Wood Blanks for Routing

[Richard Gonzalez]

One of my friends works part time at Rockler, people are always coming in and looking for people to do custom jobs. He is constantly busy. I bet some of the guys at your woodcraft would be willing to glue up and crosscut some panels for you. Post a sign or note at some of those local hardwood dealers and you will probably find someone as well. Just because the shop or dealer won’t, doesn’t mean people who work or shop there won’t.

[Ted Reischl]

Your in an entirely different part of the country, we don't have those services here and if they did exist they would not want to mess with less than a $1,000 order. Our local Menards (midwest chain) is far, far better than Home Depot and much cheaper also. They carry a very fine grade of what I could call cabinet maker grade hardwood or other woods. They just happen to be out of walnut, and I have never tried cherry for detail router work so it might work also. There is also a Woodsmith store a 20-30 mile round trip that I could check, but you never know until you get there whats in stock or whats not.

Hey Bill! I feel your pain when it comes to sourcing lumber. We have two local suppliers in this area, one is sorta crazy, the other is just plain nutz when it comes to pricing and quality. Think: maple with knots in it for 8.50 a board foot.

Back in the good old days. . .I lived in the Chicago area and bought at OWL (Outstanding Wood Looks). Anyway, a few months ago I was lamenting this miserable situation and decided to give them a call to see if anything was possible. Turns out they will ship no problem. My main interests is shorts, not 8 foot lumber. The nice lady on the phone just told me to send her a list of what my minimum sizes would be and be willing to accept things that were a bit bigger.

I did just that. WOW! I got what I wanted. If I wanted 16/4 walnut 6 X 24 I got a piece that was 16/4 6.5 X 28. They did a great job.

It is important to note they they are a full service lumber source. What that means is they can straight line rip, saw to width, sand, plane, etc.

Not sure where in Iowa you are located, but if you get a chance to get over to Chicago go visit them, it will knock your socks off. I am thinking about making a 1600 mile round trip to them sometime this fall, well them, and some chicago dogs, italian beef, etc.

By the way, if you do get to visit them unlike other places you will see that all the shorts (then literally have thousands and thousands of them) are all marked with the price, so there is no guessing how much something will cost you.

[Bill George]

Well I have a Creeker interested in doing these for me, just waiting for him to get time to shoot me a price and how soon. I appreciate all the help, thank you.