Comaru or Tiger wood - where to buy in Illinois, please help!

[Dale Murray]

I am at my wits end trying to locate some of this material.

I want to build some lounge patio furniture using Comaru or Tiger wood and it is seemingly impossible to find in the greater Chicago area.

I need roughly 8 5/4 x 6" boards.

One place can get it but it is grooved on both faces.

Anybody out there know of a supplier within 80 miles of Chicago that stocks either of these species?

[Earl McLain]

Don't know what stock they may have, but Johnson's Workbench in South Bend, IN (http://theworkbench.com/exotics.php) would be a good bet. They might have to have some sent down from their main store in Michigan, but that usually only takes a day or two. Material is usually quite nice. May be worth a call. (the bakery across the road from them makes great sticky rolls--you'll work it off with the Cumaru!!)
earl

[Dale Murray]

Thanks for the info.

I just found a place in Chicago, Heidler Hardwoods, that has Ipe for $4.85 a linear foor (5/4 x 6).

The guy I spoke with said they do not carry comaru because it does not hold up in our area.

[Darcy Warner]

It's Cumaru

[Dale Murray]

It's Cumaru

Annoyingly, I have had spell check correct me in both directions on my laptop. Arg!

[Alex Zeller]

I have a Tigerwood deck that's about 8 years old now and other than turning grey (as all wood does) it's held up just fine. I face screwed it with wood plugs (thousands of holes). I can't believe that Chicago has any worse conditions than in Vermont. It's a lot nicer to work with and was cheaper than Ipe. Ipe is heavy and very hard on blades and bits. Cumaru is more like oak, still all there but not as bad. I don't think I would want to make a patio furniture out of Ipe that I would be moving. I bought most of what I needed on line from Advantage lumber. When I needed a few extra pieces for the top railings they sent them UPS.

[Stan Calow]

I used to work in a building that was clad inside and out with untreated cumaru. It's at least 12+ years old and seems to be holding up. I picked up some scraps from repair work, and made a few things. Its really splintery, and some pieces twist like crazy.

[Don Jarvie]

I have some tiger wood that my supplier in new hampersire sells. I would look online and see who will ship.

[Dale Murray]

I initially planned on buying from advantage and found shipping 8 8' long boards is $14 cheaper than the boards themselves.
Wood: $183.74
Shipping: $169.80

I can Ipe locally for less than this.

Personally, I would prefer Cumaru over Ipe but it feels like a knife in the ribs to pay that much for shipping.

As for weight, I am making a simple lounging sofa thing that I can break down into four pieces for storage.

[Darcy Warner]

Just call Johnson's in South Bend. They have most of these in the rough or you can get s4s stuff. I get Ipe porch flooring from them, no one has been able to touch their price.

[Dale Murray]

Ill give them a try.

Update:
When I looked at their site earlier I looked at exotics and did not see Cumaru. Now I see it is listed under decking and will definitely contact them tomorrow.

[Alex Zeller]

The shipping might have been high because of the length. UPS doesn't like lengths of 8' or more. The problem I have with local sources is that they all carry decking and being as solid as these woods are 5/4 is overkill so they sell 4/4.

[Earl McLain]

Ill give them a try.

Update:
When I looked at their site earlier I looked at exotics and did not see Cumaru. Now I see it is listed under decking and will definitely contact them tomorrow.

Check that exotic list again. 5/4 Cumaru is listed (just above Cocobolo for some reason?) at $9.78/bf for 1-100, then $7.51/bf at 100+ bf. The good news is that the 100 bf pricing from them is usually available for combined rough purchases, so 50 bf of Cumaru and 50 bf of wormy maple or beech would price about the same as just the 50 bf of Cumaru alone--kind of a bonus project.
earl

[Dale Murray]

Good lord, I am even a bigger idiot than I imagined. I did not see the slider next to exotics. I have a big computer display at the office and since it only populated a few inches of it with available woods I figured that is all they had - I thought it was strangly limited too.

I need to slow down a bit when I hit websites. Jeez.

If I find 3/4" stock is strong enough I just might double my haul to 130 linear feet and build a couple more pieces - we have a 30x16 patio so I have a lot of room to fill.

[John C Cox]

Dumb question - I didn't think Cumaru was known as "Tiger wood"... I could be wrong. But Dr. Google says "Tiger wood" is another name for African Walnut.. A completely different wood....

Cumaru is a South American wood - generally known as Brown Ebony or sometimes Brazilian Teak... It's massively heavy and hard.... Color wise - similar to teak... And since South America doesn't have many native tigers - it would surprise me to find out it's called "Tiger wood"....