Ordering wood from internet

[Jim Podsedly]

I ordered 100bf of lumber from an internet company. I received the delivery yesterday and measured all the wood. I was generous when measuring (in the companies favor). I had the wood straight edged and i took that into account when measuring. if a board measured 5.25 i counted it as 6".

Well it came out to 94.01bf. I called and the company will be investigating and making it right.

My question is that is this normal? Would like to hear other creeker's experiences with the preciseness of their orders.

Thanks,
jim

[Quesne Ouaques]

I must admit I have no experience with internet wood purchases, but I am very curious.

What company did you use? What species did you order? Are you satisfied with the quality of the product(s)?

I have thought several times about ordering on-line for certain exotic products. Being in eastern PA, though, I have quite a number of excellent lumberyards within easy driving distance for nearly everything I need.

[Jim Podsedly]

I have used woodworkers source before and they were great. A little pricier than others but very good quality.
http://woodworkerssource.net/

This time i used internetlumer.com. I order 100bf of 4/4 steamed #1C cherry, 25bf of soft maple and 20bf of 8/4 cherry-fas.
http://internetlumber.com/

The wood from internetlumber.com was not packed very well at all, just on skids and strapped down with metal straps that left indentations in the top boards. Most of the wood is nice looking though. For #1C steamed I cannot be too critical.

They said they will make up the difference that I measured.

Jim

[Neil Lamens]

Hi Jim:

I've ordered 4 times from Internetlumber.com. Never the amount that you have, but specific boards of a species. No machining as you have.

One of the shipments was damaged, I notified them with digital pictures and found the problem rectified surprisingly fast.

I have ordered from them since without an issue. Hopefully customer service will come through again for you.

Neil

[Stephen Clem]

I ordered 20BF Red Oak FAS HobbyPak from internetlumber.com. FAS has to be at least 83% useable. The wood came in four 7' long boards 7/8" thick and 8 to 8 1/2" wide. One board was ok. The other three had either 1 or 2 large dead knots or holes. One was cracked from one end two feet down the center of the board. I measured the wood total, then subtracted the amounts that needed to be removed and came up with about 76% of 20 BF...in bits and pieces no less. They said if I took digital pictures and sent them in they would make up the difference but it wasn't worth it to me for 7% of 20 BF. I told them I understand 83% usable is considered FAS but I would have liked for it to be closer to 90%+ usable for what I paid. I told them it was a test before I bought from them in bulk :D (which it kind of was actually). It was rough cut wood, and not counting all the defect wood I only saved about $40 than had I bought S4S FAS from the Borg where I can select the best pieces. From now on, I'm hunting down the lumber yards. Some fellow WWers on here PMed me some local lumber yards, and I will definetly use their advice on my next large project.

[Mark Engel]

100 bf should be 100 bf, regardless of where you purchased it from.

I have purchased many, many board feet of lumber over the Internet over the years, from dealers as well as on eBay. The first thing I do when receiving the goods is measure it out to make sure I received what I ordered and paid for. If the order is short, I let the seller know right away. With the exception of one seller, whom I will not deal with again, everyone has always shipped the correct amount or made good on any shortage.

There is one seller that I have purchased from on eBay several times that always seems throws in an extra piece or two. This is someone that I will continue to purchase from.

[Joe Jensen]

I have used woodworkers source before and they were great. A little pricier than others but very good quality.
http://woodworkerssource.net/

Jim

I live 2 miles from Woodworkers Source in Tempe AZ and they have a very unique way of measuring wood. Call it the "Retail" method. They measure the widest part of each board and round up to the nearest 1/2" or nearest 1", not consistent on that. Then they measure the length and round up to the nearest foot !! If you buy lumber that is not S4S, this can really add up. If you want them to S4S, they measure the rough stuff first, charge for that, and then charge for making S4S. When I buy at every other source in the Phoenix area, especially from commercial outlets, they use a bd ft stick. They measure at the narrowest part of the board, and then on length they round down to the nearest foot. This difference can really add up. Between the rounding down and up, I see about 20-25 higher bd ft counts from Woodworkers Source. Then, Woodworkers Source is about 50% higher per board foot than the other places. To top it off, their american hardwoods are generally very low quality, the kind of stuff commercial shops would reject. I only use Woodworkers Source when I am desperate for a small chunk, or for exotics that nobody else local carrys...joe

[Mike Cutler]

I ordered a bunch of Cocobola from Mike Mastin, SMC Member, at CurlyWoods. It was my first experience buying "mail order wood", and everything went great. They called me two or three times to describe the material to me, and ensure it would be acceptable to me.
When the wood came it was incredible. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

[Tom Jones III]

I've never done mail order but the 2 lumberyards I deal with in person always err slightly in my favor. There was a thread a couple of months back where someone had asked about measuring wood from a lumber purchase and there were many responses.

