Where to source wood for joinery

[steve355]

Hi all

Total newbie here I‘m afraid.

Long story short, I am in the middle of a several year long project to refurbish our Victorian house which had been “updated“ disastrously by previous owners, ripping out most of the fabulous original features including woodwork. After messing around with various builders and joiners, none of whom have a clue what I am trying to achieve, I decided to do much of it myself.

This year was brickwork and lime, next year is joinery and woodwork. so I’ve set myself up a workshop, spent time learning to sharpen saws, cut m&t joints and dovetails etc. Trying to get the skills I need to make doors, panelling, windows etc.

But I am stuck trying to source wood for internal woodwork. I’ve had stuff from the usual diy stores, which is all cupped, warped, or so weak it just breaks when it sees a chisel. Local builders merchant isn’t much better. I believe I need “unsorted joinery” grade redwood. Is there a recommended online supplier who can supply this to order?or a chain store which might have it? I have limited time to go round looking for it.

I am in HItchin, Herts,

thanks,

Steve

 

[Felix]

Hi Steve,

Have a look at www.easternhardwoods.co.uk. They sell softwood and can provide soft/hardwood mouldings as well. They are in Harlow and they will deliver for free if you are prepared to wait until they are in your area (which is quite often). They also operate a 'no minimum quantity' policy which I thought was brilliant - especially for a low volume buyer like myself. I had some Euro oak from them recently and it was in good order - no shakes, minimal splits (at ends) and good clear timber.

Also, there is DW Mouldings in Sandy - www.dwmouldings.co.uk

Cheers
Dean

 

[bourbon]

Don't bother with Arnold Leaver, If you haven't got a cutting list, you won't even get a price off them.

 

[Fidget]

This could be a good place to start

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/uk-ireland-timber-yards-please-add-your-favourites.108370/

 

[Bm101]

TW Timber is on the A10 JUST north of the m25 junction. If you want good quality sawn par etc you can try there. The owner is helpful and patient. Good stocks of soft and hardwoods.
http://www.twparker.co.uk/

 

[johnnyb]

whats needed here is rough sawn unsorted redwood. (see my making a traditional front door thread) this comes 9 by 2 and 9 by 3. this will provide most sizes for joinery. but obviously you need to plane it and thickness it. the plank sizes(11inch for panels) are best made in yellow pine as these are available 12 inch width.

 

[johnnyb]

I pay £5.22 plus vat for a metre of 9 by 2(it actually measures 9inch by 2 inch btw). so for your stiles you would cut a 9 by in half same for top rail. middlebottom would be from the 9 by 2. panels from 12 by 1 or 1 1/2 yellow pine(quebec or southern) this is also rough sawn. and quebec is £2 a foot( 12 by 1 1/2)

 

[gog64]

I’ve used

https://www.timbersource.co.uk/
For unsorted redwood. I usually buy a fair bit at a time and keep it in the barn as delivery is fairly expensive.You will get some ropey stuff in with the good, so bear that in mind when ordering sawn. I did get one delivery that wasn’t acceptable but they replaced it without argument. The price of unsorted redwood has gone through the roof. I’ve switched to other wood for some things.

 

[steve355]

Thanks for the suggestions all

johnnyb - I like the idea of buying saw. stock and preparing it, your front door project is really interesting and similar to the kind of hing I want to do. But where do you get the wood? I priced up 4 x 9 by 2 on the timbersource website suggested and it came to more than £200 for 4 lengths. I thought sawn timber was supposed to be cost effective? And how do you do the prep? PT or by hand?

edit - more than £300 for 4 lengths of 9x2 sawn redwood including delivery.... seems bonkers

thanks

Steve

 

[NickM]

I’ve used

https://www.timbersource.co.uk/
For unsorted redwood. I usually buy a fair bit at a time and keep it in the barn as delivery is fairly expensive.You will get some ropey stuff in with the good, so bear that in mind when ordering sawn. I did get one delivery that wasn’t acceptable but they replaced it without argument. The price of unsorted redwood has gone through the roof. I’ve switched to other wood for some things.

The normal advice (which is right of course) is to find a timber merchant where you can go and select the wood yourself. However, I've bought oak and redwood from Timbersource in the past and have been very happy with what they've supplied. I'm still getting a feel for prices, but my sense is that it's quite expensive (especially with the delivery.

 

[Jelly]

Don't bother with Arnold Leaver, If you haven't got a cutting list, you won't even get a price off them.

Huh, I have never had an issue with buying timber from Lavers.

