turn left and take the next right. I'd google them, get their number, and get better directions from them, I know how to get there, but don't recall the road names. It's worth the trip, the place is huge and has some nice material.

Jerome,

When you say you "went to Hardwoods Inc", do you mean online or in person? If in person, where is the store in relation to Birmingham? My children live in B'ham and I would like to know if there is a good source of hardwood in that locale.

Thanks,

John

[John Dorough]

Jerome,

Thanks, Jerome. I found the website for the Birmingham location and am linking to it, below, in the event anyone else might be interested. Thanks, again, for the info.

John
http://www.hardwoodweb.com/distribution/hia.cfm

[Martin Blake]

I've been buying plywoods and rough hard woods from Magic City Plywood - 208 Second Avenue North. Phone 328-9300. They don't take charge cards and checks are limited to $250 so I always take cash.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've been buying plywoods and rough hard woods from Magic City Plywood - 208 Second Avenue North. Phone 328-9300. They don't take charge cards and checks are limited to $250 so I always take cash.

Somehow I missed this reply at the time. Ran across it two days ago and since I was off on Friday (and this place is only open 8-4 M-F) drove down to check it out. All I can say is WOW! They had every hard wood I asked about (hard/soft Maple, Walnut, Beech). Had American as well as CHICOM plywood. And the prices (at least on the Hard Wood, I didn't have plywood prices in my head to compare to) were GREAT. I bought some excellent looking 8/4 Beech for $2.90 a BF (compared to over $3.50 on sale at the Alabaster place for 6/4, almost $5 when the sale was over).

Place is on the west side of I-65 in downtown B'ham, so it's not too convenient, but neither is the Alabaster place. It's a huge facility with a very small staff. From talking with the owner, he is really in the wholesale business and sells to private individuals almost as a public service since he realizes there is no good retail source in town. I asked if he was interested in more "retail" business and he laughed and said not really. If someone knows what they want and he can go pick it up and bring it to the loading dock, no problem. If someone wats wants to handle every piece of wood, dither around, have it cut down so they can load it on their truck, then he's not making money on the deal, labor costs eat it all up. Of course after saying that, he lead me back in the warehouse to the Beech and let me pick out a couple of planks . Guess it helps if you wander in mid morning and nothing much is happening.

Beech I got is gourgeous, straight, flat, and clear as a bell. Planning on wrapping it around my IKEA Beech countertop based Workbench and making the vise parts from it. I sure wish I had seen this place before I bought all that Ambrosia Maple (on sale at $2.50 a BF) to make the base. If I had the budget, I'd just save the Ambrosia for something pretty and buy enough Beech to do the base and the aprons.

I thanked the gentleman, told him his store wasn't too hard to find now that I knew where it was, and promised not to find it too often .

[John RodgersCA]

Update from Sept. 2016: I bought good quality (no inner ply voids) baltic birch from Magic City plywood $25 for 1/2, $33 for 3/4. They were very friendly and accepted credit cards. I was able to cut the sheets down for transport outside their loading dock. I would recommend them.