I'm going to Lowe's this weekend with my block plane and I'm gonna ask a floor guy if I can 'plane on this a little bit'. I will of course be talking about some stud grade pine...
I work at a lumber retailer, and just wanted to say thank you for saying "put the pile back the way you found it." Nobody seems to understand what an dick move it is to completely flip a unit of lumber over and leave the mess for someone else.
Good video, Thanks. The two cents I'd toss in is that sapwood often creates beautiful contrast and can really add interest to a piece depending on where it's placed. Particularly in a dark wood like walnut. In fact, with black walnut there's often a transitional band--I think of it as a sunset, between day and night--that has orange and tan tones between heartwood and sapwood. This can be gorgeous. Again, thanks for the helpful video.
Excellent video! I looked almost all morning for a video that explained tips about buying lumber at a lumber yard and that made sense out of the lingo and techniques needed when buying there. Thank you and subscribed...
Although I intially liked this video, I scrolled through the comments and have to agree that you left out quite some stuff: "so what would happen if the grain isn't straight? does it warp, crack or break?", "why avoid the lighter sap wood in walnut? is it more likely to warp?" (because novices like me, find it beautiful). Is it worth investing 10 USD in a moisture gauge? The comments on the sometimes unfriendly staff at the mill is universal :) I live in EU/Czech republic and let me tell you; no private wood buyer will want to waste a mill employees time! Still a nice video - thanks :)
It's a shame that so many retail wood companies are intimidating to customers. Management often places so much emphasis on inventory depth while completely overlooking employees' attitudes towards walk-in customers. I feel that "don't bother me" look when I walk into some of these places (and I've been in the hardwood lumber industry for over 2 decades, so it's not like I'm asking a bunch of ignorant questions!) One of my customers started a very successful retail hardwood lumber chain after being treated poorly by his local hardwood lumber company, years ago.
I like to incorporate the sapwood into some walnut furniture pieces. Especially in waterfall or bookmatch pieces at enhances the beauty of the walnut in my opinion. Somebodys got to use it :)
My last purchase had three ten foot boards. Fit into my '14 Honda Accord with the trunk closed. It was well below freezing. I also use veneers in many of my projects. I would have just glued two boards together for the 2" legs. I should add, I'm making two very similar tables out of walnut.
I found your video extremely helpful as I have watched a couple of other ones and was really confused but you explained things well and now have a new woodworker subscribed :)
Great video. I was looking back and forth for what is 4/4, 8/4 and so forth. Tons of golden nuggets here. Thanks. Also where's the rest of the videos in this series?
I know this is over a year old. But I've found this website to be very helpful, www.woodworkerssource.com/shop/how_to_buy_lumber.html They also sell a lot of different woods from all over the world and they give detailed uses for what each wood is commonly used for, where it grows, how hard / dense it is and all kinds of cool stuff.
great tips.. but the way he was gripping that handle, in the passenger seat as you guys were leaving the mill, suggest that you may want to use a couple extra straps on the building material. Apparently he doesn't trust your ability to operate a moving vehicle.. lol
1/4 sawn lumber is more than just a 1/4 inch lumber yard term. It also covers HOW the board was cut. 1/4 sawn lumber is cut to minimize twisting and cupping.
+matt Ralli It really has nothing to do with a 1/4 inch lumber yard term and really doesn't have a whole lot to do with twisting and cupping rather quarter sawn lumber is less susceptible to large amounts of expansion and contraction.
You can sort through the wood.... If you can't then I'd skip that store. And a word from a previous lumber yard employee: PLEASE don't stack the lumber that you've looked through like they do. Stack it straight so the boards don't warp and twist if they don't come around right after you to straighten up your mess.
what about board feet, what is one? Why they sell that way.Why is sap wood bad? What about strait grain. The guys at the lumber yard want you to know your stuff, and how to order it. I found this lacking in info for the green wood worker. but thanks it was a nice vid.
Thats a retail hardwood dealer, I go to wholesale and don't get to pick my lumber. So for them you buy more thenbyou will need, the cost savings will more then make up for it. Not everyone can do this but becuse I hold a retail sales tax license i can.
So you don't check boards for cupping warping twisting etc? I guess there are only straight trees in the US. I spend the first half hour trying to find a board without a lot of twist in it.
Yeah. I estimate that was about 40-50 bf... say 1 common 4/4 should have been about $100 to $150 total. But that's hardwood market price. Forget retail. Just bit the bullet and buy a mixed load from a lumber company (saw mill). Get a copy of the HMR. Find a mill near you (KD), save $12k and buy 4mbf #1 R.O., 1mbf each walnut, cherry, maple, W.O., ash, e.g. depending on your mill. Ask for S2S/skip plane to 7/8" to save you lots of planer time (don't ask for dim -> i.e. 3/4" from mill).
I have 4 different lumber mills near my home. less than a 10 min drive to go to all. and another opening soon. when i heard 200$ for that i nearly had a stroke. i can get a whole trailor for less than 150$
We are doing woodworking in my class and we have to write notes about rough lumber, I was wondering if someone could expand on the definition of rough lumber because I didn't really understand the exact definition of rough lumber. :) Thanks!
I get my lumber by the log. Buy the log have it milled to size, dry it in my garage. Then have it milled cost 1/4 of the price on line or at Home Depot.
