Shopsmith Forums

Are there places to buy lumber besides the big box stores (Lowe's. HD, 44 lumber, ACE, etc)? I live in VA.

I would keep an eye on Craigs List under "materials" in your area. I recently found a great deal there and bought about 250 board feet of white oak, poplar, maple and mahogony for $1 to $1.50 per board foot. This was from a molding shop going out of business.

You might also want to check here: woodfinder

Believe it or not, I have bought beautiful lumber from sellers on ebay. There are quite a number of small "mom and pop" saw mills selling lumber there. I bought some beautiful quarter sawn sycamore at a very good price, including shipping. Alec

easterngray wrote:Believe it or not, I have bought beautiful lumber from sellers on ebay. There are quite a number of small "mom and pop" saw mills selling lumber there. I bought some beautiful quarter sawn sycamore at a very good price, including shipping. Alec

This sounds good. But it is sight unseen. How do you/I know it is furniture quality?

Pro sellers post lots of pictures, true dimensions and are honest in their descriptions. They don't just pick lumber from the stack, put put pictures up of the actual lot you are bidding on. I've found that it is typically the more figured lumber that they are listing. Alec

navycop wrote:Are there places to buy lumber besides the big box stores (Lowe's. HD, 44 lumber, ACE, etc)? I live in VA.

Try this site: http://www.woodfinder.com/

Or just google - lumber suppliers in virginia

These guys will sell smaller quantity's and ship. They are in NC close to Va.http://www.walllumber.com/default.asp

Mark

charlese wrote:Try this site: http://www.woodfinder.com/

Or just google - lumber suppliers in virginia

For wood in Virginia you want to check out Northland Forest Products 220 Zion Park Rd Troy, VA 22974 434-589-8213. I buy all of my hardwood there. They are major distributors for wood retail outlets all over this area. The are located at Zion Xroads East of Route 15 South of IH 64 I believe the exit number is 136. Good luck. If I can help further please email me privately. I live about 14 miles from them. fjimp

I forget the name (as well as my own) of the place where I buy much of my kiln dried hardwoods near here but the town of knightstown IN is a very small town so directions are easy to obtain. Knightstown IN is located on US-40 about 30 miles east of Indy. It is a fun little place to drop in to buy a few boards.
I have also bought a small pallet or two at consignment auction. All of the Amish school fund raising consignment auctions have maybe 3 to 8 stacks of rough-sawn lumber sold at them (it is seldom kiln dried). There are a flock of small sawmill operations all over southern Indiana (and KY). Some have drying kilns and some do not.

I checked out the wood finder site and found a place in Gardner Co. I lived about 45 miles from there and never knew it existed!! Even better they have a 2nd location about 60 miles from my house now. That gives me 2 suppliers fairly close. THANKS!