I am looking at relocating to the twin cities area in a couple of months. I was wondering if anyone has any information on wood sources, or souces of good tools and project supplies in the area. I am aware of the Rockler stores, the woodcraft, and of course all of the internet/mail order options.
Thanks,
Scott
Replies
I have had good luck with Youngblood Lumber in Minneapolis, particularily for smaller quantities. Prices are a bit more than other places, but they will give a healthy discount if you are a member of the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild.
www.youngbloodlumber.com
Also, for a more interesting trip, Northern Hardwood Inc. sells mostly rough cut stock.
http://www.northernhardwoodinc.com
Hope that helps,
I too like Youngblood's. They are more expensive than other sources, but their great advantage is that you can pick out your own stuff.
Lake Elmo Hardwoods is another possibility, but they are located on the Eastern fringe of the metro area.
There are many other sources , industrial yards which sell both plywood and hardwoods. Metro Hardwoods and Industrial Lumber and Plywood are two that spring to mind. The problem here, though, is you have to order X number of board feet, and they deliver it to you on the dock (for will call), and you are expected to load it up and be quiet. You can certainly refuse certain boards in the stack, but then they kind of grumble and glare at you.
Lake Elmo Hardwoods is another possibility, but they are located on the Eastern fringe of the metro area.
I hope others will reveal their treasured hardwood sources.
Scott,
Welcome to my world!
I've been posting for a long time about saw mill lumber prices.. Stop by and check out the wood I've got in my yard.. 17 cents a bd.ft. for black walnut? $1.60 a bd.ft. for FAS cherry? 80 cents for White Oak?
I buy direct from Johnson brothers logging in Cannon Falls about a 1/2 hour south of Mpls.
Yeh, if you want imported wood Youngblood is the place, their prices are better than Lake Elmo hardwood and they seem to keep a bigger better stock on hand..
As for Rocklers and Woodshafters, good luck! Maybe if you only build fountain pens they might not be that expensive.. but for anything else!
Are you actually set up to sell lumber?
NO!
I'm just a cheap wood nut who fails to understand why others pay so much for wood..
I'll gladly share my knowledge with anyone...
To me it's almost a sin to pay the price so many do for wood....
By the way I have no special tricks or sources for wood. Sure I have favorite places to buy from but that doesn't make me any better or smarter than others.
I just eliminate all of the middle men with their attending mark up and handling charges.. ..
Most of us pay too much for wood because we don't know the good (and cheap) sources you do.
Why don't you tell us how you do it.............
I'll be glad too, I've said this many, many, times before but if no one objects I'll go over it all again..
No objection?
Well you had your chance so don't complain....
The closer you get to the forest the less wood costs..Here in Minnesota we are blessed with lots of forests, In fact a recent study by the Foresty department indicates we have almost three times the number of 20 inch and greater trees than we had back in 1960..
South eastern minnesota is the major "forest" but almost all of the state has a few hardwood trees.
Large corporate sawmills tend to be very unfriendly to the average woodworker.. they need to sell millions of bd.ft. a year to turn a profit. your few bd.ft. is more of a hassle than a benefit..
Tiny little sawmills may not have the variety or selection that is needed to choose from.They may have wonderful prices on wood or offer other advantages that makes them a worthwhile source to checkout. Look up woodmizer and find a list of local mills. When you go to a wood mizer site don't hesitate to ask them about other local mills.
I look for pallet lumber plants.. they tend to go thru a lot of wood and they have little regard for sorting out various grades of wood. Instead they make railroad ties, and pallet lumber in bulk and ship it out as soon as it's done.
They make a profit by volume.
A plant that specializes in grading lumber has a higher cost than a plant that makes pallet lumber.. to go for grade it is common to get less yield in order to keep the grade high.. Less yield equals higher per board cost..
In addition they have to hire additional help to grade the lumber and stack according to grade. Johnson Logging pays 10 cents per bd.ft. to grade. (those may be old numbers)
When you compare the dollar return on grade wood to ungraded wood it's easy to see why a sawmill will go to the efforts. Yet if your volume isn't that great it may take you a while to mill a semi load of FAS grade Black walnut for example. If it takes so long that the wood degrades for example then why do it? Green wood will start to degrade almost as soon as it's milled. White woods such as hard maple or Basswood for example is milled in the winter to prevent degrade.
A semi can haul 8000 or more bd.ft. and when it comes in they want it filled going to it's next location.. thus your major buyers will dictate what you do and when you do it..
That is where your chance for great woods at modest prices come in..
If you can buy the odd lots when they become available, if you are willing to take 280 bd.ft. of Black walnut for example when it won't fit on the semi. Or they have a buyer cancel an order for 5/4 black ash and it sits around for a while you can buy it for 10 cents a bd.ft.
Just to cover that story for example. The sawmill had 2500 bd.ft. of 5/4 black ash that stayed around for a long time. It was so bad that as I loaded it in my pickup the boards were literally moulded together.. That is the mold grew so much that I was forced to beat on the boards to get them apart..
But I stickered everything up and tarped it and that fall my sister hauled everything to a shop who for a buck turned it all into flooring.. milled tongue and groove flooring.
So she got almost 2300 feet of flooring for $2550.00! None of the mold was left! It was all milled off! They wasted less than 200 bd.ft. of wood from knots and wane etc..
No work on her part (except to put it down) if she'd taken me up on my offer to use my equipment her cost would have been $250 dollars. 2300 sq.ft. of flooring for $250.00!
Anyway, saw mills offer a wonderful place to buy wood.. develope a relationship with the mill and they even set aside neat boards just for you. I buy the guy running the mill a case of beer once in a while and every special piece of wood he sees I get!
No magic, the mill isn't set up for a buyer who will pay the premium that a piece of wood may be worth. thus it get's toosed into a pile with the other wood or set aside for me.
In addition mother nature doesn't grow trees to a standard size. When she does grow it an odd width the sawmill produces thins. Boards less than 4/4 thickness really don't have a ready market. they may be 15/16ths thick or 3/4 or 1/2 or whatever. If you are willing to take whatever they have you can buy a whole pickup load of boards for 30 bucks. Right now I've got a house and yard full of thins that I have less than$50.00 into.. Hard maple, cherry, black walnut, whatever! My pickup hunts for squirrels all the way home (the tail drags) but for the price I pay who cares! Drawer sides, wall panels etc. a dozen uses for wood!
Fiddle back maple? tigerstripe black walnut , burls, pinwheel red oak, neat special woods, either pay a fortune for them or get to know your local pallet plant..
Johnson bros. logging is my source, there are plenty of others in the twin cites area. find them yourself (part of the fun as far as I'm concerned) or stop by and see what I've gotten and have me introduce you to them..
Edited 6/5/2004 3:34 pm ET by FDAMPIER5
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