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Brian Leavitt
12-02-2016, 5:23 PM
I ran across this site earlier this week. They sell hardwoods (Duh) and have a "Laserable" section. Their prices seem quite nice. I ordered a 4x24 sheet of cherry ($4) and a couple sheets of 12x24 baltic birch ($2 each) ply to try out. I was wondering if anyone else here has used this company before. I just got my order in today so I'm planning on testing it out tonight. Everything came nice and flat . So far so good...

Bert Kemp
12-02-2016, 6:56 PM
I don't know but $18.40 for 1/2 brd ft of lumber seems pretty steep to me considering I can buy it for 8$ or less a brd ft

Brian Leavitt
12-02-2016, 7:29 PM
I'm comparing prices to what I can get locally, which is pretty much whatever lowers has. The Baltic birch ply is way cheaper than what I can get around here. If you have a better online source, I'd be interested to know. My sources locally are limited.

Bert Kemp
12-02-2016, 8:21 PM
yea the BB is about right but the hardwood yikes.and buying online then paqy shipping nope

Brian Leavitt
12-03-2016, 8:43 AM
I don't mind the shipping. I would pay $15 for a warped 3' x 4' piece of the same ply locally. If I need a bunch of it, I'd be saving a good bit online, and getting flat material.

Andrew Holloway
12-04-2016, 3:48 PM
I used to order from here often. First order was amazing, then every order after that the quality of the wood got worse and worse. Their only comment was that wood is a natural product and always varies.
I'm not talking slight variation here, the first order was amazing, straight grain, great colour, zero knots. Last order was barely usable, threw out about half the sheets, black knots (and holes!) all over, ugly grain pattern, rough finish in spots. Ask for a photo of the sheets before they ship them.

David Somers
12-04-2016, 5:30 PM
Brian,

Not familiar with Nokesville so not sure what larger city is near you. But often there is a lumber yard in a mid to large city that will carry BB at a good price. Here we have Crosscut Hardwoods and they do $15 for a 5x5 3mm BB which is good. Quality has been excellent. My machine is a 900 wide so they kindly cut it down for me if asked. No charge. Otherwise I have to move a lot of stuff to be able to cut it down myself. Easy enough in nice weather, but harder with rain. Not that it rains here at all in the winter.

I have always had good luck with the hardwood from Ooch. Never ordered sheet stock from them so no experience there. I alternate between local Seattle sources and Ooch depending on what the Seattle/Tacoma stuff looks like.

Anyway....Do some calling and googling and dig into nearby cities. You may find someone that has, or can get BB at a better price.

Dan Hollis
12-04-2016, 5:45 PM
Crosscut charges $2 per cut after the first one, which can skyrocket the cost on sheets quickly. Sadly Crosscut is pretty much the only place to get A1 ply or bamboo ply.

Dunn lumber is a much better deal, they do any number of cuts for free. They also have lots of plywood in their cutoff bins where you can get massive discounts, 50% or more.

David Somers
12-04-2016, 5:48 PM
Dan,

Familiar with Dunn, but only over in Ballard. They had little to no BB at the time. Which one have you been using?
Have never had Crosscut charge me to cut the BB. But then I tend to only do a few sheets at a wack. I dont have a good dry storage area where I can guarantee they stay flat so I try to buy when I know I can use it quickly. Same with MDF.

BTW. I am down in the Arbor Heights area of West Seattle. What corner of town are you in? Just curious.

Dave

Dan Hollis
12-04-2016, 7:17 PM
I live on the eastside, so i go to dunn in kirkland and bellevue.

Crosscut charged me $36 yesterday to cut down a bunch of 8x4 sheets down to size - 24"x16". I bought $250 worth of plywood so you'd think they would throw the cuts in for free. But nope, $250 isn't enough. They wanted to throw a $36 charge on top of that. Don't know how you persuaded them to do it for free. I still have the receipt here. The sales person is Scott Trumbo.

Oh yeah, the Crosscut cuts were really really rough. Dunn got the sheets nearly perfect.

Brian Leavitt
12-05-2016, 10:43 AM
Dave,
I do have one lumber yard fairly close by in Manassas, but they do not carry Baltic in 1/8" thickness. There's an 84 Lumber a bit further away. I don't know if they carry BB or not, but their service is so bad I refuse to shop there.

