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[MikeG.]

AC Timber, Ely. They'll deliver (free) to Cambridge, providing your order is over £500.

NEVER buy hardwood sight-unseen. Inspect every board before you buy. So I suggest going to the yard, selecting your timber, then getting them to deliver it.

 

[spb]

I get mine from AC Timber in Ely. Cambridge is well within their free delivery area, and they'll happily deliver boards you've selected yourself. I'm not sure whether they've started allowing self-selection again after the lockdown, though.

They'll also quote and deliver from a cutting list emailed to them, if you're willing to take the risk of not choosing boards yourself. I've only done that once, in April this year, and was happy enough with the results.

 

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[spb]

Yes, the £500 minimum is an issue, but it's temporary - in January they told me there wasn't a minimum, and in April it was £200+VAT. I expect we'll see it go down again once they're back to full capacity.

In the mean time, for oak and beech it wouldn't be a stupid idea to ask Ridgeons in St. Ives what they can get, and whether you're in their delivery area. Again, though, you're unlikely to get self-selection for delivery from them.

Otherwise you're in to the large online retailers that do nationwide delivery. I've not used any of them, but I've seen SL Hardwoods mentioned as an option. Delivery charges get expensive, though - to a random postcode in your neck of the woods, they quoted me £30 for 10 metres of 100x25 beech, up to £70 for that plus 20 metres of oak, and I'm quite sure it'll grow higher for bigger orders.

 

[custard]

Lot's of people are in a similar position, whenever I exhibit my furniture at various shows I'll often get hobby woodworkers popping over for a chat, and they always have exactly the same two questions. How do you sharpen your tools, and where do you get your wood!

Buying hardwood sight unseen, especially when you're a small scale purchaser, is often a recipe for expensive disappointment. There are massive benefits to selecting your own boards, but I appreciate that for all sorts of reasons it's just not an option for many people.

Your chances of a happy online experience are quite a bit better with Oak than with Beech. There are a few reasons I say this.

Firstly Oak is pretty much the only UK hardwood that's commonly sold graded. So at some (not all, but some) yards you can stipulate the grade. You can also with Oak stipulate the cut, ie you can specify quarter sawn. You'll pay a premium, but to be honest chasing bargain timber is a mug's game unless you really know what you're doing. I bet a pound to a penny that any Beech you buy will be flat sawn, so you'd be buying the least stable cut of a timber that has quite a poor reputation for stability. Now there are strategies for dealing with this, like buy super thick boards and re-saw at 90 degrees to produce your own quarter sawn boards, or buy a bit thicker and plan on planing off a bit to cope with any cupping or wind. Finally, Beech comes in two versions, steamed and unsteamed, you need to understand and plan for this because you don't want two orders to each be different versions.

With Oak stay well away from "Red Oak", even though it may seem to be a bargain, it's cheap for a reason! Also know if your buying AmericaN White Oak or European Oak (which I personally prefer).

One last point, some timber yards (ie English Woodlands in Sussex) are starting to post photos of individual boards, maybe there's a similar yard near you?

Good luck!

 

[Mike Jordan]

A former supplier of mine stopped allowing self selection on the grounds that some customers spent a long time turning over boards with a member of staff helping, and then chose two or three boards to purchase. A minimum purchase of a few hundred pounds would have sorted the problem but they chose to trade on the basis of asking what you wanted and then putting it out for collection. They deservedly went bust!
I am now forced to buy through the net, the only advantage being that they sell what rises, so you are not left with what remains after someone else has selected the best.
I also use a supplier who allows people he knows to self select.

 

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[AJB Temple]

I am fortunate in that I have good stocks of a few woods. However, I do still buy wood and I am willing to travel to get good quality that I can select myself. I don't have a van, but I have managed to get a lot of long planks (4m plus) in a large SUV. And I can transport full sized sheet goods on a roof rack.

Over the last decade or so I have built up a good relationship with a yard who mills timber - local and imported, and a yard that sells various unusual timbers. In both cases I would be fine with them selecting for me if absolutely necessary, because we have built up mutual trust. However, I do tend to buy quite a lot from time to time so they know I am not always buying an occasional board, and they know I will come back.

The motto is - try to build up a relationship with a good supplier - you need to be mates. My second motto is - unless you are a pro serving a marketplace - try to specialise in a limited range of wood species. You MUST always over order to account for wastage and errors, and if you are careful with wastage, you will gradually build up a stock of good quality wood that will definitely get used.

