Another Get Woodworking Week post, this time about that first trip to the lumber yard. Here are some tips about how lumber is sold and lumber grading that will help you make every trip to the lumber yard a successful one.
Learn More About Buying Lumber
- Understanding Lumber Grading at the J. Gibson McIlvain blog
- Lumber Grades Explained at the Hardwood to Go blog
- A Lumbering Feeling from The Wood Whisperer Vault
- Buying Lumber from Popular Woodworking
- Choosing Project Lumber by Popular Woodworking
Thanks to Bob Lang for those last two posts. I had forgotten about them.
Heads up, those two Popular Woodworking links about buying and choosing lumber appear to be broken. I couldn’t find the articles so they may have taken them down.
Not sure what that was about, but I changed the links and as far as I can tell nothing changed but they are loading now. I pulled those links directly from a comment by Bob Lang on a G+ post.
Maybe it was just a burp on their website. It’s working for me now too.
I like to take a list of all the parts with me to the lumberyard. That way I can plan around what is available and check off the parts as I pick out boards. If I was smart, I’d label them with a lumber crayon or piece of chalk as I went along…
Great explanation. Thanks so much for your effort in helping us navigate the wood working universe!!
Shannon, thanks so much for this. Very helpful, well explained, and I’m sure after watching this that many a newer woodworker will feel less anxious about their next trip to the hardwood store.
Great video, Shannon. Where I get most of my lumber, it comes in either wide slabs or really wide slabs
Chris
That’s awesome Chris. Mills like that are becoming more and more rare since those sizes appeal to a much smaller minority and can be hard to move. It’s good to know they are still out there.