Tips for buying wood for furniture

[Henry202]

I'm new to woodworking and am looking for tips for buying both softwood and hardwood for furniture making. Is there any special types you'd recommend. General advice appreciated but anything in the Gloucestershire area would be awesome.

 

[MikeG.]

Choose your wood based on what you'd find attractive. Many limit themselves to European hardwoods.........oak, ash, cherry, beech, walnut, chestnut, and so on, and find that covers their needs. That's certainly the case for me. As for furniture grade softwoods.........you want a slow grown Scandinavian pine. All of these can be had from a good timber merchant or woodyard. If you're in southern Gloucestershire, then Yandles (near Yeovil) is within reach, and from what people here say, is well worth the effort.

 

[Yojevol]

Nicks Timber, Gloucester for softwood. Vasterns, Wooton Basset (Royal of course), for local hardwoods, Farmer Williams in Frampton is also worth a try for local hardwoods. If you're after imported timbers you will have to look farther afield although Lathams at Yate might be possible. I get all my sheet materials from Timbmet in Stonehouse. They were called Severnply before being taken over. There is also Wessex Timbers in Saul (I think). I visited them once when I was starting up, but they were way out of my league.
Brian

 

[Hornbeam]

Im sure much of this is covered elsewhere but the first question to ask is do yo want to buy rough sawn or planed all round.
PAR is significantly more expensive but unless you are prepared to hand plane to dimensions or have ?access to a planer thicknesser it may be your best option
If you are planning to make larger pieces then hand planing will be very hard
If you have access to a mens shed they may have a PT so you can dimension timber there
Stick with 1 or 2 relatively cheaper timbers to start with. I would suggest beech and cherry but lots of options (timber prices vary from about £30 cuft for beech to £100+ for walnut and more for some exotics)
I would suggest starting with small items and progressing from there

 

[Blackswanwood]

I would agree with the suggestions already made. It can be a bit daunting rocking up at a busy timber yard - ideally you want one that lets you mooch around and a friendly member of staff. Unfortunately the current situation may make this a bit difficult. Walnut and sycamore are favourites of mine. Both are easy to work and in my opinion attractive to look at.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Always order more than you need - quite a bit more - there are plenty of small projects you can do with any left over, but coping with a shortage is much more of a problem!

How much more rather depends on the particular timber (some are inherently more wasteful than others) and the job. For a job needing 20 cubic feet, 10% extra would probably cover most eventualities, but for a job needing 2 cubic feet, ordering double that would be safer.

 

[thetyreman]

+ 1 always buy more than needed, think about knots, waste and defects, always choose your pieces carefully, for example making a chest of drawers from one tree so that the colour matches is a good idea, if it's going to be painted it's not as important. You'd be surprised how much waste is involved in making a solid wood oak door for example, only the best parts are chosen.