[Mark Engel]

I live 2 miles from Woodworkers Source in Tempe AZ and they have a very unique way of measuring wood. Call it the "Retail" method. They measure the widest part of each board and round up to the nearest 1/2" or nearest 1", not consistent on that. Then they measure the length and round up to the nearest foot !! If you buy lumber that is not S4S, this can really add up. If you want them to S4S, they measure the rough stuff first, charge for that, and then charge for making S4S. When I buy at every other source in the Phoenix area, especially from commercial outlets, they use a bd ft stick. They measure at the narrowest part of the board, and then on length they round down to the nearest foot. This difference can really add up. Between the rounding down and up, I see about 20-25 higher bd ft counts from Woodworkers Source. Then, Woodworkers Source is about 50% higher per board foot than the other places. To top it off, their american hardwoods are generally very low quality, the kind of stuff commercial shops would reject. I only use Woodworkers Source when I am desperate for a small chunk, or for exotics that nobody else local carrys...joe

I think that I would not ever buy anything from your Woodworkers Source store. :confused:

[jerry cousins]

for west coasters try these folks
http://www.eisenbran.com/
have ordered specialty pieces and their quality is great.

jerry

[Steve Jenkins]

I ordered a bunch of Cocobola from Mike Mastin, SMC Member, at CurlyWoods. It was my first experience buying "mail order wood", and everything went great. They called me two or three times to describe the material to me, and ensure it would be acceptable to me.
When the wood came it was incredible. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

I'm about 7 miles from Mike's store so I don't need to mailorder but I certainly don't hesitate to reccommend him to anyone. He really bends over backwards to provide excellent service.

[Scott Thornton]

The orders I have placed (Hearne, Curly Maple, Groffs), I tell them I need say 10 board feet of whatever. Instead of making them find boards that add up to 10 board feet, I just request them to hand select nice boards and if it comes out to 12, that is fine, I'll pay for it. This has worked well, it's easier for everyone...

My two cents...

[Mike Cutler]

I'm about 7 miles from Mike's store so I don't need to mailorder but I certainly don't hesitate to reccommend him to anyone. He really bends over backwards to provide excellent service.

You're a lucky dude Steve. The wood they that sent to me was so much better than anything I could source locally in that quanity. It's difficult to get a big selection of exotic hardwoods in New England. I have a local WoodCraft, in Warwick, that works hard at it though, thank goodness.
When it came, I shelved the project idea I had because of the quality and figure of the wood that they sent me.I'll use it someday, just not on that particular project.

[jim gossage]

i bought 20 bf of FAS1F+ from internet lumber. it was slightly over 20 bf but no where near FAS1F+. most pieces had 2 or more standard defects or large areas of wane or large splits. i could not get an adequate response from cust service and will probably not buy again.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

The orders I have placed (Hearne, Curly Maple, Groffs), I tell them I need say 10 board feet of whatever. Instead of making them find boards that add up to 10 board feet, I just request them to hand select nice boards and if it comes out to 12, that is fine, I'll pay for it. This has worked well, it's easier for everyone...

My two cents...

Luckily I live close to Groff and Groff and Hearne so I have always picked up in person. I have saw some of Groff and Groffs outgoing shipments and they are extremely well packaged or palleted. Groff is always generous in measurements when I pick up in person.

[Jim Podsedly]

Just an update to my order shortage.

InternetLumber.com has come through and made everything right with my order. Actually they went way beyond the call of duty.

They have won my fuiture internet lumber needs.

Jim

[Scott Moore]

Joe, I'm out of Mesa and I've not had the same experience with Woodworkers Source. They are definitely a little higher on price than some - but I've always gotten the number of board feet + or - less than 1 bf. I measure and calculate bf and 1 time I did tell the kid writing the invoice to check a board a 2nd time as I had a different number by a couple bf., he remeasured and went with my numbers. :rolleyes:
I've also found them great guy's to work with and very helpful. Hopefully your experience is not the norm but certainly I will keep my eye's open.
I also use Timber out in Mesa. I would be interested in what sources your using (always open to a better vendor). :)

[Jeff Raymond]

When I order wood, I usually order 500BF at a time so you have their attention, and much lower pricing. For example, I recently received a quote of $485Mbf on 5/4 cherry. It's worth it to me to put the dough in the wood and you also wind up with a much better selection to pick through on a specific product.

[Rob Nolan]

You're a lucky dude Steve. The wood they that sent to me was so much better than anything I could source locally in that quanity. It's difficult to get a big selection of exotic hardwoods in New England. I have a local WoodCraft, in Warwick, that works hard at it though, thank goodness.
When it came, I shelved the project idea I had because of the quality and figure of the wood that they sent me.I'll use it someday, just not on that particular project.

Mike ... I live in MA and found a great lumber yard to buy all sorts of wood (exotics and domestics). The Lumber yard is called Downes and Reader and is located in Stoughton MA. That's about 80 miles from you ... probably take you 1.5 hours to get there ... might be worth a trip. Most of the lumber is in the rough but you can have them surface it for you if needed. They have limited hours so make sure to call and ask them there hours before you head over.

[Robert Miller]

I bought 300bdft of book-matched vertical grain honduras mahogany in 20ft lengths from Condon Lumber in NY. I ordered it resawn to 3/8" for the planks for my mahogany runabout projectthat I'm building.
The wood arrived by truck,wrapped in individual packages of 2 book-matched boards. The quality was exceptional as they hand selected the boards for me from the same tree to color match it.
I was impressed with them, yeah, it was expensive but I do feel that I got what I paid for.
In Florida, I use Alva Hardwoods in Alva Fl.
Merrill is a great guy, he will allow you select as long you put everything back. I'm in la-la land every time I go there. He's closed for the summer and I think he has another yard in Va. Nothing but some of the best exoric hardwoods I've ever seen from Alva. Here is his site.http://www.alvahardwoods.com/
I think I'd be angry if I paid a premium and not only got shorted, but low quality on top of it.
Here's a picture of my boatbuilding project using the mahogany I ordered online from Condon. The design is a 1923 John Hacker Gentleman's Runabout.




http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/boatplanking7.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/boatplanking8.jpg