Anyone know a source for Southern Yellow Pine in Chicago area?

[Greg L. Brown]

I'm about to build a simple bench and I want to use Southern Yellow Pine (SYP). I got the idea to use SYP from Chris Schwarz's "Workbenches" book. In the book, he recommends buying 2X12 SYP and "picking through the stack" of your local Home Depot (or similar store) to find the best lumber.

Trouble is, I can't find it anywhere in the Chicago (western burbs) area. All the HD's, Lowe's, etc. only stock Douglas Fir or "SPF" (Spruce, Pine, Fur) 2X12's. I've also tried this website: http://www.southernpine.com/ However, all the places from the website are out of business (probably due to the horrible economy).

Anyway, does anyone know if any of the stores in the Chicago area (preferably the Western 'burbs) carry SYP? Or have you ever seen it there? They say on the phone they don't carry it, but maybe some do and they don't realize it.

Menard's (similar to HD) say they will order it, but then I can't pick through it.

Thanks,
Greg

[Tim McEneany]

Hey Greg, I'm in the southwest burbs of chicago and have had no luck finding SYP either. Did you ever find it? If not, what are you using for your bench?

[Bill Whig]

FWIW, Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes (I think) have SYP in Indianapolis. Must be some lumberyards in Chicago, no?

[John Schreiber]

Menards and Lowes have it in Champaign. Not at Home Depot. (That was the status last summer when I bought wood for my bench.)

[Steve Bishop]

Try the Lowes in Schaubmurg (Barrington and Schaumubrg Rd).
On line they currently show 2X12X8 and 2X12X10 in stock.
Last week when I was there they had 2 skids of the 2X12X8 and one skid of 2X12X10. The bin tag says Pine, but the tag stapled to each pieces said Southern Pine.

This is construction lumber, just like in Chris Schwarz's book.

Steve

[Mike Heidrick]

Menards in Bloomington IL has it. Guess that is just a tiny bit closer (40 miles) on I-55/I-74 than Champaign.

[Justin Chen]

Supposedly the Lumber 51 in Aurora/Naperville has some. At least they quoted me a price for it, if you need prices I just need to find my notes book. =)

I decided to use douglas fir instead for my bench as it's readily available at almost every store.

[Tim McEneany]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Hey Justin, how do you like douglas fir for your bench? Got any pics?

[Justin Chen]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Hey Justin, how do you like douglas fir for your bench? Got any pics?

I'm in the process of building still. I've waited a couple of weeks for the lumber to acclimate to the shop.

I've been reading through the workbench thread and seems like the douglas fir benches are liked by their owners.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=124750

[Neal Clayton]

douglas fir is a very similar tree, and could be considered interchangeable in the northern states. in fact the two were interchangeable in the early 1900s/late 1800s when these species were preferred for common domestic lumber.