Material Sources west of Phoenix AZ?

[Troy Donson]

"Kinda-Begining" woodworker/woodturner, professional Master Auto Tech looking for some help here as far as a local source for finishing supplies in the far western side of Phoenix AZ. Looking for basics like BLO, Tung Oil, misc solvents, etc.

I can't drive out to the east side too often due to working 2 jobs and having too little time in the shop as it is...

Am I limited to "the hardware place", the "Orange" one or the "Blue" one??

Mail/Internet ordering is kinda problematical due to the, uh, "liberators" in the nieghborhood... If it was a pint here or there, I would not mind dealing with the the box stores, but I am doing some larger projects now that I am getting comfortable working on my finishes at 3am, brush in one hand, coffee cup in the other...

( I just gotta remember to keep the darned cups labeled, although my walnut stain does go good with fried eggs and hash browns... :D )

So I am looking for at least quart or larger quantities of the "better" varieties of finishing supplies rather than the (grrrr) Minwax branded stuff...

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance, Troy

[Steve Schoene]

If you have big box stores, you have real paint stores and/or real hardware stores that have good paint departments within the same driving distance. These are the places to check out for many things. If they don't stock an item many of them will be willing to get it for you.

Sent mail order stuff to your work place if possible.

And by the way, forget Tung Oil. The real stuff is very hard to use and doesn't offer much of anything that BLO doesn't, or that, for an actual finish rather than use to pop the grain an oil/varnish mix doesn't do better. I don't like the fake stuff (such as Formby's Tung Oil Finish which is varnish, not an oil) because of their deceptive marketing.

[Troy Donson]

Steve, thanks for the reply.

>If you have big box stores, you have real paint stores and/or real hardware stores that have good paint departments within the same driving distance. These are the places to check out for many things. If they don't stock an item many of them will be willing to get it for you.

Believe it or not, I live in a city 100,000 people and we don't even have a movie theater! The idea of a "full service" hardware or paint store is just a dream, that's why I posted the questions... We are in an extreme "housing boom/bubble" area. The infrastructure is 3-5 years behind schedule and we just had a huge mall push back it's opening a year due to "financial issues"... So I was hoping I missed some really good "mom and pop" store. The only real paint store that I did find in this area catered more to paint contractors than wood workers and the help was not very helpfull. The local Woodcraft and Rockler stores are between 40 and 90 minutes away and their hours are, unfortunately the same as what I work...


>Send mail order stuff to your work place if possible.

Not allowed by management due to abuse by several morons that used to work there.

>And by the way, forget Tung Oil. The real stuff is very hard to use and doesn't offer much of anything that BLO doesn't, or that, for an actual finish rather than use to pop the grain an oil/varnish mix doesn't do better. I don't like the fake stuff (such as Formby's Tung Oil Finish which is varnish, not an oil) because of their deceptive marketing.

Ok, uh, well, let's just disagree on the real tung oil. I do like using it and I do not find it to be any more work than Boiled Linseed Oil or other oil finishes I have tried. Honestly, it's just my preference. And besides that, the wife likes the way it turns out. And I totally agree on the tung oil/varnish formulas marketed as "Tung Oil Finish", though.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help, Steve. Thanks!