Replies

1. 
   ring | Feb 10, 2009 07:37am | #1

   How you deal with it really depends on 3 independent factors. (1) What kind of suppliers you have access to. (2) What your physical capabilities are. (3) What your finances dictate.

   The suppliers are a critical question here. I used to go to yards and pick out the boards that I need. Not every yard will let you run thru their stocks, but if you're a regular customer they often will. As my business grew I found I could go to the yard and just pick out a full sling (pallet) of what I needed. They would deliver the next day. Nowadays we don't even go to the yard. We work regularly with 3 suppliers who take a phone order and ship the entire sling to us. I check the MC on the truck before they unload it. If there are any unpleasant surprises, we send it back, no questions asked. It doesn't happen often, but sending one back occasionally probably keeps them on their toes a bit.

   If you don't have a commercial sized planer and a helper, you cannot mill the stuff yourself. No question that milling it yourself is preferable, for every reason I can think of. But don't kill yourself over it.

   The economics is also a factor - I got to the point where anything that would be used during the next 3 months was worthwhile to buy in bulk. In my neck of the woods we pay some 30% more (over the price of a full sling) to pick out individual boards. So whatever is in regular usage is worthwhile to buy "wholesale". The amount of bad boards you get in a full sling is usually quite small, but it varies with the species and supplier. When I've got the entire pile in front of me I can usually find uses for all but the very worst. It happens that 5% is really unusable, but that still leaves a lot of reason to pay 30% less for bulk.

   The single most important factor - keep trying suppliers until you get the right one for each wood you use. It's healthy not to work with only one, and it probably won't happen that way anyhow.

   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

1. 
   wolfonce | Feb 10, 2009 08:31am | #2

   Thank you very much,Dave