Replies

1. 
   rrdesigns | Feb 27, 2005 06:50am | #1

   Home Depot's hardwoods are pricey, limited in variety and not always of very good quality...you are paying alot for their "so called ready to use" state. It is much less expensive if you can buy your stock in a more rough state and prep it yourself. The downside to this scenario is that you will then want a planer, jointer and band saw (unless of course you are a master with the hand plane and have lots of time to spend).
   Woodcraft carries rough stock and has local storefronts. There are often other suppliers in your area that carry rough stock. Look under Hardwoods or Lumber in your yellow pages. Happy hunting.

2. 
   Peter36 | Feb 28, 2005 12:27am | #2

   Hello Darryl. What I did was looked in my phone book under sawmills. There are people everywhere with portable bandsaws that sell their wood to people with kiln dryers. You could also look at restaurants and businesses at the area where everyone puts up business cards. There is a international wood distributor near me that sells cherry for 9-12 bdf. I buy my lumber [cherry] from one of their suppliers for 2-4 bdf. These are Can. prices, but any local wood does not cost me more than 4 bdf for kiln dried wood. Good luck.  Peter

3. 
   MarkRD | Feb 28, 2005 10:05pm | #3

   You might also want to look at this...

   http://www.niagaralumber.com/

   Mark

1. 
   DarrylM | Mar 01, 2005 04:20am | #4

   thanks for the feedback, I'll check it out.

4. 
   CAVEMAN1 | Mar 01, 2005 04:31am | #5

   I'V BEEN WONDERING IS IT EASY TO MAKE CABINETS?

1. 
   DarrylM | Mar 01, 2005 08:24pm | #6

   I made mine not really knowing what I was doing. I had finished my little movie shelf and thought "hey, I can make a plate rack.." The hardest part of the whole thing was installing them. I live in an older house and the kitchen wall has a significant bow to it.

   They came out ok, but if I were to do it again, I'd do it completely different. I'll attempt to attack a picture...

   
5. 
   DDay | Mar 07, 2005 12:51am | #7

   I wouldn't recommend buying really any type of hardwood or trim from home depot.  There are several problems with HD;

   they may not have one supplier, so in the stack you could get wood from several different mills from different parts of the country which may have slight differences

   they do not handle the wood very well, they may leave it outside, not package it very well for shipping, etc which could affect the moisture content, straightness, etc.

   They are expensive.  You will pay more for almost everything at home depot than a lumber yard or hard wood dealer.  HD is fine for power tools, nails, lawn mowers, etc.  But they are more money than lumber yards for shingles, wood (except framing plywood), insulation, etc.  They sell to the HO who doesn't know any better.

   Also, selection is very poor at HD.  Check out the links below and you'll see what your missing.  HD only carries a few hardwoods like maple, oak and cherry.  The dealers will carry many more types but also carry different thicknesses and dimensions plus quality finish plywood and veneers.

   Also, HD has very poor quality in general.  Check out their crown moldings, they only stock a few profiles and even those stink in quality.  You can pick up 5 different pieces of 3 1/2" crown at home depot and be lucky if two are the same width.  They may be different by up to 1/8" which will drive you nuts and make your quality suffer.

    

   Here's a few links to locate hardwood dealers.  The first is a search database that is national, and the others are to semi local places.  I live outside boston and found these places a few months ago, I bought some ipe decking from anderson mcquaid but have not bought any hardwood or interior trim from them.  I also haven't bought anything yet from boulter.  Anderson is a top shelf trim dealer and carries hardwood and exotics, boulter carries hardwood, exotics and finish plywood.  The other is highland in nh, I only talked to them on the phone.  Some of their prices were on the high side, don't know anything about quality, etc.  Also, there's a woodcraft in NH and one in woburn, ma.  They are probably the best around here for quality woodworking tools.

    

   http://www.woodfinder.net/

   http://www.andersonmcquaid.com/index.htm

   http://www.boulterplywood.com/

   http://www.highlandhardwoods.com/retail-hardwood-lumber.html

6. 
   DDay | Mar 07, 2005 12:54am | #8

   Also, the knots forum (up at the top of the page, in the middle) are all woodworkers.  People come in here too but you'll get a lot more replies in their.  That's a great forum, they all really know their stuff and will give you a lot of information on any woodworking question.

7. 
   WillGeorge | Mar 09, 2005 05:53am | #9

   Marketing/Sales/Advertising

    

   You should KNOW it all about good pricing!

   Sorry.. I had to..  I was in Marketing...

1. 
   DarrylM | Mar 10, 2005 03:34am | #10

   yeah, I deserved that... I'm just curious what other people are doing.

    

   Thanks for all of the feedback!