How to buy bog-standard softwood

[space.dandy]

There are a couple of useful stickies on buying hardwood and specialist timber yard reviews, but I’d like some general advice on buying pine, particularly from general stores.

How would people generally rank the common suppliers (B&Q, Wickes, Covers, Sydenhams, Jewson, any others?) in terms of quality and price?

Is softwood from these suppliers generally priced by volume or dimension? If the latter, what is the most cost effective dimension to buy?

Assuming the ability to rip, resaw, plane and thickness, what would be the most effective dimensions to buy in order to cater for the majority of needs with as little stock as possible?

Finally (I think), when buying sawn timber how much wastage do you allow for milling? For example, assuming I want to end up with 50x100 boards what size would be prudent to start with?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Jacob]

Basically you buy it to match the sizes you want in the finished article. Or finished articles are designed to match timber stock sizes.
Sawn sizes are in metric inches (25mm) and some half inches.
50 x 100mm available sawn but would end up 44x 96mm after planing. But very wasteful as a finished size as you'd have to start with 2 1/2 x 5" (62x125mm) if available

 

[MikeG.]

I think that rule number one is never, ever buy softwood wrapped in plastic. Undoing the plastic and watching the timber ......erm........relax......is one of those little lotteries that I would never do again. Personally, I am lucky to have a builder's merchants near me which has a tremendous selection of softwood stored really well in racks indoors, and I just go and select the bits that suit. Never buy a piece of wood without sighting along it. Occasionally I'll buy a clearance "job-lot" from them at knock-down prices (think of a number and halve it then subtract your age)....odds and ends and off cuts. If I want really top notch slow grown stuff I'd go to a timber yard about 25 miles away, but frankly, the times when I've needed pine to that quality have been few and far between.

If I moved to a new area and had to start again with my contacts, I'd check out all the builders merchants before I even thought about trying one of the retail sheds. I'd ask chippies, or furniture makers, or someone of that ilk, and see what they say, but wouldn't contemplate B&Q or the like as a place to start the search.

 

[davin]

What I would suggest is to find a merchant that sells "unsorted redwood".
This is redwood pine and the timber joinery and furniture workshops buy to convert . Basically joinery grade rough sawn Pine in a multitude of sizes.
You then machine this to the sizes you want, as opposed to trying to find pre machined timber that isn't banana shaped.
The "sheds" often sell Spruce (whitewood as opposed to redwood) as Pine, not intentionally trying to mislead, just they don't know the difference.
Pine is better to work than spruce.

Davin

 

[deema]

I would never ever buy real wood from one of the sheds for anything series. You need a timber merchant and as suggest stick to Redwood or as alternatives Douglas Fir or beech.

Allow 6mm or 1/4” for converting rough sawn to PSE on each dimension. I also allow 4” or 100mm on either end (200mm extra) for snipe from machine conversion. Hand conversion you don’t need any extra. I also always add one of, of the longest thickest piece of the project. Inevitable I find something that makes me degrade a piece (you can find faults buried inside wood, or it twists / warps etc after planning) the rejected piece is then used for machine setup.

 

[meccarroll]

When I buy softwood timber for good quality framed windows, doors etc I ask for joinery grade timber. If you ask for timber for a specific purpose and it's not suitable for that purpose then you can reject it.

I don't really bother asking for unsorted etc as timber yards often sell what they have in stock and claim it to be to that standard.

If you can find a timber yard that lets you select your own timber from what they have in stock then thats the best way to do it. You will often find that wide boards of say 200-300mm wide may have a shake down the middle which can cause problems when converting so be careful not to be fobbed off with any boards with shakes.

You ask about obtaining a piece 50mm x 100mm is a size, I would probably use 65 x 125 for this and hope that after planing that I end up with a stable board.

As has been mentioned allow at least 300mm extra in length for defects on the ends of boards after machining.

Timber merchants are of course the best place to find quality softwood in any quality but be aware that the stock is constantly changing and if they suspect you are a novice they may try to fob you off wit a lower quality timber at joinery prices.

 

[space.dandy]

Thanks for all the useful advice.