Replies

1. 
   Tao | Dec 30, 2003 01:58am | #1

   >>What are some sources for purchasing large(er) volumes of wood--say 500 to 1000 bf of white oak.  I don't mind if it is not surfaced

   Your local hardwood dealer will be your best bet.  Most of them give a price break around 500BF.  A truckload is around 30,000 board feet, and that's the beginning of "larger quantities."  If you are buying less than truckloads, dealers are pretty much your best option.  There is a lot of difference among lumber yards, though.  I pay way less than many of the prices I see quoted because I deal with a supplier who handles strictly hardwood, not construction lumber.

   Michael R.

2. 
   fdampier5 | Dec 30, 2003 03:02am | #2

   What I do is buy my wood direct from the sawmill. rough and green. I pay 80 cents a bd.ft. for it in almost any quanity..     now since there is time required to dry it I always buy what I need for the project and some to be on hand for the next time.

     I can carry about 600 bd.ft. of green white oak home in my Half ton short box pickup  and while I'm kinda looking for birds in the trees a bit it sure hasn't affected my pickup in the 210,000 miles that I've owned it.. I'm sure that my pickup has carried over 20,000 bd.ft. so far..

3. 
   migraine | Dec 30, 2003 03:42am | #3

   Try Higgins Lumber in Various Northern calif cities.  When they had a branch in Southern ca, I felt they were priced on the high side.  A northern ca. friend told me they were within reason for his area.  Another is Penberthy.  I think they are up there too.  Make sure to specifiy whether you want Northern or Southern Oak.  Makes a difference in the quality and, of course, the cost.  Try to stay away from the "retail" operations. 

   Another friend wanted to buy a load of Mahogany for a boat project.  When the asked about his business, he pulled out his "computer generated business card" and told them he pays in cash.  Also he has them add the sales tax to the invoice.

   Make sure you can "talk the lingo".  It will help in getting a better price. 

4. 
   CRAIGCONEY_M | Dec 30, 2003 11:18am | #4

   try woodweb.com or woodfinder.com

5. 
   davearnone | Dec 31, 2003 05:22am | #5

   Try http://www.macbeath.com/

   dave

6. 
   BobSmalser | Dec 31, 2003 07:03am | #6

   http://www.sawmill-exchange.com/index.htm

    

   http://www.mobilemfg.com/

    

   http://www.baileys-online.com/

    

   http://www.woodmizer.com/welcome.html

    

   http://www.powersources.com/timberwolf/?43,62

    

    

   Check the phonebook and the mill manufacturers/sellers for portable sawmillers locally.  The mill builders are happy to provide names of local guys who own their mills.  Local tree service guys will know of them, too. Few advertise.

    

   A whole number of arborists or their employees run their own mills to salvage something more useful than firewood out of the trees they cut....I know 4 arborists here and each one has a mill somewhere in their firm....and they know guys like me with portable mills they sell special logs to.

   Logs don't last stored on the ground...they get beetles...usually they are cut immediately and stacked and stickered. All that stuff you hear about leaving your logs on the ground for a year to "season" is bunk...it doesn't season at all, merely degreades....once milled, stacked, stickered and covered, it will last indefinitely that way.

   I'm not in the sales business, but I have 200k BF stacked and stickered as we speak....the stack yard consumes a whole half-acre....the lumber is spoken for until my current projects are done...but I do have excess. 1X9’s 2X4's and 2X2's, for example, are a byproduct of making 2X6's and larger....I have plenty of 1X9’s and 2X4's to sell and you can fill your pickup bed with 2X2's and culled utility wood while you are here gratis. And I'm not unique.

   And personally, I would prefer green wood for my projects even if I didn't have a mill...it's much cheaper...the 5/4 stock will dry over one summer...once airdried it can be moved inside if you need interior wood under 10pct M/C....and it gives you so much more flexibility to use a green board for that difficult bend that fails with kilned stock.

   But my experience is limited to my locale...dunno what ground truth is in other regions...but I bet it's worth a shot to check my sources out.

    

    

    

    

    

   “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.