I am a mechanic and I always thought woodworking and carpentry was so simple till I actually dove into it fixing a run down camper , There is alot of variables to wood working I appreciate the education very helpful video thanks
I am from Sweden! Yes I have seen this video. Where I live it is not so popular with traditional woodworking. But I am lucky because I have found your channel
Correct me if Im wrong, but the terms "softwood" and "hardwood" have nothing to do with hardness. Is only a clasification to differ between angioesperms and gymnosperms respectively.
You are completely correct softwoods are normally evergreen which don't lose leave on the winter hardwoods loose their leave in the winter. I'm sure there's a much more scientific and better way to say that but that's just how I learned it haha.
+Alex Mueth And you are correct in your reasoning. On the whole, hardwoods (the broad-leaved, deciduous trees) *are* hard woods, but not in every case. (Yes ... it *is* confusing.)
hahaha i could have used this years back on my first trip to a hardwood dealer. I had no idea what a board foot was or 4/4, 8/4 etc....when i had my cart to the desk and they rang it up it was a bit of a shock!..i threw the money at them and was happy to get out of there...i felt like a complete gorb! I'm sure youve made that first trip a little easier for many!
Just started building and decided to find a Mill to get better wood in my area. I called a supplier and he started using all the terms you did. I was so confused and sounded like an idiot. Thank you for this video
This was awesome! Thank-you, I start my new position on the First of Feb in Business Development for a wood trading firm. This really helped me figure out what I'd be selling.
I'm glad I subscribed yesterday, I actually live about 45 mins from Charlottesville, Va. I'll have to check this place out when I get a chance. Thanks for the post.
I was taught that wood for furniture should be about 4-8% moisture content, wood for building inside a house should be around 10-12%, and wood that's going to end up outside the house (panelling for instance) should be about 18-20%.
Nice video. Learnt a lot! Question though: i noticed the red paint on the side of the lumber in your video. Also different colors of paint (green, blue etc) on other similar videos. I suppose this is a kind of labeling, i would like to know what these labels stand for...
Hi... I am new in wood working. It is my hobby to make wood furniture. I am trying to know as much as possible about wood working and I really get very useful information from your video. Thanks for sharing your experience and God bless you...
+Sanjay Patel If you haven't already done so, you should look up the videos by Paul Sellers, for practical information on woodworking using hand tools.
Thanks for a very informative video. I couldn't help wondering when you are selecting your wood what happens if you decide the plank right at the bottom of the pile is the perfect one you need for your project. How accommodating are these mills when it comes to moving their lumber around to give you access?
Hi Joshua, great video. I'm new here and if you havent, can you please make a video on tips for buying live edge lumber (both small and large). Thanks. your knowledge in lumber is very clear.
Thanks so much for a very informative video, I live in the Atlanta area and have had a difficult time finding a good mom and pop mill so to speak. I love supporting small business and would prefer to avoid the big box stores and refuse to pay what woodcraft and rockler want for their wood. I would be willing to drive a good hour away if I found a good mill, but haven't come across one yet, if any reading this know of one around the Atlanta area please chime in, and one again thanks for posting this.
Patrick Nolan I'm sure you'll have more options than WoodCraft & Rockler. Here's what I found in 10 seconds on Google: www.google.com/maps/place/Atlanta+Hardwood+Corp/@33.7677129,-84.420604,11z/data=!4m5!1m2!2m1!1shardwood+lumber+atlanta,+ga!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0xb551d519a7b12838 www.hardwoodweb.com/dryingyards/html/HWWSpeciesGuide.html www.inter-statehardwoods.com/
Josh, enjoyed the tour, thanks. I think in your effort to simplify hardwoods vs softwoods, which is not necessarily the same as hard woods vs. soft woods, some people may have missed your point. Janka hardness is more of an advanced topic, it seems to me. I have found that one of the things that consistently surprises non-woodworkers and beginning woodworkers is learning that hardwoods are defined as deciduous trees vs softwoods which are evergreens/conifers rather than on their hardness or softness. My apologies if you covered this in your blog post :)
Michael Anderson Hi Michael, thanks for your comment! Yeah, there were a lot of more advanced things that I would have liked to have mentioned, but wanted to keep everything simple. But I did recommend that people look at this book: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561583588/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1561583588&linkCode=as2&tag=woodandshop-20&linkId=IYPR6IG5OOEVXLNP
Wood and Shop That's the Bible! Plenty of advanced topics there :) I still refer to it for the formulae for calculating expansion/contraction for different woods. Or sometimes if I'm too lazy to look it up I just assume 1/8" per foot.
Great tutorial and there were some really nice shots in this video Joshua! Here in Hungary at the lumber yard we usually get wood with the live edge on. It was interesting to see that those boards had pretty straight edges.
So glad you enjoyed it Tamas! While in college I stayed with some friends in Hungary and loved it. Did you see my videos & articles on Frank Klausz, who is from Hungary?
I really appreciate all your videos! I was trying (with no success) my hand at using a hand router plane and it caused LOTS of tear out going across the grain and basically ruined the piece. What am I doing wrong with the router plane that it's so difficult to use? I even tried taking off just a little at a time but, still, no success. Thanks!