David Somers
12-05-2016, 6:45 PM
Dan,

Next time I am down there I will see what they do regarding cutting ply. Last few times I got some I asked them to cut it and they just did it. I didnt persuade them at all.
Will check with the one in Normandy Park and see what their prices are like. That is fairly close to me in West Seattle.

Brian. Bummer. Will look through some of my notes and see what other sources I have that might help you.
I know that Home Depot, and usually Lowes carry 1/4 birch ply. It is not a high end product and may have more internal knots than you want. But it was not expensive. You might ask them if they can get 1/8".

You might also check with your lumber yard in Manassas and ask if they can get 1/8" BB and have it brought in with a regular order. That would at least save you shipping. Some will do it, some wont.

Brian Leavitt
12-05-2016, 10:04 PM
Thank you, David. I will give the yard a call and see if they can get me 1/8" BB.

Keith Downing
12-05-2016, 11:32 PM
The problem as has been mentioned is the shipping. Unlike many other goods or services, where the more you order the more economical the shipping becomes, buying wood often works the other way. If you get over size limitations or certain weights the price starts to rise not fall.

And don't even think about paying the shipping to return things. Shipping both ways would almost always cost more than the wood.

Dan Hollis
12-06-2016, 12:48 AM
If you want 1/8" ply and don't care about one side, door skins are by far the cheapest way to get it. Only downside is the odd size - 3'x6' instead of 4'x'8'.

Brian Leavitt
12-06-2016, 9:13 PM
The problem as has been mentioned is the shipping. Unlike many other goods or services, where the more you order the more economical the shipping becomes, buying wood often works the other way. If you get over size limitations or certain weights the price starts to rise not fall.

And don't even think about paying the shipping to return things. Shipping both ways would almost always cost more than the wood.
I don't really work with too much wood at the moment. I'm going to check in with the local place to see if they are willing to get in some 1/8" BB, but if they won't, I won't be too broken up about it. I care more that the wood is flat than anything else. I don't think the Lowe's here carries a single piece of flat wood.

Brian Leavitt
12-06-2016, 9:14 PM
If you want 1/8" ply and don't care about one side, door skins are by far the cheapest way to get it. Only downside is the odd size - 3'x6' instead of 4'x'8'.
This has never crossed my mind. I'll have to check it out.

David Somers
12-06-2016, 9:57 PM
Brian,

If your sheet stock is not perfectly flat, or even if it is, store it between two thick sheets of ply. 3/4 or 5/8". And then use 2x4's on edge to clamp it together like you might clamp down a leaf press. That will help prevent a warp if it started straight. And it might reduce a warp if it developed later. Storing flat is generally better than vertical as well.

Lastly, depending on your stock, stout magnets can help hold your stock flat on the last bed if the honeycomb is steel. I use N52 magnets from KJMagnetics.com. 1/2 x 1/2 by 1" N52. The size fits easil on top of your stock and under the cone of the lens tube.

A couple of cautions though. These are vicious strong magnets and somewhat dangerous. Bare with me. First, magnets are dangerous with small kids and pets. If they swallow 2 or more they can end up in adjacent sections of the digestive track and then snap together, cutting off blood flow. Ugly things happen. And Doctors are often not cued into this as a possible. The second caution is these puppies will snap together dangerously fast and hard. They can and will shatter if allowed to do this, endangering skin if it is caught between two magnets, and endangering your eyes with flying fragments. They are really fast and strong. I keep a set of 8 (in the size I mentioned) on the left front panel of my lasers cabinet, spaced apart so they are far enough apart not to attract each other. Then I lay them on the ply as needed to hold down the sheet and remove any bend. Keep in mind how you do this too. If you are bowing from one end to another try placing it concave down. Then put your magnets in the center to pull that one point down. If you lay it concave up you have to put magnets all around the edges to pull them all down. Play and see how it goes.

A lot of folks will also use steel bars, thin enough to stay under the lens cone. That is another option and avoids flying magnets and obstructed bowels. Unless your little kid or pet is able to swallow a steel bar of course.

