Wood?

[four_deckerz]

I looked in Home Depot yesterday and was able to find some stuff to get some practice on. Where do you all get your wood from? What wood makes the nicest looking crafts? This is all new to me........sorry!

[workin for wood]

Look for cabinet makers in your yellow pages, They are sure to have scraps of plywood you can have to practice with, and they can lead you to where they get lumber and plywoods from.

[Bill Wilson]

There are several on-line/mail order sources for wood. Check the links provided on this site. I've never used any of them, but maybe some others can give you specific advice as to which is better.

The best and most economical solution is to find a full service lumber yard in your area. Not a "home center" but a place that deals in all kinds of hardwoods, plywoods, millwork, etc. This kind of place caters to cabinet makers and pro shops, but deal with lots of hobbiests as well.

Ultimately, the easiest (and most fun) solution is to buy a bandsaw and a planer or thicknessing sander and make your own boards out of rough stock. There are lots of places to buy rough cut lumber, so if you have the tools to mill it down, you have the greatest flexibility. However, spending hundreds of $$ on this equipment doesn't necessarily make it cost effective, but that's what hobbies are all about, right?

[Carter Johnson]

Bill, check your Home Depot - or similar stores - again. Usually they have a small section of finer plywood in thicknesses ranging from 1/8 to 1/2 inch and in smaller pieces than big slabs, often sold for making furniture tops. It isn't the top of the line quality that you can get from mail order places like Wildwood Designs, but it sure is fine for practicing.......Have phun.....Carter

[GrayBeard Phil]

Start with:
http://www.woodfinder.com/

Then check with Woodcraft Supply and Rockler's web sites to see if there is a store near you. (Both are listed under the Scrolling Community - Other Great sites on the left hand side of this web page.)

BTW, The BORG (Big Orange Retail Giant) is a home improvement store. It is not a lumber yard, nor a hobby wood supplier. They make profit by focusing on their prime business objective: home improvement. Your local BORG, or one of it's clones, may be like most other stores and carry just plain junk wood.

If you use plywood, you want the interior plys to be solid with no voids. And the fewer knots in the interior the better. There is one trade-named brand that by experience we (members of this forum) have found to be the most reliable overall for our work is Baltic Birch Plywood. It comes form parts of the former USSR. Some places call it Russian Birch Plywood. It is not perfect, since it is a natural product, but overall, it will hold up and not self destruct after you have invested 8 or 10 hours in a project.

Aside: If you are really new, and want to learn, there is a good book sold by Fox Chapel: John Nelson's Scroll Saw Workbook. Please remember, scroll sawing is free hand passing the wood past the blade. No jigs, fences, or fixtures to spend your money on. Thus, this is an eye-hand skill hobby that takes a learning curve. Not a steep learning curve, easy to learn, and don't take long; but it is an eye-hand learning curve none the less. Expect to get frustrated, make mistakes, develope bad habits, need to break bad habits, and so on.

Do keep one of your early projects. Many years from now, you can look back on your skill growth.

Phil

[Greenfield_Bob]

I get my Baltic Birch from a woodworking store in Indianapolis.

Bob

[lucky788scroller]

check in the links on the left under other great links. dale

[Woodbutcher68]

I've bought 1" Oak, Aspen and Maple from both the orange store and the green big box stores. I also get Oak and Maple from a local lumber yard and the prices are close after my discount. Thin woods I order online or drive 60 miles to get. Not too many places nearby with 1/8" or 1/4" solid wood. The big boxes do have some 1/4", but it's usually warped.