Pete Hotard
02-02-2014, 12:23 AM
Well I know most of you folks that live up North usually have easy access to hardwood lumber, but down here along the gulf coast the story is much the opposite. Despite the numerous hardwood import/export companies in Mobile, AL there is no one that I know of that sells directly to he public (outside of the BORG stores). Came across a guy on Craigslist advertising some Jatoba, wrote it off for a while expecting it to be someone selling unused flooring packages or something. Finally called him today and went to check it out. Turned out to be 4'x4'x4' pallets of 5/4 and 4/4 rough cut Jatoba, random widths and the only drawback was it was all cut into 4' lengths. Picked out a pack around 250 bdft and it only cost me $200. Let me tell you that it feels really nice to finally have some decent stock on hand for different projects, and to have enough to where I'm not coveting every little 4" scrap piece I cut off of it. I think I got a pretty good deal, maybe I didn't but I'm happy and I guess that's all that matters.
This guy's shop(s) are another story for another day but I'll just say that he probably had close to 100,000 bdft of various hardwoods, an entire shop full of woodworking machines, none newer than probably 1950. He had a Jointer that was bigger than my kitchen table. The biggest powermatic bandsaw I've ever seen and at least 4 or 5 lathes of all sizes. I told him I was impressed with his 48" industrial thicknesser and he took me to another shop where he had a thickness planer that looked like a locomotive. It was bigger than my truck. Sorry for the long post but this was a brand new experience for me
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/4D144CE5-8EA3-43B2-8830-F62EA8284D64_zpsssw98atf.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/4D144CE5-8EA3-43B2-8830-F62EA8284D64_zpsssw98atf.jpg.html)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/8DF90564-AE11-4A49-8224-793F84B7EFA3_zpsglanwbwc.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/8DF90564-AE11-4A49-8224-793F84B7EFA3_zpsglanwbwc.jpg.html)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/B661D5AD-28AB-431B-9F52-22575F7DED45_zpsydow0ylr.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/B661D5AD-28AB-431B-9F52-22575F7DED45_zpsydow0ylr.jpg.html)
This guy's shop(s) are another story for another day but I'll just say that he probably had close to 100,000 bdft of various hardwoods, an entire shop full of woodworking machines, none newer than probably 1950. He had a Jointer that was bigger than my kitchen table. The biggest powermatic bandsaw I've ever seen and at least 4 or 5 lathes of all sizes. I told him I was impressed with his 48" industrial thicknesser and he took me to another shop where he had a thickness planer that looked like a locomotive. It was bigger than my truck. Sorry for the long post but this was a brand new experience for me
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/4D144CE5-8EA3-43B2-8830-F62EA8284D64_zpsssw98atf.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/4D144CE5-8EA3-43B2-8830-F62EA8284D64_zpsssw98atf.jpg.html)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/8DF90564-AE11-4A49-8224-793F84B7EFA3_zpsglanwbwc.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/8DF90564-AE11-4A49-8224-793F84B7EFA3_zpsglanwbwc.jpg.html)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy104/petehotard/B661D5AD-28AB-431B-9F52-22575F7DED45_zpsydow0ylr.jpg (http://s782.photobucket.com/user/petehotard/media/B661D5AD-28AB-431B-9F52-22575F7DED45_zpsydow0ylr.jpg.html)