Kiln Dried Oak supplier - Yorkshire

[shockingmoment]

Gents,

Could someone with more experience than I cast an eye on this ebayer and give an opinion? His oak seems inexpensive, and whilst it is kd, it does mean that my mistakes (of which there are many) are not as expensive as they might be! Hows that for a positive spin?

Anything I should look out for? I'd be after sawn timbers to plane and create simple pieces of furniture for friends / family - nothing too special!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Yorkshire-Oak- ... idZ2QQtZkm

Many thanks,

SM

 

[Pete W]

I've used them and would (and will) use them again. Based on a single purchase so far, I'd recommend them.

Oak was good quality, well-packed, with timely delivery. If the available sizes fit your needs, it's an affordable way of acquiring some decent wood.

 

[Mike.C]

It looks ok but the p&p seems a bit expensive, or is it?

Cheers

Mike

 

[shockingmoment]

They're close enough for me to drive to - no cost benefit but at least I can see whats in the yard

How does the cubic foot price (from £16) compare?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I was going to use these people but when I used WOOD CALC the cubic foot price in some lots reached £56.00 per cubic foot. And thats before postage. I would recommend HENRY VENABLES but they only sell in large quantities ie. 1 cubic mtr. from £2.00 per cubic foot.
Just bought 9 cubic metres for £795 with free delivery and got nearer 12 cubic metres.

Koolwabbit

 

[Scrit]

How does the cubic foot price (from £16) compare?

It's very low. £56 on the other hand means it's gold-plated! I'd expect to pay low/mid twenties for 1in KD oak. Is that £16 waney edge or S/E?

If you're on Merseyside have you tried:

Ambrose McGrath Hardwoods Ltd
6, Fulton Street
Liverpool
L5 9TG
Tel: 0151 298 9898

off Regent Road near Wellington Dock (i.e. a couple of streets past the Stanley Dock swing bridge as you come out from Liverpool city centre)

Scrit

 

[Scrums]

I spoke to this guy a while back on the phone, but I haven't dealt with him yet. His per cubic foot prices seem to vary wildly - maybe he or I need a new calculator/tape measure!

Some of the stuff is a good price, though travelling any great distance will negate it.

What really ***** me off is his adverts - 'fab' / 'wow'........I can really do without that

There's always British Hardwoods in Keighley - a bit closer, very friendly and reasonably cheap.

Chris..

ModEdit Newbie_Neil

 

[shockingmoment]

How does the cubic foot price (from £16) compare?

If you're on Merseyside have you tried:

Ambrose McGrath Hardwoods Ltd
6, Fulton Street
Liverpool
L5 9TG
Tel: 0151 298 9898

off Regent Road near Wellington Dock (i.e. a couple of streets past the Stanley Dock swing bridge as you come out from Liverpool city centre)

Scrit

Have bought from them a couple of times - tad expensive? That aside - no issues - nice chaps, very helpfull.

Just wondered if the grass was greener on the other side of the peninnes...!

 

[bobscarle]

I used him once, last month. The wood was excellent quality. I normally prefer to pick and choose wood so I would rather visit than pay delivery charges, but as I only wanted 1cu ft I paid the £15. All in 1 cu ft of 2" thick oak for £45 delivered. Not blindingly cheep but not bad.

Bob

 

[Scrit]

Just wondered if the grass was greener on the other side of the peninnes...!

Probably not. Mainly because the water falls to the west doesn't it?. Apart from a few of the small yards who do air dried up here the best sources in terms of quality on the Yorkshire side of the hill is probably John Boddies. But you'll probably say they're expensive. There are others like Nidd Valley in Harrogate who do excellent oak - but they won't deliver unless it's a large quantity. Personally I don't rate British Hardwoods either as I've found their quality to be a bit variable in the past. The problem as always is one of price/quality/quantity - if you get it at a low price it's generally because either the quality is low or the quantity is high, if you get quality stuff it generally costs more, etc, etc. I know several hardwood merchants in Lancashire who carry kilned oak, even Timbmet in Rochdale have French 2/SE kilned oak in stock, but there's no point in me telling you who they are unless you're in a position to open an account and order £500 worth at a time (which is what Timbmet seem to require these days whereas 10 years ago I could walk in and buy two planks for cash on a Saturday morning). I've resorted on quite a few occassions to ringing someone else in the trade and cadging a plank or two when I've needed them to finish a job. We all do.

Maybe the thing to do is to look for yards or mills in areas where commercial felling still continues - North Yorkshire and South Cheshire/Shropshire spring to mind. Why not get the Yellow Pages out and ring around?

Scrit

 

[Anonymous]

Morning All,
Just rechecking with Wood Calc and slightly confused.

This Lot on EBAY http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-KD-Planed-Oak-B ... dZViewItem

Used Calcuator to check price and it comes out at £32.00+ per cubic ft. Am I doing something wrong ??

Koolwabbit

 

[Pete W]

Am I doing something wrong ??

Dunno - I think it depends who's doing the calculating, and on what basis.

YOS quotes that plank as 0.8 cubic feet; I make it about 0.6 cubic feet. But it's planed all round. If you start with 8/4 sawn stock to get it to those PAR measurements, it comes out around 0.72 cubic feet. Maybe he's rounding up, or maybe he's allowing another 1/4 on the width of the sawn stock. Since he sells both rough-sawn and planed stock, I think pricing from sawn dimensions is not unreasonable.

But I think most of the discussion here kind of misses the point. If - like me - you only need (or can afford) small quantities, you can't expect to get bulk discount prices (I'm sure YOS would do you a good price if you were buying £500-plus quantities).

For me, buying £500 of oak would be:
a) a lifetime's supply
b) more money than I care to invest
c) more than I could possibly store without a divorce

 

[Gary S]

If you look at the text the £16 cubic foot is quoted under "Profect Packs":

Project Packs

We offer Project Packs of Character Grade Oak with Sections ranging from 20mm x 20mm upwards to 50mm x 600mm. Values from 1 cubic foot and prices starting at £16.00 per cubic foot.



So they are not saying the item for sale on ebay is £16 per cubit foot, they are saying that they sell packs of oak that equate to £16 per cubic foot.

 

[Scrit]

So offcuts/firewood, then?

 

[Gary S]

So offcuts/firewood, then?

More than likely! :roll:

 

[Bainzy]

I bought a plank of K/D Sycamore from them, they were more than helpful and after driving over there I had the plank paid for, cut up into 4 and in my car boot in about 5 minutes. While the wood is planed, I wouldn't expect any accuracy and there a few patches left unplaned. On the whole though, the wood was of good quality and once I get chance I'll be turning it into some nice Stratocaster guitar necks.