I’m building (well designing untill my funds get back up) a small chest soon I guess you could call it a footlocker but anyways I want to make the top ,at least, out of one board of walnut or maybe cherry. Any suggestions on where to get such wood?
Thanks in advance,
Ryan C.
Replies
Well Ryan C from western Kentucky, It would be helpful if you would give a few dimensions. What is wide for one person may not be anything special for another.
Is this something that you are making for yourself, or another family member, or is it for sale?
The reason that I am asking, is that sometimes using wide solid wood can have some pitfalls that are easy to overlook, and since I can see that you are fairly young, the more that we know, the better we can assist you. You know it can be a pain in the rear to invest a lot of time and $ in a project only to have it self-destruct.
I wasn't thinking. The top is going to need a board 12 inches wide and 2.5 feet long. I usually make things for myself and if someone likes it in my family I will probably give it to them. Also I just LOVE walnut and am constantly trying to find sources. BTW I recently got a board from Lakeway Building Supply in Paris, TN(for anyone in the area I highly suggest it) with some mild quilt in it (sorry lumber gloat). But back to the thread, thanks for your quick response. Almost forgot the sides I could build with one board 9 inches wide and 7 feet long.
Thanks,
Ryan C
You shouldn't have too much trouble finding that. Are you willing to pay for shipping? Here in Little Rock, I use Hogan Hardwood for anything that I don't have stashed from my own mill. I am hoping someone will jump in here and tell you of a source fairly close by. Do you get down as far as Memphis, or over to Nashville? I can give you a couple of small mill operators in both of those cities. Here is a link to Hogan. http://hoganhardwoods.com/hogan/pages/products/01_Lumber/lumber_06.htm. When I ask about how wide, and how you plan to use it. I am not against using wide boards, I have used single boards as wide as 33" without a problem. Then again, I would not reccomend fitting a large panel into a situation without giving it room to move.
Thanks. I am more than willing to pay shipping for the perfect board. So I would like to gt the names of those mills you mentioned. Every now and then I do get down into TN a relative lives there so I would like any TN places anyone knows
Ryan
Ditto on Groff & Groff. You'll have to call and tell them the approx finished size and they'll find a board for you. Nice folks.
I am in Nashville and would love to get the names of any area mills who sell direct to consumers.
http://www.gobywalnut.com/A long way for you but you mentioned perfection I belive.
Hey john, This is a friend of my brother Wood Newton. I have not been to this location, but I have visited with Floyd at the Bluebird Cafe when Wood was playing down there. since we both have sawmills, and the other Wood connection, we had plenty to talk about, and I came away with the impression that If I were over there doing what I do here, I would be doing some business with him.It's Highway 47 Lumber in White Bluff. Floyd Lampley 533-1797Let me know if it turns out to be a good source for you, and tell him that you learned about him through Wood. Uhhhhhh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, well maybe,,,,although he may want to charge you double so he can take some more song-writer lessons. Ha!
Thanks, Keith, I'll give Floyd a call when I get through with the projects I am working on now. My shop is tiny anyway, and it is so full of wood and partially finished work, I spend more time moving stuff around than I do making sawdust. At the rate I'm going, it'll probably be winter or early spring before I can make enough room to take on anything else.
Do you know if he sells only green timber, if so I'll have to learn another new skill. Before I acquired any shop tools, I used a mill in that general area for resawing and planing some old growth pine planks I had taken out of an old barn. They closed up a few years back though.
I live about a mile from the Bluebird, and in my alley catting days used to go there. Or more correctly, I dated a gal who really liked to go there, a lot. She knew people there and could always get a table, but it was wasted on me. My tin ear can scarely distinguish a cat screeching from a fine musical performance.
I bet I haven't been in ten years, and the only time or two I've tried they were turning folks away at the door. To paraphrase Yogi, "It's gotten so crowded, nobody goes there anymore." If your brother played there much I was probably there a couple of times.
