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End of the Line

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End of the Line

#1

Alan Young

End of the Line

Alan Young

It was a sad day this past Saturday in Ann Arbor Michigan. Fingerle Lumber closed it's doors after 87 years in Business.

Fingerle Lumber occupied a fair section of low lying property in Ann Arbor- all inside the red boundary of this photo.


Although it is sad for all of the contractors and woodworkers who frequented this business over the years-A couple of points stand out to me.

1. The company was run by a family through three generations and are closing not due to market conditions-But simply because the owners were ready to retire.

2. I will miss the excellent service provided by the company and its employees-Sales people at the counter and most of all-

"Leroy" the man who ran the 5hp 12 inch Powermatic Table Saw.



I stopped in the yard on Saturday to spend a few more minutes at this local iconic business. Saturday was a typical March day weather wise-But the grey cloudy drizzly skies did not keep people from attending the "I was there Final Day at Fingerle Lumber" event.


Here are a few photos of the now empty yard..









It was the end of the Line-So I bought a shirt and hat to commemorate the Day.


Re: End of the Line

#2

Re: End of the Line

Barry Irby

I just bought some lumber from a long time business in Remington, VA, also closing because the owners were now living elsewhere and were aging out. Sad.

Re: End of the Line

#3

Alan Young

I almost walked home with this..

Alan Young

Well I couldn't "walk" but I gave at a few moments consideration...



Super robust Dewalt RAS 220 v

Early in the week they had for sale at $475

On Saturday it was sitting all alone in a far shed at $250.




I have one outlet from one circuit for 220- And I could not place this anywhere in my shop...

Re: End of the Line

#4

Re: I almost walked home with this..

William Duffield

I would not have hesitated to pay his asking price and taken that home with me. I'm sure I could find a good home for the 9" DeWalt RAS I currently have. It wouldn't take up much more room.

Re: End of the Line

#5

Re: End of the Line

William Duffield

If you are going all the way to Remington for lumber, you might want to visit C.P. Johnson Lumber. They are located adjacent to the airport in Culpeper (about 7 minutes from your dealer who closed).

Re: End of the Line

#6

Sorry to hear that

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

When we moved to our little town north of San Francisco here, we were blessed by a smaller old-line lumberyard, Colombo's, right across the street. If I needed a board, I would just walk over, buy it, and carry it home. One of those places where the buildings had grown up a bit accidentally over the years; and they seemed to stock about everything, all carefully watched over by experienced lumber folks. Their office was an old house on one corner of the property. When they closed down (again: new generation of the family didn't want to continue it), I spent several fruitless hours trying to figure out how to get it moved up our narrow driveway and put down on a new foundation at the upper end of the property. It would have made such a nice shop...

In our years here, we've watched our little town's useful retailers go out of business, invariably to be replaced by frou-frou stores.

Re: End of the Line

#7

William.....

Barry Irby

I went to Remington to preview the sale of Ritchie's lumber yard. I bought all the lumber my truck would haul home. Maple, walnut, pine, and more. I need more lumber like I need a hole in my head. But hard to pass up stock that has been indoors for fifty years or more. Got some interesting stuff. Most of the tools were 3 phase so of little interest to me.

Re: End of the Line

#8

somebody bought the inventory

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

So there will be some place to get lumber.

Re: End of the Line

#9

Re: Sorry to hear that

Larry Edinger

So Sad to see places like this Close, the young people don't know how to Work with their hands any more! Sad!

Re: End of the Line

#10

Sad

Don Orr

Thanks for the look into the past. This place must have been quite impressive in it's prime. Sad it is no more.

Re: End of the Line

#11

Alan Young

Well Yes and No

Alan Young

Fingerle did not stock rough cut lumber(they sold off their own Mill 15 years or so ago) Their Inventory was S4S and extensive-Domestic Species. This "Inventory" was sold off slowly over the last 3-4 months-largely to regular customers ie consumers of the product. These/Those consumers are now faced with getting lumber from local HD/Lowes/Menards or further away smaller yards. The local market will be substantially altered.

Re: End of the Line

#12

Hardwood or both

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Did this business sell hardwood and house building materials?

Re: End of the Line

#13

Alan Young

Fingerle "Business Model"

Alan Young

Bill-

Fingerle sold "every thing but rough cut hardwood lumber" Ie...they supplied materials for the housing market-2x4's 2x6's etc of various lengths, construction grade plywood, cabinet grade plywood-red Oak, Maple, Cherry and Walnut, windows, roofing. They had a Kitchen and Bath section for complete cabinet design and installation.

Their hardwood selection was domestic-Red and White Oak, Cherry, Maple, Walnut, Birch, probably some Alder. No imports. All the stock hardwood lumber was s4s at thickness of .75, 1.5 inches with assorted widths up to 8 inches maybe even 10. You could special order other thicknesses and widths-These orders would take a week or so to arrive from where ever their supplier was. So if you had your own jointer/planer etc it was probably more economical to acquire rough cut lumber from another source and mill it yourself.

These two photos show the racks where that stocked their domestic hardwood. There were nearly ALWAYS full-They had a very accurate inventor tracking system.



I purchased a fair amount of Red Oak, Walnut and Cherry over the years. Even though I do have a jointer and planer, the rough cut KD lumber sources here are just far enough away as to make it not worth my time traveling to pick through stock and milling up the lumber. There is a Woodcraft store @ 12 miles from me-about the same distance from my house as Fingerle was-just in the other direction- But it has always been a crap shoot as to the quality/availability of their selection. Fingerle's Business Model would not succeed now as a start up-But their customer service and extensive contact list built up over 80+ years made them a go to place even you "find" a cheaper price. I am most often now ordering my hardwood shipped from Hearne Hardwood in Pennsylvania.

Re: End of the Line

#14

Re: Fingerle "Business Model"

David Yoho

Alan, there is a very similar business here in Richmond, VA called Siewer's Millwork and Lumber. Been a family owned business since the 1800's. They cater to the building trades supplying millwork, lumber, windows, doors, decking, furniture grade hard and soft woods, and sheet goods. Their hardwood lumber is S4S and they generally maintain a good stock of domestic species as well as a few exotics.

Back when I was first getting started in woodworking for hire I was able to open an account there, which meant I didn't need to have cash in hand when I needed lumber. Eventually I found other sources at better prices but still went there from time to time.

When I have a project going and only need a board or two I usually stop in at Woodcraft and get what I need. However, I learned to bypass Woodcraft when I needed more and go to their source for domestic rough lumber at a better price. It's about an hour drive for me but worth it. I'd rather dimension my own lumber than buy the S4S stock from Siewer's that wasn't always flat. 4/4 stock at 13/16 doesn't leave any play when you need 3/4" stock.

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