Looking for lumber in Indianapolis area

[Ernie Hobbs]

I have recently moved from Alabama to Indianapolis, IN. I'm setting up my shop and looking for a few good suppliers of lumber. I'd prefer a local sawmill or good local place where I can get good prices on good quality hard woods. Any suggestions?

Also, what are the most common local woods around here? In AL, I used mostly cherry, walnut, and soft maple. My old sawmill guy sold any of those for $1.50-$1.75 a b.f. (great deal)

Thanks for your help.

[Bond Turner]

One of the best suppliers I have found is Northwest Lumber:

http://www.northwestlumberco.com/

They have great wood at good prices and the service is excellent.

Hope this helps. Thank you.

[Bill Fellmy]

Northwest Lumber is my number one choice in the Indy area. I have purchased cherry, maple, walnut, poplar and basswood from them as well as cherry and oak plywood. Prices will be more than what you mentioned in your post. I also second the comment on their good service. They are helpful and very pleasant to deal with.

[Matt Meiser]

Frank Miller Lumber is in Union, City, IN. I've seen their truck at my local lumber dealer and I've been happy with what I get from the latter.

[Bill Fellmy]

Matt is correct about Frank E Miller Lumber. They are on the Ohio-Indiana border about an hour and a half from Indianapolis. Their once-a-year blowout sale is next Saturday morning.

[Charlie Barnes]

You might also want to try Wilhelm Lumber also near the Indiana-Ohio border. I've found their prices very competitive and worth the drive from the east side of Cincinnati.

Wilhelm Lumber
9098 Saint Peters Rd.
Brookville, IN, 47012-8320
Phone: 812-576-3380

Regarding your question about species of wood commonly available, we have a pretty good selection in this area. Some of the most common include Red and White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Poplar and still some Ash. Give Wilhelm a call and they can send out their latest price list for those and more.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

I suggest calling Carter-Lee Lumber if you can't find what you want at Northwest Lumber. CL, I believe, has ipe and redwood that NW doesn't carry. There are sawyers in outlying areas, but I am not familiar with any of them.

[Ernie Hobbs]

Thanks for the info. I'll check these out.

The move was a company relocation so, I had the moving company bring my lumber with me- I brought enough wood to work on the next few pieces on my to-do list.

First on the list is building my shop. I took advantage of a lousy Indy housing market, coupled with a good housing market in Huntsville, AL and was able get a bigger house for $15K less than we sold ours for. The new one has a 3-car garage so, I am going to build a wall before the third bay and make that a dedicated shop, as opposed to having to share my shop in the last house with the mower, bikes, strollers, etc. Since the shop space will only be 12' by 20', I need to be smart about my use of floor, walls and headroom. I am going to build two lumber racks overhead- one over the garage door (that I intend to keep down most of the time) for long stuff and the other will be about 4' deep for short stock on the other wall. This should help keep my wood better organized and help make use of the tall ceiling. Any suggestions?

[Rob Diz]

You might also want to try Wilhelm Lumber also near the Indiana-Ohio border. I've found their prices very competitive and worth the drive from the east side of Cincinnati.

Wilhelm Lumber
9098 Saint Peters Rd.
Brookville, IN, 47012-8320
Phone: 812-576-3380

Regarding your question about species of wood commonly available, we have a pretty good selection in this area. Some of the most common include Red and White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Poplar and still some Ash. Give Wilhelm a call and they can send out their latest price list for those and more.

If you are going to Wilhelm, I would be certain to call first both about hours an to let them know what you were looking for. I called a few hours ahead when I was looking for some 8/4 cherry. they had plenty, but it was under a 1000 bf of other wood that woudl have to be moved. If I had given them enough notice, they could have gotten it out for me, but I was driving by.

I also recall that they had very reasonable prices on s3s for your stock.

[Randy Klein]

Matt is correct about Frank E Miller Lumber. They are on the Ohio-Indiana border about an hour and a half from Indianapolis. Their once-a-year blowout sale is next Saturday morning.

Do you have any more info on this or a link about it?

[Larry Richardson]

Not to hijack this thread, but I am in a similar situation having recently moved to Louisville. I have found some, but nothing worth noting.

Any favorites?

[Bill Fellmy]

Do you have any more info on this or a link about it?

Randy, they have a website. Just Google frank miller lumber. You'll have to call them, however, to get details about the upcoming sale.

[Bob Schlowsky]

I am new to the Atlanta Ga area- what is the name of the lumber supplier you liked in Alabama?
We live in the northwest Ga area so it would be a decent 3 hour road trip. I found some local sawyers here, but so far the lumber quality versus the price hasn't been great. I also like to buy local, but finding good suppliers seems to be the hardest part.

[Paul Johnstone]

I am going to build a wall before the third bay and make that a dedicated shop, as opposed to having to share my shop in the last house with the mower, bikes, strollers, etc. Since the shop space will only be 12' by 20', I need to be smart about my use of floor, walls and headroom. I am going to build two lumber racks overhead- one over the garage door (that I intend to keep down most of the time) for long stuff and the other will be about 4' deep for short stock on the other wall. This should help keep my wood better organized and help make use of the tall ceiling. Any suggestions?

You may want to reconsider walling off part of the garage if you don't have to. It's nice to have the flexiblity to move a car out of the garage and expand as needed. I know that if you wall it off, you still have that option (by going out the shop door and into the garage.. but unless you have a very compelling reason to put a divider wall in, I would advise against it.

I walled off part of my basement for my shop and now I wish I hadn't. Sure, I could always tear out part of the wall, but that would involve moving the cyclone, the clamp rack on one side of the wall and the lumber rack on the other side.. just too much inertia

[Ernie Hobbs]

You may want to reconsider walling off part of the garage if you don't have to. It's nice to have the flexiblity to move a car out of the garage and expand as needed. I know that if you wall it off, you still have that option (by going out the shop door and into the garage.. but unless you have a very compelling reason to put a divider wall in, I would advise against it.

I walled off part of my basement for my shop and now I wish I hadn't. Sure, I could always tear out part of the wall, but that would involve moving the cyclone, the clamp rack on one side of the wall and the lumber rack on the other side.. just too much inertia

It would be nice to have the entire garage as my shop but, one of the most frustrating things in recent years is having the mower, bikes, strollers, and general garage junk in my way when I need to do a project. Although I'll have less floor space, I will have a dedicated shop that will be separate from non-woodworking activities. Also, before, everything in the garage always had a layer of wood dust on it. Now, I can contain the dust better in the shop and have better dust collection options.