Hamlin

For the past several weeks, I've gone into my local HD. Always varied the times, early am, mid am, noon, mid afternoon etc. I've noticed and several other customers as well, have noticed that the choice of the "quality" of lumber they have in stock is really becoming poor. Ie., warped, twisted and knotty lumber. At first, I thought perhaps it's the contractors are arriving early and taking the "pickings". However, arriving as soon as the doors open... the "pickings" are still very poor quality. I don't wish to goto a different lumber yard, since the next closest one would be an additional 50+ miles away. I'm rather aggitated about this and am wondering... Has anyone else noticed the quality of lumber at their local HD?

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Ken

(On temporary leave of abscense)

"A VETERAN"
"Wether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life". That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -Author Unknown

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SandyT

Ken,
I know exactly what you mean. You move all this lumber around, thinking maybe there will be some good boards hidden, but they are all horrible. So, lately, I've been getting my wood at Lowe's and mostly select 1X8X4' oak boards to make canes.
Before I started making canes, I had to finish a cedar planter and needed to get more cedar to make some trim and legs for the planter, and Home Depot doesn't even sell cedar boards that I recall, but it took forever to find a decent cedar board there at Lowe's.
If I ever get near a Woodcraft store where they sell a variety of wood, watch out!

Mike

Sandy, yes, Woodcraft and Rockler both sell a nice variety of woods. Did anybody tell you it is all rough cut lumber and needs to be joined and planed before you can use it? Guy's, the sad truth is neither HD or Lowe's is a lumber yard. They are home center's and the difference is in the quality of the wood. The good news is that since they need to compete, most lumber yards are priced close to what the big box stores charge. You will see a world of difference in the quality.

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Mike

SandyT

Mike,
Thank you for your posting. I have purchased some red oak from a lumber company not too far away, and there was 1 true edge and 1 true face on it and not any cheaper at all. The quality was so-so, the service was terrible, so I didn't go back there.
I do have a jointer and a planer, so that is no problem. You were talking about Woodcraft and Rockler's wood needing jointed and planed, right?

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Hamlin

I realize that HD and Lowes aren't a lumber yard. My apologies for the mis-wording. The point is that they do sell "cabinet" grade lumber. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if they carry good quality for one type of wood why not for another? It's just lately that their quality has dropped over the past few weeks, atleast at my local HD. I'm just frustrated and had to rant a bit. Again, my apologies.
Sandy, my local HD does carry Cedar... rough cut.
I've ordered some lumber in the past from Rockler, Mike is correct, it's rough cut.

__________________
Ken

(On temporary leave of abscense)

"A VETERAN"
"Wether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life". That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -Author Unknown

Lee Brubaker

It's frustrating.Outfits like HD want to sell you woodworking tools but do not want to be bothered stocking & selling wood species suitable for use with the tools they sell. Rona is the same. Example. Suppose you want to make some flat panel doors. They will sell you rail & stile bit sets but do not stock 1/4" veneered plywood to properly fit the groove cut by these bits(4mm is not 1/4"...6mm is).This is why Windsor Plywood came into existance...they sell a fairly wide range of hardwoods, usually S2S 4/4 & charge an arm and a leg for it. Home Hardware locally has started to carry a variety of hardwoods & are certainly more reasonable in cost compared to Windsor. Still tough though getting what you would like for a project.

Lee

kp91

I've also noticed a difference in what different home depot's carry. My local one did not have any 1/2 inch hardwood plywood, but when I was vacationing in Williamsburg, VA, the Home depot had a ton of different varieties mine did not have. The lumber guy said that if there is enough demand for it, they'll carry it. Since a lot of building is going on the the Williamsburg area, they have a greater variety. (of course, I did buy plywood while on vacation....I couldn't help it!)

Has anyone given the online lumber guys a shot yet? Steve wall, exoticwoods.net, woodfinder.com?

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Doug
1 John 1:9