What Hardwood Thicknesses do you buy the most of?

[JohnB]

G'day Kev,
I usually buy 19mm (3/4), sometimes 45mm (2"). You can only get it dressed in a minimum of sizes where I live. The nearest mill would probably be 1000 Kms away.

Skips are a great source, since I got my 14" bandsaw. Old Jarrah from house renos 4"x2" / 3"x2" sometime, if your lucky bigger pieces.

[greatdane2]

John, what time of the day is down there?

[JohnB]

G'day Alan,
When you posted the above it was 1.30pm now going onto 4.30. Have to take my young bloke to uni at 5.30 and pick up the war office from the airport at 6.30, then collect the young bloke @ 8.30pm. It's times like this I'm glad that it's only about a 10minute drive from one end of Kalgoorlie to the other

[Jediscroller]

John,
I know there's some gorgeous woods down your way, wish I had more access to them on this side of the planet, hehehe.
Hey King, I just realized, you're only about 75 miles from me. Of course, with the price of gas, shipping might be cheaper than driving, hehehehehe.
Shipping is the real wild card with doing this, for 1 or 2 pieces (at least in my mind) it's quite a bit of money. I just shipped a couple of pieces of 1/8 X 6 X 24 purpleheart to someone and it was $8 to ship it. Seems kind of steep when the wood was only $7 total. I have to find out the size of the flat rate boxes, it might be advantageous to offer somewhat shorter pieces at significantly lower shipping prices.

[sgimbel]

Kevin

Did I miss something? Your website is extremely nice but it says nothing about being able to order wood. Are you a supplier?

[Jediscroller]

Originally Posted by sgimbel

Kevin

Did I miss something? Your website is extremely nice but it says nothing about being able to order wood. Are you a supplier?

No, you haven't missed anything. As I said, I'm toying with the idea right now and trying to determine actually a few things. One, if there's a market, two, if it's worth it and most importantly how much stock I would need to have on hand before I can start offering it. It'll likely be end of summer if I decide to go this route. Looking at the responses here, it sounds as if most folks are milling their own which actually surprised me a bit as I thought more folks were buying pre-thicknessed woods. I will keep folks posted, I may start slowly with just offering a few inexpensive basics like purpleheart, oak, maple and perhaps sycamore.

[Jediscroller]

Originally Posted by ragiarn

For Intarsia I usually get 3/4" but lately have been getting 2-3" for carving. At one time purchased wood from Lowes ( they sell wood as thin as 1/4") however recently I have been getting wood from milners and cabinet makers- They throw away shorts (less than 2 feet in length). Can generally get even exotic wood at bargain basement prices. Recently a patient of mine came in with a bagful of mahogany, black walnut and Jatoba- Pieces that they normal burn. He is a cabinet maker and these pieces are useless to him. If you can find a cabinet maker who does high end cabinets you would be surprised at what they throw away. You might even do them a favor by helping clean up the clutter of unwanted shorts.

Doc

Hey Doc,
I just realized that you're from my neck of the woods (no pun intended). I've searched high and low for cabinet shops around CT but all the ones I've found use garbage. Where are you finding your scraps?

[wwalker47]

I voted 1/4" because I do mostly fretwork.

-Bill
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[lucky788scroller]

I generally buy my thins from a source I already have a lot of confidence in, so not likely to change unless the price was substantially lower, and quality was as good as I currently get.I have all the tools to machine my own thin wood, but most often my time saved by buying it already done is more valuable to me.

[bearfretworks]

USMC1126 and I shop at the same place.........deer56hunter on Ebay.

I don't mill my own..........yet..................and buy LOTS of 1/8" for ornaments. Also but 1/4 and 3/8 often.