How does it make sense to buy timber like this? Surely if you have planer/thicknesser bandsaw and table saw, its slabs you wanna buy not tiny little boards?
Just an FYI. Hardwood lumber yards hate having guys pick through the wood and then leave the pile a mess. Always restack it the way you found it, and act like you're actually a woodworker and take some boards that aren't perfect.
FineWoodworking Northern Finland. There's one guitar builder around here I know of, where I can buy some hardwoods, but they are very expensive (he gets the woods from the south himself and sells only small amounts). I can get like birch and maybe oak nearer, but for maple and cherry and something "exotic" like that, it's not that easy. Every lumberyard here concentrates on serving just house builders (ie sell spruce, pine and various woods for sauna applications), and look weirdly for "strange requests" for maple etc. Of course I could order some planks, but then I just have to take what they happen to send me.
When you find yourself in that situation, become the lumberyard. buy a woodmizer and a nice trailer. make friends with the local tree removal people, offer to haul off their cuts if they will leave the trunks in larger lengths (need a way to handle the logs), then start milling and selling the lumber to people in your area who are in the same position you are in. if you really are 8 hours away from a good supply house you might be able to make a convincing case for a business loan to finance all this.
Would be nice if you talked more about the pieces you rejected e.g. "that one looks a little funky". Don't know what that means. Also, after planing the edge you say "that's nice and straight". The grain? Thank you for the video.
All good info except the end, that is not the proper way to tie down your wood.It can and will move from side to side, instead you want to do a belly rape . Meaning going around the wood with the strap once. This insures the wood will stay together and in place. Side note you should always stop after driving 5-10 min to insure the straps are still tit no mater the load
you guys in the comments dont realize that you can make most if not all of the money back from the wood just by cutting up your scraps, and any interesting grain pieces that wont work for your furniture, like when you plot pieces around crotchwood and knots, and sell it on ebay as pen turning blanks. People will buy it, and you probably will have $100+ worth of pen blanks in your scraps from that project. thats not counting how much you sell the finished furniture for. if your selling, that is.
Very good point. If you're making two of those tables, and you are good, you could easily get $100 or more for one of them at a craft fair or farmer's market. Find ways to sell the scrap (love that idea), and you'll pretty much pay for all the lumber and still have a table left over.
I had a large Cocobolo project a few years ago and made all of the scraps into roughly 2000 3/4" x 3/4" x 6" Calico Cocobolo pen blanks which I'm still selling on Ebay 6 at a time. They're almost gone now but that spur-of-the-moment decision to make blanks created a new product line!
I have tryed making moldings with poplar but each time i cut it, it extremely bends and deforms, so the question is: how and what is the best and cheapest way of drying poplar, and how should we treat - cut it in desired lumber sizes, before molding it, for strait results no bends or deformations
Triumf Dula if you are air drying it you need to stack it with sticks between the boards and leave it for a long time. Cover the stack with weighed down corrugated iron or similar. 1 year for every inch thickness. You should seal the end with paint or proper sealer to limit splitting. After that you bring it into the workshop and leave it a minimum of a month. There are plenty of you tube videos. Poplar is a stringy wood and not much used for furniture as the grain is boring. It is used in musical instruments. There is lots of waste drying wood. It is most stable quarter sawn.
For what it's worth, I make mouldings from well kiln-dried FAS grade Poplar and it still tends to move afterwards. I had a sawmill quartersaw poplar for us - that didn't help much. We have face laminiated poplar together before sending it through the moulder. That helps but does not stop the movement entirely. The only things that I've found to be (almost) 100% effective to keep poplar stable are 1) "roasting" or "thermally treating" the poplar 2) Fingerjointing and laminating poplar. Poplar, as a specie, is very susceptible to changes in moisture levels - almost like a sponge. In my experience, it does not acclimate well, regardless of how well it's handled, dried, etc.
I went to a hardwood dealer and they let me look through all the boards and they even let me use their mitre saw to cut the boards in half to fit in my truck. Making a happy customer gets repeat business so thus they make more money and said happy customers tell other potential customers of their happy stories like I just did to people so they can go buy lumber too.
Good point. I like sap/heart contrast, myself. However, if you are making a prototype or sample for a customer you should GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to include some sap unless your customer requests otherwise. That sample will come back to haunt you if you have to duplicate it 100x all because you decided to show them all-heart instead of natural.
Hi, I am starting out making some cutting boards, etc in my home woodshop and am eager to find places to buy 3x3 and other cuts, even scrap of Walnut, Cherry and Maple or even other woods that are suitable for chopping blocks. Do you sell this type of stuff and if so, can you email me with pricing and possibly give me some advice on how to buy this type of product as cheaply as possible? Thank you! -JW
It's kind of in the uncanny valley of stilted delivery. If you're gonna go scripted, you gotta be a good actor to pull it off. Otherwise just speak from the sapwood.
this is the first video I have watched. and this is really informational. but dudes I'm laughing more then learning. well ok laughing and learning. but are you guys Canadian??
+Kevin Yeah they are talking about the thickness - quarter inch, 2 quarter 3, quarter 4 quarter, would be 1/4 inch increments in thickness. Think of it like 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4 5/4 6/4 7/4 8/4, etc, with each quarter meaning a quarter of an inch
