Ash gets my vote for a beginner. It takes stain or dye incredibly well, it's beautiful, machines well, it's hard and is cheap in my area. I would definitely use it over red oak any day! Thanks for making an informative video for the beginners, I made many mistakes with expensive wood when I first started in woodworking, wish we had you tube back then, would have saved a few bucks had I had this info back then.
👍 Great analysis. Poplar is not only cheap but if you have the option of selecting for color, you can pull all-sap boards which can be stained to use as a low cost alternative to Maple 🍁, cherry or alder. The grain pattern is remarkably similar!
Thank You!!!! Idk why or how, but out of all the videos I’ve seen. This one has been the most direct, easy to follow, informative, and simple; quite frankly, the best video I’ve come across, in relation to purchasing lumber for beginners. Much appreciated.
Great review & practical comparison. You’re very fortunate to have the hardwood prices you mentioned (~50% cheaper than central Maryland; ironically, Cherry is cheaper in my area - talk about local variance). Don’t have a jointer or thickness planer? Try asking if your lumber yard can 14:16 give you 1 flat face & 1 flat edge (S2S) on the rough sawn boards you select. My supplier does this so cheaply, that it wouldn’t make sense for me to buy a planer or jointer any time this decade. Once you have S2S, you can often finish it off with a table saw or track saw, and a bit of extra sanding.
Thank you for this Will. I am also in the VA area and just getting started with woodworking. As you mentioned in the video, I have been buying lumber from the big stores and have become increasingly frustrated, but have been a little intimidated with going to the local lumber yard. After watching this, I am now a little more confident.
Poplar bows and cups are really easy. The board may look straight but once you cut it on the table it's a different story. Clean Alder is a good alternative to cherry it stains very similar to cherry but you have to use a pre stain. Knotty alder is a good inexpensive wood.
I've always found poplar really stable. It sounds like you may have had some improperly dried (case hardened) poplar. I have always heard of using alder but it doesn't grow east of the Mississippi so isn't really found locally on the east coast and, therefore, more expensive. Cherry on the east coast of the USA is usually cheaper than alder.
With COVID prices, I took a look in a local shop today. $8/BDF for Ambrosia Maple; 8.50/BDF for Cherry; $15/BDF for Walnut in Texas. Guess I’ll pick up woodworking next year :(
I am giving $2 for cherry and $2.50 - $3 for walnut here in Indiana. Need to haul a load down and make some money...I even got my hands on some Kentucky Coffee Bean. It is really nice.
thanks for that, from a guy in SoCal trying to keep his kids busy so he can learn how to make stuff! i'm surprised you didn't include mahogany -- not so plentiful out there? also, the big box stores are more expensive, but at least you can go and find a nice piece, cut it to size, and be on your way; a lot of the hardwood dealers in my area have no patience for beginners and won't give you the time of day -- much less a little help -- if you have questions and/or you're not a contractor laying down $$$$. the yelp reviews alone are all over the map. anyway, thanks for a lot of great info!
Really nice video Will! You should also mention that white oak dust is considered carcinigenic, so wear resparation when working with that as well! I am not sure about red oak sawdust as we do not work with those in Europe as much.
Here in the uk we get so much ash chopped down due to ash dieback (disease) and there’s hundreds of massive trunks just sitting and decaying in the forests. Usually used for firewood but I’ve milled up a few of my own for slabs.
I’m brand new to the hobby at this point, but the guys at my local Rockler encourages me to be the off cut stuff they sell by the pound. I’ve been able to find great pieces for small boxes and dovetail practice material.
The Emerald Ashborer is quite a deadly lil bug infesting the trees. They have some treatments that are helping prevent trees from getting them but the treatments are expensive and are ongoing for the trees life.
don't forget to mention that wood prices increase drastically with thickness e.g. 4/4 zwood at $x/bdft, 8/4 at $2x/bdft and 12/4 at $4x/bdft, and so on. thickness can quickly eat your budget. so it is more economical to laminate for say thick boards, like you need for bed rails, table legs, work benches, etc. some woods are readily available in thick forms (sipo, oak = big trees), while others the prices are ridiculous (cherry = small trees)
Thanks for the video. I will be moving to the Boone, NC area this year (from Texas). Nice to see what's available in that general area. I will miss my mesquite though. What a beautiful wood.
Western NC is excellent for sourcing lumber. After you get settled in Boone head down to West Penn Hardwoods in Hickory. Your jaw will be on the floor the entire visit.
Interesting to see the price differences, even across relatively short distances. You're definitely right about the metro areas being more expensive. You're in VA and I'm in MD (in the Baltimore/Annapolis/DC triangle), and I'm paying one to two dollars per board foot more than you are on almost all of those examples. And birds eye maple, you have as cheaper than walnut, but here birds eye will cost me $18.50/bf for 4/4, whereas walnut will only cost me $9.95/bf for 4/4
Dang, if I ever hear an American complaining about lumber costs... I pay $6.95 CAD / board foot for 4/4 ash. Thanks for the video Will, I've been trying to figure this out recently and your video really helped!
I almost mentioned that where I lived was a big factor in pricing. I was just out in Oregon this October. There will be a video on it. I can literally walk through my back yard and pick out walnut, ash, red maple, white oak, etc. It's a slightly different climate there and there are more hardwoods shipped in. What you have that we don't is big leaf maple!
