Eye catcher at Home Depot

Re: Eye catcher at Home Depot

Barry Irby

>A local business that sells to kitchen cabinetmakers has a stash of wood to go with the plywood they sell. I try to make myself go in there once in a while and sort through their stock. Fairly often find curly birch. Same deal. Over priced for the straight grained stuff, but great for the rare find.

Re: Eye catcher at Home Depot

Moses Yoder

>When I opened this up I expected to read about the cashier ;)

Re: Eye catcher at Home Depot

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey

>No, Moses, they keep "them" over in the tool rental section. |;-}}}}

Gold is where you find it

Ellis Walentine

>That used to happen to me frequently at conventional lumber yards, where they are just selling dimensional stock and not paying attention to figure. One stack you want to look through is the lauan (Philippine mahogany). Every now and then you will get a curly or quilted board that will roll your socks down.

Good work, Tommy.

Ellis

Re: Eye catcher at Home Depot--not a bargain

Thomas in AL

>Those nice boards at Home Depot are definitely no bargain. A few years ago I found a spectacular piece of curly maple at the local HD, and decided to make it into a side table. Only problem was the only tools i owned were a circular saw a hammer, and a few screwdrivers. Six months and a table saw, chisels, clamps, etc later, I had my little side table. That thing must have set me back over a thousand dollars. Then I discovered Lee Valley, Woodcraft, this web site, etc. I have no idea how many dollars and how many hours that piece of maple have cost me so far. At least it keeps me from getting into other trouble. (But my craftsmanship has improved from that first lumpy table)

LOL! hidden costs

Joe Piotrowski - Chicago Burb's

>how true. I was thinking of making a post about what our contractors saw really cost us. after looking at store bought upgrades, some that are on a wish list, and some hand made things. I can't believe what a sinkhole the contractor style TS is in Time and Money.

I have more tools than talent! some day i will do an accurate cost assessment including jigs. I need to make about 20 more pices of furniture to justify the costs!

Re: Eye catcher at Home Depot

David Yoho

>Sounds like Plywood & Plastics on Hermitage Rd. but there's others.

David

Busted!

Barry Irby

>Don't tell anybody. I have not finished accumilating a stash yet.

Cheap compared to a lathe.....

Barry Irby

>The spinning of a piece of wood on a lathe is like a whirlpool sucking money and time out of your life, if the "turning" bug bites you. A smart Woodcraft store owner would give you a lathe if you agreed to buy all your wood and accessories from them. A good WWII saw blade is a hundred bucks, but so is a good bowl gouge (a steel rod with a groove in it and wooden handle.) but then you have to have a grinder and a sharpening jig. And a chuck, and half a dozen sets of jaws. And..... more wood. And sand paper. I have heard of people making money with a lathe, but I think they should test that story on Mythbusters.

Re: Cheap compared to a lathe.....

Joe Piotrowski - Chicago Burb's

>I want to turn small stuff but right now the hand tool bug has bitten me. I have 3 or 4 hand planes to buy first? so after I spend my kid's college fund on them, I will turn my attention to the wedding fund for the lathe stuff :)

Re: Gold is where you find it

Charles Self

>Gold is certainly where you find it. About six years ago, I went up the road (all of 3 miles) to a local sawmill to check out some red oak and some red cedar. While I was loading up, the owner asked if I was interested in some cherry.

Uh, yeah?

I had to return for it, a stash of cherry discarded by the guy who bought sawed log. Most of it 11' to 13' long, 1" x 6" to 13" wide, with a half dozen 16/4 and 12/4 6" and 8" wide 12' boards. When I planed the 4/4 boards, I found about 1/3 of them were either curly or flame cherry.

A lot was trash, but for $75, I was delighted (so was the mill owner: I think he was getting ready to burn all as trash). I think my actual cost, after planing and tossing the splits and checks, was around a buck a board foot, might have been $1.50.

He has a few more boards for me now, and a pick-up load or two of white oak. A great way to get rid of a couple hundred bucks.