Wood and Duct supplier in Chicago Area

[Bill Stoffels]

I am looking for referances on two things:

1. who knows of a good wood distributor I am looking for Ash , Maple, Cherry, Walnut and Oak to stock my shop. I do not have to have Kiln dried, air dried is fine 4/4 or better.

2. Anyone have a good ducting supplier , I only have a 3 hp dust collector and a small 1300 ft shop so not a lot of runs but want it to be efficient, hopefully I will not have to use spiral wound. mostly needed for Large radius elbows trying to stay with all 6" for the main runs

Thanks in advance

[Michael Fross]

Hello Bill,

I'm just up the road from you in Woodridge, IL. Owl hardwoods in Lombard has a great selection of HW from all over the world.

http://owlhardwood.com/

However, they are not inexpensive. If you find other good local sources, please let me know.

Best of luck and nice to see another local creeker.

Regards,

Michael

[Bill Stoffels]

Michael thanks for the note on OWL , I am looking for a bulk buy say 500 ft total of different species, rough sawn air dried.
Owl is EXPENSIVE
Keep in touch I will let you know what I find.

[Lars Stole]

I sometimes buy locally from Owl in the suburbs; when I am desperate and willing to pay a bit more I go to WoodWorld around George and Western in the city.

If you are going to order 500bf, however, you should seriously consider mailorder. For example, I have ordered from Westpenn hardwoods and have been very pleased with their quality and prices. They specialize more in exotics, but they still have reasonable prices on domestics (lower than Owl). The $250 that you pay in freight and will largely be offset by the Illinois - Cook county sales tax and the lower prices. Something to consider.

As for METAL ductwork, the local Menards near me has reasonably priced 6" metal ductwork; if you need something specialized (wyes, long elbows, etc), Oneida has what you need with free shipping on $100+ orders. I could not find a good local supplier for 6" and 7" S&D PVC, so I went with metal.

Good luck.

[Keith Barkhau]

Although neither is in Chicago, there are two places I've bought from out west of Chicago (between Chicago and Rockford). The first is:

The Hardwood Connection
1810 W. State St.
Sycamore, IL 60178
(815) 895-8733

They have a real nice selection, including some figured stuff--prices are better than Owl/Woodcraft/Rockler, but not the cheapest I've seen. As an example, 4/4 Cherry is $7.50, 4/4 Ash $3.20, although they'll give a discount at the quantities you're looking at (10% or 15%).

The second place is:
Kirkland Sawmill
606 W. Main
Kirkland, IL 60146
(815) 522-6150

As the name indicates, they are a sawmill and as such are not quite as "retail focused", but are great people to work with. Prices are about 2 bucks cheaper per bf than The Hardwood Connection, but they don't stock as many species (although I believe they have all the ones you're looking for). They are about 2 miles from The Hardwood Connection, so you can easily hit both of they in the same trip. I was just out there a month or so ago and they had a huge selection of nice looking cherry at the time. BTW, they only take cash or checks.

A third place I go--and my favorite of the three--is:
Kettle Moraine Hardwoods
195 S. 27th St.
Caledonia, WI 53108
(262) 835 - 9212
www.kmhardwoods.com (http://www.kmhardwoods.com)

Its a little bit of a haul north of Chicago (especially for me comming from Naperville) but worth the trip. They've got a good selection, although not as big as Kirkland, and I've found their people to be quite helpful. Plus, unless they're really swamped, they will straight line rip and s2s while you wait for just a few cents/bf. I've bought probably 1000bf from them over the last couple of years and have been quite happy. They've got their pricelist on their website, so you can see if they meet your needs.

All three of these guys are kiln dried--I don't know of anyone selling air dried, although there are probably some guys with protable sawmills out there who do.

Can't help you on the ducting--as with Lars, I've gotten what little I've needed from Menards also.

[Bill Stoffels]

Thanks ,
The ducting issue is closed and I have 4 places for wood in bulk
I appreciate your input.
Bill

[Wade Ellis]

Hi Guys,
I live in West Chicago and have a woodmizer. Right now I
have quite a bit of very nice walnut and white oak. I also
have some cherry that is not quite dry yet. I dont come
across much ash or hard maple, but I do have some soft
maple and elm, both of witch I think are underrated as
furniture woods. Let me know if you are interested.
cell# 630-939-1752