Armstrong Millworks is my go-to lumber supplier, who is yours?

[Ole Anderson]

I stopped by Armstrong Millworks in Highland MI this morning to pick up some more Hickory for my kitchen project. I consider myself fortunate to have such a great supplier just 10 minutes from home. I have been going there for 35 years now, and God willing I hope to keep going there for many years to come. They are a family business and have been around since 1948, a trait shared, I am sure, by many other lumber suppliers. They have 5 family members working there now, all familiar faces. They even have a web presence, although they do not post pricing or take mail orders.
www.armstrongmillworks.com (http://www.armstrongmillworks.com) I love the old picture on their website showing the old tractor powered planer.

They give you a cart and you have free reign to sort boards and pick the ones you need. Two rules: no boards on the floor and straighten the piles when you are done. In most cases, while you wait they will plane them to your thickness and let you help by catching boards as they come off the planer or sander. In my recent case, we used their wide belt sander to thickness the Hickory due to it's propensity for chipout on the planer. They have lots of old iron including a couple of 15 hp Powermatic planers, a jointer with a deck the size of an aircraft carrier, a widebelt sander, a big 'ol resaw bandsaw, a moulder, straight line saw, edge sander and lots of other toys. They even have a little old green Dewalt RAS like the one I learned on.

I have no horse in the race here, I just thought you would like to see where I get my wood and see a few pics of their wood stash and equipment. Anyone else care to share where you get their wood, and why you like your supplier?

Here are a few pics:

[Ole Anderson]

And a few more pics of the mostly old iron (enjoy!):

[John TenEyck]

Now that's a treasure, for sure. Lucky for you. I used to have a small wood mill 1/2 mile from my home that had a pretty good supply of common hard and softwoods, and I could order any form of plywood I wanted through them, all at very fair prices. They had some old machines, too, and would let me catch pieces coming out of them just as you described. I think they charged something like $15-20/hour, operator included! Sadly, they went out of business when the founder died, as have several other local wood distributors that were within 25 miles of my home. I occasionally buy lumber from a small woodshop about 10 miles from home who has a pretty good selection and OK prices, but mostly I mill my own lumber these days with a chainsaw mill from logs that I get for free from an arborist friend. Hard work, but very satisfying to take a tree to a piece of furniture - and know the entire history of the wood.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

John

[Bob Turkovich]

Ole,

+1 on Armstrong Millworks! About a 25 minute drive for me. They will even (for a small fee) run your glue-up panels through their sander. Have you ever had to go into their red barn for some of the thicker stuff? For a novice like me, it's an amazing place.

Speaking of glue-ups, I can't believe you took all those pictures and didn't get one of the sawhorses they use for their glue-ups. (6" plus of dried glue drippings on the legs...) :D

[Rod Sheridan]

Ole, thanks for the tour of your local mill.

I use www.centurymill.com (http://www.centurymill.com) north of Toronto, seems very similar to Armtrong Mills, family owened, services etc. We're both lucky..........Rod.

[Ole Anderson]

Ole,

+1 on Armstrong Millworks! About a 25 minute drive for me. They will even (for a small fee) run your glue-up panels through their sander. Have you ever had to go into their red barn for some of the thicker stuff? For a novice like me, it's an amazing place.

Speaking of glue-ups, I can't believe you took all those pictures and didn't get one of the sawhorses they use for their glue-ups. (6" plus of dried glue drippings on the legs...) :D

The boards I got today were in the upper level of the barn where they keep mostly wide and thick stuff as well as a lot of Red Oak. They even had some 10" wide mostly clear Hickory boards 16' long. I have been in the lower level when picking over some Teak. I got their last couple of boards of Ipe a few years ago to redo a garden bench with nice cast iron ends, but some rotting Asian wood for the slats. I think they keep wood in the other out buildings too.

I was planning on getting a shot of the glue up sawhorses, but totally forgot until I got home. I missed the old wood burning furnace too.

[Matt Meiser]

I've never actually been there--pretty long drive from my place. Thanks for the pics.

I usually buy smaller quantities from Ken Craft Company in Toledo, OH. I also buy from Johnson's in Charlotte, MI, and from Hickory and Oak in Decatur, MI. And I've bought cherry from Irion Lumber in PA when I needed REALLY nice stuff for a table that I wouldn't have been able to get locally.

[Bob Turkovich]

I've never actually been there--pretty long drive from my place. Thanks for the pics.

I usually buy smaller quantities from Ken Craft Company in Toledo, OH. I also buy from Johnson's in Charlotte, MI, and from Hickory and Oak in Decatur, MI. And I've bought cherry from Irion Lumber in PA when I needed REALLY nice stuff for a table that I wouldn't have been able to get locally.


Matt,

Like Ole, I've got nothing to gain by promoting Armstrong. They're just up US-23 - on M-59 about 4 miles east. That's gotta be closer then Charlotte and (for sure) Decatur but not Toledo (unless it's the SE side of Toledo.)

I've heard good things about Johnson's as well but haven't needed to go elsewhere for hardwood.

BTW - if you (or anyone else) go there, they take only cash or check.

[Matt Meiser]

I rarely go to either of those places. Hickory and Oak brings a load to the Ann Arbor area every spring and I've had Johnson's deliver as much as I've been there. There' delivery charge is less than the gas to get there.

The biggest issue for me getting to Armstrong is that I'd have to get up so early and get moving on a Saturday. Other than that, I've only heard good things about them.

[Ryan Baker]

+2 for Armstrong ... but I don't get there very often. It's between 1 and 1.5 hour drive one way for me to get there. I really wish they were open longer on Saturdays. There's definitely some good stuff in the red barn.

I haven't made it up to Johnson's in Charlotte yet, but i've been meaning to get there sometime. I need to go check out Public Lumber in Detroit too.

[Jim Andrew]

Forget what a lucky guy I am sometimes. When I need lumber, just go to the barn and load some up. Course I had to put it in there. Plan to build some frames, so I don't have to pack it in the barn. My old back can't hardly handle it any more.