Hardwood suppliers in Southwestern PA

[Mike Package]

Particularly Westmoreland County - Greensburg, Latrobe, Somerset, Johnstown, etc. - can anybody make any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

[David Keller NC]

Depends. If you want superior stock in matched sets, wide widths, and high figure, Irion Lumber is pretty much "it". And they're in PA.

A lot of us would dearly love to be able to go by their place and pick stuff out (and not have to pay the freight companies and arm and a leg).

Their stock isn't cheap, but it isnt' expensive either, for what you get. Well worth a road trip, IMO.

[Peter Scoma]

Might be a serious drive but its hard to beat Hearne Hardwoods. They're in Oxford.

PS

[Bob Reda]

You have West Elizebeth lumber in Elizebeth. There is also Homecraft veneer in Latrobe

[Ben Abate]

Mike,

May be you should tell us what you are looking for. The other guys mentioned a few good places, but West Elizabeth is pretty close and they sell some pretty nice stuff. I live in Westmoreland county also. I have a few local guys if your looking for regular old cherry, white oak quarted, red oak, maple and so on. My regular fellow that I always check first had a mishaps.... his son was burning trash and lit the Sawmill on fire.....GONE... to the ground... he said he will not rebuild.... too bad, good guy, good prices

if I can be of help let me know

Ben

[Mike Package]

Mike,

May be you should tell us what you are looking for. The other guys mentioned a few good places, but West Elizabeth is pretty close and they sell some pretty nice stuff. I live in Westmoreland county also. I have a few local guys if your looking for regular old cherry, white oak quarted, red oak, maple and so on. My regular fellow that I always check first had a mishaps.... his son was burning trash and lit the Sawmill on fire.....GONE... to the ground... he said he will not rebuild.... too bad, good guy, good prices

if I can be of help let me know

Ben

Wow, that stinks! Hopefully nobody was hurt?

I would like to be more specific, but this is all pretty new to me so I'm not sure that I even could be more specific. My interests lie in small furniture projects and solidbody electric guitars. I was aware of West Elizabeth - hopefully I'll be able to make a trip in that direction in the next couple of weeks...

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.

[Joe Hardesty]

A trip to Lancaster could definitely be worth the trip because you could easily hit Hearne, Groff & Groff, and Talarico all in close range. Here are the web links:

http://www.talaricohardwoods.com
http://www.groffslumber.com
http://www.hearnehardwoods.com

[James Walters]

Rose Lumber in Jennerstown, on top the mountain
I used to get my rough cut lumber there, til i moved to Florida.
Very nice selection too. You won't be disappointed

[Ben Abate]

Mike,

If you are anywhere near the northern end of Westmoreland Co. you might give Miller Niksic a call at Niksic Lumber, 724/295/9375 he located in Allegheny Twp. between Freeport and Vandergrift off of RT 356 up the hill coming out of Freeport heading towards Leechburg. Make a left on I believe it is Leseco/Bagdad Rd....he's a good guy. Not the cheapest, but his lumber is usually clear and the end checks are always cut off. You usually get a good yield from his lumber.....I buy some lumber from him, but I can usually get it a bit cheaper right from the sawer

hope this helps
Ben

[David Keller NC]

"My interests lie in small furniture projects and solidbody electric guitars."

If that's the case and you're building in the traditional, Gibson-type style, you will probably want to visit Irion first. They are one of the very few lumber dealers in the country, much less pennsylvania, that routinely stock large, very high quality mahogany. Getting a 14" wide 12/4 dense, straight-grain genuine mahogany board from them is routine. They have mahogany in widths up to 52".

They also stock figured maple that is easily the best I've every seen from any dealer, and is far, far cheaper than what specialty instrument and gunstock dealers charge.

[Mike Package]

I just wanted to update this thread in case it is helpful to anyone else. First, thanks for all the tips.

So far I've stopped by Rose Lumber in Jennerstown. Nice folks - he said they do nothing thicker than 4/4. I picked up some decent figured maple, though. Price was OK, wood was OK. I'll probably be back from time to time.

My second stop was not mentioned in this thread which is kind of surprising to me. Maybe nobody knows they're there? I sure didn't, until I happened to stumble on their website and email them. Gutchess Lumber. They have an enormous facility right on the edge of Latrobe. Although their website doesn't mention it, they do have a retail area. The retail area has no signage, so it's kind of hard to find. If anybody needs directions, let me know.

Gutchess was great. The salesman, whose name I didn't catch, was extremely helpful. You can back your vehicle right into the space to load up. A good selection of woods and better prices than Rose by a fair margin. Since I'm new to this, I just pay whatever they're asking and don't ask questions so as not to show my a$$ :) . But anyway, I got exactly what I needed for my Fender-style guitar bodies and necks. I'll definitely be back.