Wood Buying?

[Neomorph]

This may be a silly question but where do you people buy your wood from?

Places like B&Q and the like have a decent supply of Pine, MDF and Chipboard but where do you go for nice pieces of Oak or Beech? As I'm really new to this (Haven't done any real woodwork since I was at school in the 70's) I'm kind of lost where simple problems like these come up.

Help anyone?

 

[dedee]

John,
welcome to the forum

There is quite a comprehensive list here

Andy

 

[gidon]

Welcome to the forum.
If you tell us where in the country you are someone may be able to provide some more specific help. There's not really one nationwide supplier for decent hardwood - although you can get it mail order if you have to.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi John

Welcome to the forum.

Which part of the country are you in?

Cheers
Neil

 

[Waka]

John

Welcome to the forum

 

[Gill]

Welcome to the forum, John. What a coincidence that you should ask this question.

Earlier today, I needed a piece of rough sawn oak measuring about 1½”x7”x72”. Having never visited Sykes Timber at Atherstone, His Lordship decided we should have a drive up the motorway and buy it from there. I was staggered to be quoted £69.

So we drove on to Good Timber at Nether Heyford and bought a similar piece of oak which was 2” thick for £18. Although Good Timber's much further away, I shan't be visiting Sykes again.

Incidentally, John, I wouldn't trust the pine that you can get from B&Q for anything other than pretty basic construction work. Last summer I made a point of using it to scroll a picture of a spitfire and found it was like cutting through candyfloss. The wood had no structural integrity and I was unable to cut even the most moderate details. It also warped rather quickly after purchase, despite being stacked with other wood purchased elsewhere which proved to be stable.

Gill

 

[johnjin]

Gill
My god!!! That first price comes out at about 140 pound a cubic foot.
You could buy gold plated mahogany for a lot less than that.
Thats one company I will be steering well clear of.
All the best

John

 

[TC]

Hi John
I notice that you're in Peterborough,(well,I s'pose someone has to be!) Its not too far to Harry Adcocks at Corby Glen, near Grantham, they always have a good selection of Oak. When I lived in Lincolnshire I used them a lot.

TC

 

[paul c]

Bit of a trek from P'boro but north heigham sawmills is the place for me. Always find something I wasn't looking for in the first place...what to do with bog oak always vexes me.

http://www.northheighamsawmills.co.uk/

 

[Neomorph]

Hi John
I notice that you're in Peterborough,(well,I s'pose someone has to be!) Its not too far to Harry Adcocks at Corby Glen, near Grantham, they always have a good selection of Oak. When I lived in Lincolnshire I used them a lot.

TC

Peteborough??? :? I live in Redditch, Worcestershire! :lol:

Seriously though thanks for the wonderful welcome.

Gill is dead right on the Pine board from B&Q as I bought some to make skirting board and the stuff just cupped and twisted even though I stored it in the room it''s going in and turned it daily.

That list that dedee posted didn't show any local to me but did give me a search engine term (Timber :roll: ) That I just couldn't remember. It's silly I know but my memory is awful.

One item I was looking for was beech board to make some bird boxes. The other was some oak to create some built in units around my TV and hi-fi.

 

[johnjin]

Hi TC & Paul C
Yes you have the wrong John there. I've got plenty of oak already as I bought about 4 cubic metres of it back in the summer for 200 pounds.
All I need to do now is start making something with it instead of just looking at it.

All the best

John

 

[Gill]

I live in Redditch, Worcestershire!

If only I'd known (hammer) - assuming that you didn't have better things to do, I could have taken you up to Sykes Timber and Good Timber with me today. I only live a few miles down the road from you.

Good Timber is undoubtedly the nearest timber supplier that's got consistently good quality wood at a reasonable price. Paskins of Kidderminster also stocks wood, but mostly turning blanks. Every few months Pugh's of Ledbury holds a woodworking auction but it's very much pot luck as to what will turn up and how reasonable the prices will be. I understand that Wessex Timber in Gloucestershire also has a good range of timber but I've never tried them.

Arnold Laver is, of course, primarily a builders' merchant but it can get you hardwood and there are branches both in Birmingham and Kidderminster. I've tried to order hardwood from the Kidderminster branch a couple of times and given up when it became clear that the office staff didn't know how to process the order :roll: . Nevertheless, if you're looking for planed hardwood, Lavers might be worth trying.

Gill

 

[tim]

I understand that Wessex Timber in Gloucestershire also has a good range of timber but I've never tried them.

Excellent stuff - but VERY pricey.

I'd try British Hardwoods www.britishhardwoods.co.uk good quality and delivered.

Cheers

Tim

 

[trevtheturner]

Hi Neomorph,

A hearty welcome from me, too.

See you at Ledbury in April? :wink:

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Neomorph]

Hi Neomorph,

A hearty welcome from me, too.

See you at Ledbury in April? :wink:

Cheers,

Trev.

Ledbury? What's happening there? (.. shuflles off to poke through the forums to find out...).

If it's a show of some sort I might go a long as I'm feeling up to it as I'm disabled and on painkillers 24/7/365. If the pain is bad it means I would be too drugged up to drive (or even stay awake lol).

Where do you live then Gill?

Those suppliers look promising as I can now put them into my GPS (and hope I don't make the same mistake I did last summer and select the wrong destination and end up in the middle of the country scratching my head as to why I was there... I'd chosen a small garden center instead of the big one I'd wanted :roll: )

I'm probably going to go shopping for the wood sometime in March/April when I start feeling better along with the improving weather. I'm starting to decide now because I will probably have to research, design and also practice relearning my woodworking skills and techniques as out of practice.

Strangely enough it was doing my garden decking and pergola last summer that got me interested in working with wood again. It was only when I couldn't find any decent wood localy that led me to here by accident and I'm really impressed with the friendliness here.

 

[Gill]

Hi John

I reckon Trev's referring to an anticipated auction at Pugh's, although I can't see one listed in their diary. The April sale seems to be optional - sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't :roll: .

Gill

 

[Neomorph]

Ahh... I really need to start off gently and not take on too much of a tough project at the start and getting pricey wood is in the future.

My first project will most likely be for my home media server case as it is going to be the central hub in my home automation system. Currently it has my music and videos stored in around 1TB of hard drive storage. The next part is to hide all the wires and various networking hubs and routers. As it's on 24/7 I'm going to noise proof it also.

Making all that fit into a custom cabinet will be a nice project I think.

 

[paul c]

apologies john and john - i'm easily confused these days

good luck with the media cabinet in Redditch.

Anyone used Atkins and Cripps?

 

[mahking51]

John
Welcome to the nuthouse!
Please post details of your media centre as it comes along; a project I am very interested in.
Regards
Martin

 

[TC]

Hi Neomorph,

Sorry, its an age thing!!

TC