You mentioned not to buy at a home store. Where would you recommend? Other than the ‘blue’ and ‘orange’ stores the only other store near by would be Carter’s. There are some lumber yards but they typically have pine or green hardwoods.
There are likely some sawyers in your area that aren't tech savvy and don't have websites. Maybe check in with a local woodworking club and "audit" a meeting and ask questions. Check Facebook marketplace or Craigslist. Visit a local furniture maker or there are multiple online hardwood vendors that ship. Also look into Wurth Wood Group.
Great video! Biggest surprise was the prices on the cherry and walnut. I'm up in PA and going price for cherry is $2.50 bf, and walnut is usually $10 or $11 bf.
Josh Sheckler cherry used to be up there with walnut pricing 15-20 years ago. It’s weird for me to think of Cherry as a relatively low cost specie now.
@@tomruth9487 excellent! I've got a lumber yard up here that has all the figured cherry I want, all the way up to 30" wide (premium prices obviously) I'm a little spoiled. Check out irion lumber in wellsboro PA if you want to see some pictures of truly amazing stock
The main difference between FSC certified wood and non-certified wood is paperwork. Most of it all comes from the same forests and is all harvested in the same manner.
I have a piece of quilted maple.....9in.wide x13 in. Long.....I want to cut it in order to make an epoxy charcuterie board. Is there a way I cut it either horizontally or vertically?
Your videos are great! I've been a fan for a long time. Could you please turn off stereo sound? It's incredibly distracting as you change positions/scenes.
I was looking for American lumber prices in USA (i'm from riyadh saudi) the odd thing that it is much cheeper here than in its land for example I just bought walnut lumber almost 2500$ m3 (423 bf=1m3) and cheery for 1500$ both are from USA I think i miss calculate something? Could someone tell me what it is?
There are plenty of online retailers. Bell Forest Products, Colonial Hardwoods are two off the top of my head. Wurth Wood group is another. You probably have some hardwood dealers around you that don't have a big web presence. Ive been doing this for a while and am constantly finding new suppliers and sawyers. Are there any cabinet shops in your area? Stop by and ask. Ive found that people with similar interests are usually willing to share information. Where are you in the world?
Interesting. The prices and some terminology are totally different from you there, and me in Oregon...we call it ambrosia maple, not wormy soft maple. Also, we have access to a different set of domestic hardwoods in this region, with quite a few you don't have, and you have a couple we don't.
It always trips me out when I find out that a youtuber is near me. My question is are you close enough to Winchester, front royal, warrenton area to give me an idea for a hardwood dealer?
@@wmwalkerco I am in Leesburg, what dealers do you use near Sterling or in this area? We also get down to Charlottesville a few times a year. Who do you use down there? Thanks!
Depends on what I'm looking for. Northland Forest Products, hackett Enterprises, C.P. Johnson, Maple Ridge. There's one in downtown Waynesboro I can't remember the name of.
@@wmwalkerco I like Northland as well. If you're in need of dimensional walnut, there's a private dealer near Powhatan that selss kiln dried for $4/bd foot. I can dig up their info if you need
@@wmwalkerco I've talked to them, but I think its someone else. Here's the CL post I found: richmond.craigslist.org/mat/d/amelia-court-house-walnut-4-4/7052376896.html
I find that to be really not good advice. Construction lumber is only dried to about 22% mc. They are Spruce, Pine, or Fir which are very dissimilar density and behavior than kiln dried hardwoods, and I 100% believe it will introduce more frustration and error in your work leading to quitting the craft before you even get started.
@@wmwalkerco that's a major major problem.with all wood no matter where you buy it... I find it to be just as big an issue with hardwoods.... thus is why you need a moisture meter... 90% of hardwood isn't dry when it's sold... but everyone selling it always says it is..... buy twenty 2x6 studs, st8cker them and leave them in your hot garage over the summer and they'll be nice and dry... or use wood from demolition that's already been dried for years.... unless you have a nearly free source of hardwood, you're just tossing money on the toilet using nice wood wjen you are learning how to use the tools.... you'll just have more expensive sawdust and firewood.... lol
We're on different sides of the fence on this one. A 1x4x8 (.75"x3.5"x8') is 1.75bdft. Currently sold at my local Lowe's for $8.87. That's about $5/bdft and it doesn't behave the same way as say Poplar. Also the big box stores are the absolute worst places to buy wood... finding a local source for hardwoods is a bit of an adventure sometimes but you can surely find much better deals than $5/bdft and do the same to the lumber as you suggested in the garage over the summer.
@@wmwalkerco I can certainly see where you're coming from... I'm seeiing in more of a "learn to use the tools first" mentality... and you're more of a "train like you game" mentality... neither is really wrong... just different ways to skin a cat lol That and I have tons of super dry construction lumber laying around from stuff I've demoed and have made some pretty decent furniture out of it hahaha... I also have a bunch of black walnut and white oak I milled and kiln dried and make slab/timber furniture out of... I actually saved it for a long time till I had the right tools to work it correctly and then practiced on junk wood with the tools first... and I was already a carpenter when I started doing both