Very good explanation of wood. I also went through the same problems as you did. I live in the Richmond area and I don't buy wood that is grown East of about Charlottesville because it is wind blown. It is extra hard to work with. I have been as far as Harrisonburg and Culpeper, Va to get quarter sawn and figured wood. In this video you were at a place close to Charlottesville. Does this lumber mill sell kiln dry material and would you mind sharing this mill location with me? For me it would be a lot closer to get good material. Thank you
What was the name of the hardwood dealer? I live in Forest, VA and the only place I have found was Wurth Wood in Roanoke. Thanks for the video! New to woodworking and this helps a lot.
Do you mind sharing the name of this mill? I'm in Northern Virginia and would love to visit. Looking for bits of hard wood for some small projects including christmas ornaments, knife handles, and mezuzah boxes.
Hi! Actually, we own some acres of forest with mostly cedar and cypress and a kinda white oak (the Japanese variant, Sugi & Hinoki & Kashi). I would really be interested in knowing how to cut (rather break with a wedge) 2-inch by 2-inch by 6-foot long strips (these are not called planks, are they) for a glued tabletop. Traditional Japanese woodworkers use a wedge-like knife tool all the way from a chunk of cut tree trunk, breaking it all the way down until they get planks any size they want for roof tiles etc. For a tabletop, which part of the tree would I need to concentrate on in order to get the best possible stock? The cedar and the cypress I think are softwood types, and the Shirakashi being kinda hard. Any advises would be great.
Andreas, I would start off with Tulip Poplar or Pine. But where do you live? Different countries have different woods. Have you found my dovetail tutorials? It talks all about this. Here are all my joinery videos: woodandshop.com/getting-started-traditional-handtool-woodworking-step-8/
so i'm building a desk fairly soon. i've already picked out the materials and quantities. but i'd like to ask, why do people say that home depot is not a great place to get lumber? i've looked for lumber yards in my area and had no real luck finding something i felt i could trust. the total materials cost that i've drummed up from home depots website runs me about 36 bucks, thats my 4, 1"x6"x8' boards for the surface and the about 40 feet of 2x4 that ill need for the support frames. are you saying that i could get better quality wood from a different supplier? (and yes im very new to wood working haha) to note: i live just south of cleveland OH so if anybody in that area knows of a good place to get good quality lumber without having to empty my wallet, im all ears!
Interesting video and I enjoyed watching. but your "definition" of hardwood is not correct. Hard/soft wood is not determined but physical hardness. A fine example is Balsa, it is actually a hardwood.
you mentioned "rift sawn"... it's not at 60° angle. Wikipedia defines it as, "Rift sawing (radially sawing) is a technique of cutting boards from logs radially so the annual rings are nearly 90° to the faces. When rift-sawn, each piece is cut along a radius of the original log, so that the saw cuts at right angles to the tree's growth rings."
I live in Richmond, VA and am looking for some dried white oak for wooded buckets. I teach a pioneering class at a summer camp and the decision has been made to produce wooden buckets and there is no time to dry our own. So where is this sawmill? Is this Redbrook or Barnes?
Carvin Bugera No, this is a little mill here in Charlottesville, but you can find plenty of lumber mills close to Richmond, rather than Charlottesville.
My fellow Virginian this was a great tutorial,i live in suthwest va. not too far from Charlottesville 4hrs. I can't find any small mills in my area,if you know of any please help,or if the mill you showed allows outsiders to purchase please send me a contact info,thanks CL Wood creations Tazewell Va.
+Dale Franckowiak Very true. It's hardly practical to do this. Best go with a friend, so that you can at least pick the best of the bunch from near the top of the stack.
As far as thickness it should be pointed out that a 1" board is not the same as a 4/4 board. A "dimensional" board, such as a 1x4 is not actually 1" whereas a 4/4 board is actually 1". The same is true for the other quarter sizes compared to standard dimensional lumber.
Four quarter boards are three quarter inch thick. They charge for one inch and the lost quarter inch is due to their "courtesy" planing. You weren't clear on that point.
Question for you. You mention that quarter sawn is more stable than rift sawn. I have actually always heard the opposite. (see www.advantagelumber.com/sawn-lumber/) Did you just mix the two up, or have I just understood it wrong?
Hi Jatato, thanks for your question! I am often wrong about things, but that web link that you sent is most definitely labeled incorrectly. Where they put "rift sawn" should have been "riven". You can check many other sources to see that rift sawn boards have grain that is between 30-60 degrees from the face. You may want to notify that company of their error. They totally left off a rift sawn graphic.
Jotato No, I totally understood that you were just trying to learn Jotato. Thanks for your great question! With so much confusing info out there I wanted to clear things up. I hope you follow my blog and videos!
Hardwood and Softwood are to do with the cell structure of the timber. Hardwood is Pored wood and Softwood is non pored wood. Balsa Wood is actually a hardwood.
Good info thanks. I don't believe anyone looks: stupid, dumb or idiot when is trying to learn about woodworking at a lumberyard, as you keep referring to it. I hope you reconsider our ignorance as being a apprentice.
laikmiandu Try to NOT add the www. Does that work? Just click the link in the description instead of modifying it. You can also just go to my home page and scroll down to the blog section.
Wood and Shop I am just clicking the link in the description, but if I am the only one with the problem, its not a problem - i can get to the article the other way
