I stopped by a new (to me) hardwood dealer the other day to pick up some material for a new coffee table I'm going to build. I suspect that most of their business comes from commercial customers, but they are also open to the public. Their selection of hardwood was pretty basic but the prices were excellent . The lumber came surfaced-two-faces (s2f) which has it's pros and cons. It's nice because you can get a better idea of what the finished surface will look like, but you also don't quite get as much material for your buck; thicknesses are nominal and tend to be on the thin side for what you get charged.
For the table I was thinking contrasting wood: dark tabletop and legs with a light apron. They had a ton of red oak so I got that for the dark. That monster slab on the bottom of the stack is 6/4 thick and 15" wide: probably the heaviest single piece of wood I've ever bought. Above that, in the middle of the stack, is some more red oak: 7/4 thick and 9" wide...another beast. I'm thinking I'll use this for the legs.
The last piece is some wormy maple (or "ambrosia maple" if you're a furniture dealer). I thought that this would be interesting material for the apron. The challenge will be figuring out where to cut it so that the off-colors aren't on edges...should be interesting. The maple was also dirt cheap: $1.63/board foot. Cheapo white pine is $1.00/bdft at Home Depot, so that's a pretty good price for decorative hardwood.
That last piece on the left is some leftover walnut from the bookcase project. Who knows, maybe a little inlay work on the tabletop: I've always liked Fibonacci squares.
I like Suwanee lumber. Not the biggest establishment and they don't carry anything exotic, but they usually have decent selections of domestics for good prices. Next time you go, give me a ring.
ReplyDelete