Where can I get furniture quality wood for projects?

[Adam Heller]

Greetings,

I have some projects in mind that I would like to start working on, but I am having trouble finding the proper stock.

For example, I wanted to build a bed frame, a simple post and rail using either 3x3 or 4x4 posts. Problem is, I cannot find anywhere around here that stocks wood like that. I have found plenty of places that have pressure treated 4x4 fence posts, but nothing in what I would consider furniture quality. The only other place I found was somewhere that had rough stock, but the problem is that I have limited space and tools and would need something basically ready to cut to size and assemble.

Am I looking in the wrong places (i.e. lumber yards)? Where do people usually find wood like this?

Thanks and please let me know if I can provide more info.

Adam

[Steven Wilson]

Good hardwood suppliers are where you want to shop. These places will carry good hardwood lumber (maple, cherry, birch, walnut, etc) in various configurations (rough, S1S, etc) as well as very good hardwood veneered plywood. A lot of what you find will be rough and need to be surfaced, especially larger sizes. It's rare nowdays to find 3" or 4" thick hardwood stock, for those thickness you will most likely need to glueup these pieces. In anycase you'll need to surface these pieces and will need access to a jointer and planer.

[Glenn Clabo]

Finding 4X4 (16 quarter) Hardwood is always hard. As Steven said...You may have to do some glue up if you don't want to order from internet sources. But contact some of these places near you...ya never know.

http://www.boulterplywood.com/
http://www.newenglandhardwood.com/
http://www.northlandforest.com/kingston.shtml

Sometimes Rockler has wood...I think there's one in Salem.
And WoodCraft...I know there's one in Woburn.

[Sam Yerardi]

I don't know what it is like in your area but where I live in southern Ohio there are small sawmills all over the place. I buy from full size hardwood dealers and from mom & pop sawmills. I've driven 2-3 hours sometimes to get to a sawmill or dealer that has just what I want. It's always been my experience that the smaller mills usually have the larger stock more readily than the bigger dealers. I try to buy air or kiln-dried only but sometimes it's hard to pass up something that you can get for next to nothing that isn't dried. One time I got (12) 4x4x12' oak beams for around $20 total. They weren't dried but that was 10 years ago and they are now. I haven't had much luck at places like Lowes or local lumber yards. You'll find some things there but the prices will be incredibly high. I'm fortunate to live near a lot of Amish communities so there's always a lot of timber available.
You might check with your local agricultural sevrices in your state to see where the sawmills, tmber dealers, etc. are located throughout the state.

A couple things to consider when looking for hardwood dealers in your area:

Can you haul and handle any of the lumber yourself?
How far are you willing to drive to get to it?

[John Pohja]

Has woodfinder.com been mentioned? Great way to locate local suppliers. john

[Don Bullock]

I don't know what it is like in your area but where I live in southern Ohio there are small sawmills all over the place.

I wish I could say the same for Southern California. We may have good weather, but wood at a decent price here just doesn't happen.:(

[Larry Fox]

Check hearne hardwoods in Oxford PA if you are willing to go the mail-order route. They have very, very good selection and have 16-quarter stock in some species (cherry for sure). However, as another poster pointed out - the checkout process for 16-quarter will STING. I have built beds and used 8-4 and glued together if I need a leg that thick.

[Rick Peek]

Thttp://www.berkshireproducts.com/index.htmry Great place.

[Jason Scott]

One of the best places I've found is your local craigslist, found my last supplier that way...Usually it is guys who have farms and have the trees harvested after a storm or something...They have a company come out and rought saw it in 4/4 or 8/4 or whatever and then stack it to dry...I know there is a debate between air and kiln, I have always used air, but man it must be nice to get the kiln stuff...Anyway, that is where I would look, when you come across a good deal buy as much as you can...You could always go to woodcraft if you do not mind paying top dollar....