Dan Hollis
12-07-2016, 1:05 AM
Would love to find a good source for 1/8" MDF core plywood.

Brian Leavitt
12-07-2016, 10:07 AM
I have some magnets that I use at the shop for hold downs. I haven't tried them on a honeycomb, though. The bed of the Fusion is ferrous and the magnets are certainly an essential accessory. I should buy some to keep at home as well.

David Somers
12-07-2016, 3:20 PM
Dan,

Since I have a good source of ply here in Seattle I have never tried mail ordering any. "When I google 1/8" mdf core plywood" I come up with quite a few places that make that in a variety of veneers including birch. I found most were doing it as Face Side with an A grade veneer and the back side being a much lesser grade veneer. Columbiaforestproducts.com lets you select what you want with facings A through D grade and back faces 1 through 4. And they have good descriptions of what each grade means if you are not familiar with them. They do them all in a variety of COre's including MDF.

Do a bit of googling and I am sure you will find more. But that gives you 1 possibility to start.

Also, although this entails more work, if you can't find what you want, for example maybe you can find a reasonably priced and shipped 1/8" mdf core Birch Face A grade but the back faces are ughhhhh. You could get some 2x8 or 4x8 sheets of veneer with a PSA backing and cover the grundgy side with that. Just a thought. Obviously a sheet of PSA veneer adds to your materials cost.

Hope that helps a bit.

Dave

David Somers
12-07-2016, 3:26 PM
Brian,

They are definitely handy. And available in a wide variety of sizes. I did not have as much luck with the N42 grade magnets BTW. They were the same size but not as strong. The N52 are strong though. I have been going to weight training so I will have the strength to break two magnets apart when they accidentally pull together. I figure if I can get up to a bench press of 600lbs I will be pretty close. Even if you don't buy from KJMagnetics you might look at their site since they have a lot of good information on magnets, including a good comparable rating of their attractive strength. It is a good site just as a resource. The magnets you usually find in a hardware store are the weaker N42's or lower. They might work find for you, but try them first before you buy a bunch of them.

Dan Hollis
12-08-2016, 1:15 AM
Dan,

Since I have a good source of ply here in Seattle I have never tried mail ordering any. "When I google 1/8" mdf core plywood" I come up with quite a few places that make that in a variety of veneers including birch. I found most were doing it as Face Side with an A grade veneer and the back side being a much lesser grade veneer. Columbiaforestproducts.com lets you select what you want with facings A through D grade and back faces 1 through 4. And they have good descriptions of what each grade means if you are not familiar with them. They do them all in a variety of COre's including MDF.

Do a bit of googling and I am sure you will find more. But that gives you 1 possibility to start.

Also, although this entails more work, if you can't find what you want, for example maybe you can find a reasonably priced and shipped 1/8" mdf core Birch Face A grade but the back faces are ughhhhh. You could get some 2x8 or 4x8 sheets of veneer with a PSA backing and cover the grundgy side with that. Just a thought. Obviously a sheet of PSA veneer adds to your materials cost.

Hope that helps a bit.

Dave


believe me i have tried the usual google places. all of the ones i have found so far only deal wholesale and won't sell to private individuals - only licensed contractors.

i have already contacted columbia aka purebond -- they tell you the same thing -- they wont sell direct. hit up their resellers. oh sorry, contractors only. no individauls. walzcraft - same thing, contractors only. dixieply - same.


if it really were just as simple as a google search and hitting up distributors, i wouldn't be posting here. :(

looks like i'll have to buy plain 1/8 mdf and veneer it myself.

David Somers
12-08-2016, 1:24 AM
Hey Dan,

Another thought for you, although sneaky. Because I have been doing Craftfairs and art shows I had to get a state and city business license. A side benefit of that is that it has allowed me to deal with every wholesaler I have approached so far. Though I havent gone to a lumber wholesaler yet where they may actually require a full fledged contractors license. If the Business license tactic fails do you have a bud or at least an aquaintenance who would buy for you? The adult version of an underage teen trying to get an adult to get you a 6 pack? <grin>

If you do the veneering try a sheet of PSA backed veneer. It is way easier than playing with contact cement. PSA is Pressure Sensitive Adhesive BTW.

Dave