John,
Middle Tennessee Lumber in Dickson has about the best selection of domestic and exotic lumber around the Nashville area that I am aware of, as well as all kinds of sheet goods. They sell a lot of unfinished and prefinished hardwood flooring too. Their main customers are tradespeople and custom cabinet builders, but they are really great people to deal with even for the "little guy". I have been meaning to ask how large a quantity you have to buy before they start discounting the price on hardwood, but I haven't had a place I could store more than a couple of hundred board feet until recently. I don't know if they will sell rough lumber; they have stacks and stacks of bundled rough kiln-dried lumber , but everything in their loose stacks is kiln dried and planed. Not the cheapest place around, but excellent quality lumber and you can hand pick from their stacks. It would be worth a drive out there just to peruse through the stacks and look around. I would guess that their store / warehouse is around 50,000 sq. ft.They are on Highway 46, about a mile south of I-40 at Exit 172. I usually deal with Rich, and the phone number there is 615-446-3461. Disclaimer: I don't have any connection with them (except for being a customer). When I still lived in Nashville, I also got good quality material from Summers Lumber on Carter Street (near the intersection of Nolensville Road and Thompson lane). They don't have near the selection that Mid Tenn lumber has, but what they have seemed to be pretty good stuff.Hope this helps,
-Chuck
Thanks, Chuck, I'll go check them out, too. That is about as close to my house as Summers is now. I deal with Summers and really like them, but they recently moved to Lavergne, even though they claim to have almost doubled their warehouse space, their selection seems diminished even for my meager needs, and their prices have really shot up. On reason my shop is so tight right now is I ran up on a stack of Curly Cherry in a pile of regular Cherry at Summers last summer just before they moved and dragged right at 200bd feet home.
John,
Thanks for the heads-up about Summers moving to Lavergne - I moved out to Hickman county about 4 years ago so I haven't been by there since I moved.I forgot to mention that Mid Tenn Lumber is open on Saturday from 8:00 to noon, and they close at 5:00 during the week. Also, they can custom order things that they don't have in stock - I saw a Honduras mahogany board there once that they ordered for someone that was a full 26" wide, 6" thick, and 16' long - I didn't ask how much it cost or what someone intended to do with it, but it sure was an impressive stick of wood.Now that I have adequate room to dry some wood myself, I plan on checking with some of the local mills to get green wood to cut down on my costs. I also have a some of trees on my property that I would like to have sawn, if I can get the logs out to where a portable mill can get to (I have a walnut about 3' in diameter, and a white oak about 4' in diameter that I am particularly interested in harvesting before they die). Unfortunately, I will have to cut a lane pretty far back into the woods and up a pretty steep slope to get to them.Anyway, check out Mid Tenn Lumber - I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I go there!
Hogan hardwoods bought part of the old Frank Paxton Lumber Company after Jeld Wen ran it downhill. I do not buy anything from Jeld Wen simply because of their unethical treatment of employees when they bought out other companies.
Ryan,
I get excellent lumber from Groff and Groff Lumber. I like wide boards and it always disappoints me, when I have to use a glue up. I also completely disagree with anyone who says wide boards are a source of trouble. Boards, no matter how wide, if dried properly, used with thought to the joinery and finished well (sealing both sides) will behave fine. There are certainly some species that are inherently unstable, but when dealing with common furniture woods, I'll take the widest boards I can find.
Rob Millard
Thanks I'll check it out.
Ryan,
I second Rob's suggestion about Groff's lumber. I have visited them a few times in person and had stuff shipped back to Mississippi. However, I purchased 30-40 board feet of cherry over the phone a few months back and the stuff they sent was phenomenal. I asked for and got 12" wide clear boards, all red, no sap. And they didn't charge extra for my being specific. Great place to shop.
Lee
I like using wide boards too, mostly because when doing work that is made to appear as an antique wide boards are associated with age. A trestle table made out of flat sawn red oak got away from me and the experience caused me to organize my time such that finishing was included. What happened was the legs were 3/4" thick by 14&1/2" wide. After cut to length they were layed aside and warped slightly. Granted they were air-dried but the kiln operator here said he couldnt do them any better. I repaired one by wetting the convex side until it returned to flat and the other had to be ripped and re-glued.The lesson for me when working wide wood is that sealing it immediately is something I factor into my time because crosscuts from wide boards can get away at times. I like to mix and keep shellac around for keeping members stable. i like making boxes too, and to me everything starts with stock preperation. wood is a natural element and if you pay attention to your jointing and planning every thing afterward seems to fall in place. Hope this might help you some. I think every time we can work wood our life gets better.
Thanks for the advice I will definitely keep that in mind. I agree that woodworking makes life better by the way!
-Ryan
Ryan, I higly recommed Box-Making Basics, David M. Freedman, Taunton Press. This in my opinion is one of the best books you can read that in an easily digestable 25 words or less format conveys some of the most important concepts that relate to building the basis for fine wood working. A box is a carcase that leads to drawers, to chests, to desks, to tables and beyond. This book willopen up your perceptions and enliven your workings.
Bufun
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