 

[AJB Temple]

@Mike Jordan where do you buy from online? So far the only half-decent place I've found is the slhardwoods that people have suggested around here but for 30m of beech at 100mm and 50mm thickness they've quoted me 270 gbp + VAT & 100 + VAT for transport. Judging by these numbers it'll end up being more expensive just buying the timber than buying a ready-made bench out of beech.

I'm tempted to believe i'm looking in the wrong places or it's just a really bad time to be buying timber!

It depends. If you are ordering PAR rather than rough sawn, then you will pay a huge premium as you are still paying for all the wastage and labour. And if you compare with ready made furniture from the big outlets, then you will never compete with their economies of scale. You need to take pleasure from the task, from designing it yourself, from your craftsmanship and uniqueness.

 

[Trevanion]

With Oak stay well away from "Red Oak", even though it may seem to be a bargain, it's cheap for a reason! Also know if your buying AmericaN White Oak or European Oak (which I personally prefer).

I haven't worked with much Red Oak Custard so you'd know more than me, but why do you say it's cheap for a reason? Genuine question as I was thinking about using it for a few miles of skirting boards, architraves and the like because I had some very tempting offers.

Judging by these numbers it'll end up being more expensive just buying the timber than buying a ready-made bench out of beech.

You need to learn that that is pretty much the norm now, in most cases you can't buy the timber for the price of most mass-produced pieces of furniture. £500 of timber minimum order sounds a lot, but when it comes to kiln-dried timber it's nothing at all really, If you're buying PAR (Planed all-round) it's a complete dead-loss.

I wanted some shelves for one of the rooms in my house, I priced up the Oak-faced MDF which came to around £250 or I could buy four Billy Bookcases (Which fitted perfectly by the way) off Ikea for £180 completely finished just needed an afternoon to assemble. As a professional with pride in my work I should've made them but being a complete cheapskate I went with Ikea and saved a fortune in material and time which was better spent actually making money.

 

[MikeG.]

..... My second motto is - unless you are a pro serving a marketplace - try to specialise in a limited range of wood species. You MUST always over order to account for wastage and errors, and if you are careful with wastage, you will gradually build up a stock of good quality wood that will definitely get used.

It can't be stressed enough just how important this advice is.

 

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[custard]

I haven't worked with much Red Oak Custard so you'd know more than me, but why do you say it's cheap for a reason? Genuine question as I was thinking about using it for a few miles of skirting boards, architraves and the like because I had some very tempting offers.

Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh, it's not for example as absolutely awful and utterly unusable as say Horse Chestnut, but as a furniture wood it's just not a patch on White Oak. It's a bit wooly and soft, the grain is pretty bland, and stability can be questionable. As a joinery timber it's probably a contender, but for furniture there are better choices. If you're contemplating a big job it would be worth getting a couple of boards and having a play before committing yourself.

Good luck!

 

[Mike Jordan]

SEBG
I only buy prime grade European oak in £1500 batches. The last lot,was delivered by an *****,who dumped it on a neighbours drive four doors from my house in the pouring rain. Im certainly not giving them a recommend.
There is currently lunacy at large in the timber trade, my son has just been quoted £3.00 per metre for 12 mm matching. We need to remember these clowns when normality returns!

 

[MikeG.]

Well, if Custard won't be harsh, I will. Red oak is a horrible wood. It's bland, porous, unstable, and non-durable. I bought an entire pub floor of the stuff once upon a time, and most of it ended up painted, or made into jigs etc or workshop shelves.

 

[Trevanion]

There is currently lunacy at large in the timber trade, my son has just been quoted £3.00 per metre for 12 mm matching. We need to remember these clowns when normality returns!

Accoya has gone silly money now, well over £2200 per cubic meter (For a timber which is essentially a treated softwood), when you're cutting timber up that's over £30 per running meter you need to get your measurements right and have your head screwed on!

I've been looking into Kebony which seems an interesting alternative.

Well, if Custard won't be harsh, I will. Red oak is a horrible wood. It's bland, porous, unstable, and non-durable. I bought an entire pub floor of the stuff once upon a time, and most of it ended up painted, or made into jigs etc or workshop shelves.

Yeah but your average punter never notices the difference on skirtings, "Ooo, Oak Skirtings, lovely!"

 

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[MikeG.]

That works out to £2750 / cu m. I've just paid £1930, and that's for boards up to about 360mm wide and 2.2m long, which is rather more useful than 4x1 by 5 feet.

 

[AJB Temple]

Seb, 1500mm is really short and 100mm wide is very narrow. What do you propose to do with it? You need to make the effort to go to a proper timber yard and see how the good stuff is sold.

I think you have had at least a couple of PT threads (one was 7 pages and got canned?). Anyway, life is much easier with a PT using long boards.