Be that:

"I need a 100×100 section of red meranti, what have you got that you can mill that from and what's the machining cost?"​

"I'd like this specific list of sectional sizes and board lengths",​

​

or​

"I'd like 0.75 m³ of redwood sawn ex [size] delivered"​

 

[bourbon]

OK i you know what you want to be making. Me, I want to know how much stuff is. To know if I can make whatever at a reasonable cost

 

[Jelly]

OK i you know what you want to be making. Me, I want to know how much stuff is. To know if I can make whatever at a reasonable cost

I can see what you're getting at now...

I guess I'm used to a "Rough Design, Estimate, Detail Design, Quote, Final Design, Buy" workflow from work, so it doesn't really bother me not having certainty of pricing until quite late on in the process, as I'm refining the design to drive price lower all the way till execution.

As with most of the major merchants, Lavers will give you prices per cube... If you're an account customer buying in multiples of a m³.

 

[Jetset]

Selco Builder’s Warehouse also sell planed unsorted redwood. You can choose—and cut by hand—the pieces you need. Lots of mouldings etc.

You can also walk in to have a look around even if you don’t have membership yet.

Braches in St Albans and Milton Keynes.

 

[RobinBHM]

Thanks for the suggestions all

johnnyb - I like the idea of buying saw. stock and preparing it, your front door project is really interesting and similar to the kind of hing I want to do. But where do you get the wood? I priced up 4 x 9 by 2 on the timbersource website suggested and it came to more than £200 for 4 lengths. I thought sawn timber was supposed to be cost effective? And how do you do the prep? PT or by hand?

edit - more than £300 for 4 lengths of 9x2 sawn redwood including delivery.... seems bonkers

thanks

Steve

Hi Steve, the problem you have is that your local timber or builders merchant sells timber for the building trade -almost all for builders or site carpenters

So if you buy "joinery grade" -it will probably be 5ths

what you need is unsorted (grades 1 to 4, not sorted further)

bear in mind pine is pinus sylvestris mostly from scandinavia, the trees are quite small. So 50 x 225 will almost certainly have heart in it.

You need to go to a timber company that actually sells softwood in the grade you want.
I would suggest speaking to Brooks Bros -softwood site is Danbury.

They are major importers and sellers of timber and will sell you unsorted.

personally I would recommend you avoid using 50 x 225 section -it will suffer from cupping and movement. Pay the extra and buy engineered timber -but bear in mind you will need a planer thicknesser to get the section you need. For a newby laminated engineered timber is much easier to use, it will be flat, straight and stable.

ignore their timber2udirect -prices are nuts, just ring up Danbury and ask if they will sell you a small order or could you collect.

 

[johnnyb]

I don't use laminated stuff as what I do is "remake stuff how it was made in the first place" so I try not to glue sections together. I've not found unsorted to move to much after I've planed it tbh. I wouldn't accept anything made from laminated timber myself so I don't use it. that's not to say its no good btw. I'm making things to last and in my mind that means stuff will not be maintained all its potential life. a single piece of wood is infinitely preferable to even one piece glued(to me) 9 by 2 will not have pith.or many knots. it can be resinous extremely so occasionally. I could make the door by hand but a beginner would struggle. if I couldn't use a p/t then I would have it planed by a joiners shop to the finished size then make it as fast as I could. I could make that door in a 9 hr day using machines. at least 21/2 days by hand.

 

[Spectric]

When it comes to making period mouldings I can recomend Infinity router cutters, from Infinity Tools - High quality wood router bits at low prices

but you will need a half decent router table setup.

 

[Doug71]

I use Lavers for all my timber, I buy it all unseen as I live out in the sticks and can't afford the time going to pick stuff out.

They are always happy to give me a price per m3 on hardwood and generally charge per linear meter when I get unsorted redwood.

Delivery is free but not sure if that's because I have a trade account.

Just Checked and the last unsorted redwood I had (rough sawn) was 63 x 225 @ £8.22m+vat which has definitely gone up because thought I payed less then that for 75 x 225

Sounds cheap though compared to 75 x 150 Accoya @ £25.31m+vat

 

[Darkimp]

Hi,

I know that this question is a few years old, but with the pandemic/cost of living causing chaos causing issues, I know that it has thrown some peoples plans into withdrawal. But assuming that you may still need some joinery quality redwood at some point, might I suggest a timber merchant, instead of a builders merchant, as timber merchants are usually the professionals when it comes to 'timber' specifically. My local, Avon Timber in Coventry, are very helpful in matters such as this.