[Greg Cuetara]

Adam,
You are definately close enough to Highland Hardwoods in New Hampshire. The added benefit is that you won't have to pay tax. Go to highlandhardwoods.com. They have a price list right on their website and have just about the best prices around. I travel down from just north of Portland, ME to buy my wood there. They also have a few specials on cherry and maple. You have to pick throught it but it is some nice stuff at a few bucks a board foot. They also have the shorts bins where there is a 25% discount..or at least it used to be.

They are in brentwood, NH so go up 95 and get off at 101. Head north on 101 for about 20 min and get off in epping. Hang a left and it is a few miles down on the left.

Greg

[Brian Erickson]

Since you don't have tools to do the milling, another possibility is using a cabinetmaker. You'll pay more than you would from a sawmill, but I found most cabinetmakers happy to cut me a build list before I bought my planer, etc. The nice thing is you don't have any waste, either, which is definitely not the case when I do my own milling!

[Josiah Bartlett]

I guess I'm spoiled living in Oregon, where the good hardwood grows on trees and just about everything is in stock in one of several stores within an hours drive of me. However, my favorite and best projects have come from wood which I salvaged, dried, and milled myself. I live in a treed neighborhood and if I see somebody getting ready to cut down a tree that I like I just ask for the wood. I usually offer them a small item like a box, or cash, or just to clean up the site in exchange for the wood. The last tree I got was a 35" diameter walnut log that was 6 feet long and weighed in at about 1500 pounds. I had to roll it down the road with a couple of helpers a couple of blocks to get it home. However, it didn't cost me a dime and turned out to be gorgeous, clear, and nail free once I cut it up. Urban salvage wood often has nails and rot, but it also can have very nice figure. I also have some nice big leaf maple, alder, and cherry, all roadside trees.

I don't have that many tools to do this, and you really don't need them unless you do a lot of wood. I have a metal detector wand, a Husqvarna chain saw with a 24" bar, a rip chain, and a plank guide that clamps onto the bar and follows a 2x6 nailed to the log. This gets me my 16/4 stock or whatever, and then I resaw it on the band saw once it has dried an I have a project in mind. The chainsaw wastes a bit more on the kerf than a small lumber mill, but I have the luxury of random sized planks and the ability to make any size lumber I need.

The funny thing about this is that once people figure out you collect timber you keep getting more of it that you didn't ask for.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Thick stock like 16/4 will be hard to find in stock at just about any supplier and will go for a premium as it is tough to dry without cracking. If you could find rough seasoned stock from a sawmill (and I guess you'd have to take their word on how well it's been dried) and then find a cabinet shop that will size and plane it that may be the best way to go. I don't know the sawmill situation there but there are more around than you think. You might take a look on Woodfinder or check the sawmill directory on Woodweb.

[Jason Nolan]

I second Highland Hardwoods... they have a huge selection and the best prices around. The staff is pretty friendly too. I drive up from MA all the time to go there.

[Dick Holt]

Adam,
Try Downes and Reader in Stoughton, MA. I checked their website (downesandreader.com) and they list 16/4 maple and cherry and 12/4 oak.

[Dana Berenson]

I second Highland Hardwoods... they have a huge selection and the best prices around. The staff is pretty friendly too. I drive up from MA all the time to go there.
Me 3!!!

Highland Hardwoods is the best for our area.

[Danny Thompson]

www.tablelegs.com

[glenn bradley]

Plenty of good responses here. My rule of thumb in looking for a lumber supplier; if you've seen 'em on T.V. they're not the one. ;-)

[Joe Spear]

Yes, Adam, Highland Hardwoods is the place for you. Take 495 out of Methuen towards Haverhill and go north on 125 to Bentwood, NH. (I think it's exit 51 or 52.) From where you are it's about a 25-minute trip and well worth it. I used to teach in Methuen and found it very easy to get to from there. As for the no-sales-tax business, if you don't own up to the Massachusetts "sales or use tax" on your state form, I won't tell the governor.