Can't find redwood in my area

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat Sep 13, 2014 11:30 am

My wife has asked me to make a partner to an heirloom redwood lawn chair which I resurrected last year. But I've not been able to find California redwood in the Lansing Michigan area.

So I am considering using cedar and a oil-based redwood stain. A nearby lumberyard offers "Brazilian Redwood" but based on the hardness ratings I don't think it would come even close to having the warm feel of a redwood chair.

Any ideas or comments?

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:11 pm

You could check here?
http://www.woodfinder.com/

Have ya checked the phone yellow pages?

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:31 pm

Here's what I found using zip code 48823. Don't know if that's your Zip, but should be pretty close. 20 miles or so doesn't look too bad depending on how bad you want some Redwood.

Johnson's Workbench Charlotte MI (20 miles)
Barn Door Lumber Company, Inc. Hemlock MI (49 miles)
Artz by Bartz - Redwood slab specialist! Kalamazoo MI (63 miles)
Johnson's Workbench - IN South Bend IN (117 miles)
Berea Hardwoods Co. Inc Middleburg Heights OH (167 miles)
RC Tonewoods & Sons - Buffalo Buffalo NY (289 miles)
Bell Forest Products, Inc Ishpeming MI (300 miles)
Certainly Wood, Inc. East Aurora NY (300 miles)
FormWood Industries Jeffersonville IN (306 miles)
Marwood, Inc (See our website for monthly veneer special offers) Jeffersonville IN (306 miles)

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 1:25 am

Hard for me to have much perspective on this as I live right in the "heart" of redwood country, so redwood is easy to find around here…but I will say when it comes to working with redwood, it's often pretty hard to find any of reasonable quality compared to the qualities that made "old" redwood so desirable. Most of the second and third growth milled these days is junk in comparison. Around these parts you can search the lumber yards and still get lucky with tight grain and all heart wood more often than not it's something just this side of balsa wood. The best bet IMO at least out west is reclaimed old growth redwood - around here they built everything out of it - houses, buildings, warehouses, water tanks, chicken coops, sheds, barns, bridges…you name it. The reclaimed stuff has gotten expensive as people recognize what a limited resource it is but around here the best bet it to watch around the County for old buildings or outbuildings being town down or overgrown and salvaging it yourself…it's amazing how you can take a board that's been subjected to 80-100 years of weather, chicken poop, water tank duty etc. and send it through the planer to find you only have to take off a few 16ths to get to a piece of wood that looks straight out of the mill from 1 century ago. I realize this doesn't do someone in MI much good but you might be surprised what was made from old growth redwood even out there - they shipped the stuff everywhere in the hay days.