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Manitario
442 posts
and
15 followers
in over 10 years
in over 10 years
In praise of local lumber shops
In my town there is one lumber store that sells more than just construction lumber and the pre-surfaced maple/oak/pine that is available at big box stores. It is owned by a pair of brothers, who are in their 50’s and who took it over from their father. They have about 30 different types of wood, from ipe to wenge. I’m sure with some of the woods they maybe sell only 1 or 2 boards per month (I bought some makore a month ago that they’d been carrying for 3 months; they said I was the first person to buy it). They do the majority of their business in the typical dimensional lumber, and they probably make very little profit from the sale of the their other lumber (eg. they carried steamed European beech…probably not their biggest seller) but they still carry it and cater to the few woodworkers in my town.
Neither of the owners are woodworkers, but they still enjoy talking about whatever project you’re working on. It’s the sort of place where you go in to buy one piece of walnut and come out with a bunch of 20" wide boards of ipe….if any of you ever pass through Sault Ste. Marie, take the time to visit Thayer lumber!
Rob, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
10 Replies
Man I sure wish I had such an option.
CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!
yeah, my woodworking would be completely different if I didn’t have such an option. Honestly, what gets me excited about woodworking is getting to use different woods and planing rough sawn lumber to reveal its hidden beauty. If I only had big box store lumber I probably wouldn’t be doing this hobby.
Rob, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Yeah thats awesome hope you’re getting great prices.
Jeff Vandenberg aka "Woodsconsin"
I am very lucky to have Hobby Hardwood Alabama just 20 miles from my house. They only stock domestic hardwood, most of it harvested within 100 miles, but it’s beautiful stock at a reasonable price. It’s a great place to shop.
Lucky guy.
Madts.
Tor and Odin are the greatest of gods.
I have a guy about 15 miles from me that has his own saw mill , solar drying room and a huge in door stock pile of a large variety of different types of wood..
Wheaties
Your fortunate to have a local wood supplier willing to stock a variety of wood.
woodworking classes, custom furniture maker
We have a WINDSOR PLYWOOD store nearby and it has a good selection of hardwoods domestic and exotic which is nice .
I have known the owner for a long time and even now that he is retired he loves talking to us wood guys even so he is not a craftsman himself ,his kids run the business now and nothing has changed and the service is great .
I also ran across a lead to another local business that cuts down storm damaged and unwanted trees and they have recently set up a solar kiln .
I will go and check it out because from what I have been told they have some very interesting inventory .
Klaus
I am so stuck with plain woods, it sux.
CHRIS, Charlottetown PEI Canada. Anytime you can repurpose, reuse, or recycle, everyone wins!
Klaus, I had a Windsor Plywood in Winnipeg and in Thunder Bay. Interestingly, for Winnipeg being such a large city compared to Thunder Bay, the store there had a really small collection of hardwood, Thunder Bay was much better.
Rob, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
