With only a handful of hours on the weekend and a couple of hours in the evenings, I struggle to complete 6-8 medium sized projects a year without having to make a significant investment in lumber. Compounding this challenge, most retail lumber yards or woodworking supply stores carry mainly 4/4 or 8/4 in any decent supply, and the prices are extremely hard to justify. Moreover, finding any matching boards let alone flitch cut logs is a challenge if not impossible.
I have tried craigslist for one project in the last year, but the overall quality of wood, versus time invested to clean it up, was probably a break-even proposition at best. Craigslist can offer reasonable pricing at anywhere from $2-$4 /bd ft, for most domestic hardwoods, but it’s really hit and miss on quality, volume and availability.
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Advice from an Expert
During the recent WIA conference in St. Charles, IL, I was attending a lecture by Brian Boggs, Designing with Wood Grain. Admittedly, this is usually the third item on my list of priorities when building furniture, with design and execution in the leading the charge. I was completely unaware of how important selection of wood grain, orientation on the log and the overall aesthetic can be impacted by selecting the right wood grain for the right part of a project. Brian contemplates wood grain selection for a single project more than most people do for a lifetime of projects. This is one of the hallmarks of a Brian Boggs chair, and a luxury most of us can not afford. Inspired by this knowledge, I dug a little deeper during the Q&A session following the lecture on some alternative sources to retail and was told to contact Woodmizer.
When Woodmizer sells one of their portable band saw mills, they offer each customer an opportunity to be added to their contact list for the public. This gives woodworkers like me a chance to connect with a local supplier of wood for anything from basic construction materials to premium hardwoods for fine furniture. With little more than a 2 minute phone call to customer service, I was given a list of five contacts within a 20 mile radius of Cincinnati who were listed as reliable sources of lumber.
After leaving messages with four out of the five contacts, I received return calls within 24 hours. All of my contacts were happy to discuss what they had available, or at least describe what they recalled was available from their saw mills. Over the course of my discussions, each gentleman, (and one wife) were enthusiastic and proud of what they have been able to amass over the years.
What I started to learn was that each person was a unique character in and among themselves. The stories they were willing to share regarding how they got into the business, where they go, their special suppliers, etc., painted a colorful tapestry of local lore, part industriousness, and part enthusiast. They all offered price quotes over the phone roughly half of what I pay at retail. $3.75 bd/ft for mid-high grade 8/4 black walnut and cherry (versus $7-$9) was too good to turn down. With my curiosity fully peaked, I couldn’t resist a chance to go meet one of them to see what he could offer.
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George from Cincinnati
Tucked 150 feet beyond a well traveled road in Cincinnati, and a stones throw away from the B&O railroad tracks lay a weathered green garage and two external sheds. George told me to simply come on back on my way home from work, as he’d “probably be out there working on something.” Sure enough, the sounds of a power sander and a barking dog greeted me as I approached the open garage. George was a weathered and dusty gentleman probably in his mid 60’s. A handshake greeting confirmed a lifetime of manual labor and craft. His gnarled knuckles and cracked hands were covered in dust, along with his hair, face and clothes.
My next few posts will be covering what I find in a walnut pile and how it cleans up back at my workshop, then, I'll be following George to a location in Milford, Ohio to see his saw in action cutting some fallen maple and ash trees.