Thread: White oak and select tassie oak suppliers Melbourne

Originally Posted by ian

Accepted wisdom for air drying is one year per 25 mm. So a 50 mm board would take 2 years.

BUT
if it's stacked in your garage, it could be much longer as in a garage the boards won't get the air flow they would outside. But outside has it's own risks.

If you go down this route, buying 2 to 3 time the quantity you think you require would be a wise choice.

I thought it was 25mm per side per year, so a 50mm thick piece would take a year.

Also noticed they have silvertop ash - what is this timber like for furniture making?

Originally Posted by artful bodger

I thought it was 25mm per side per year, so a 50mm thick piece would take a year.

When I spoke to them on the phone they said the process is usually 12 months air dried and then into a kiln so I presume it takes longer then a year?

Britons do have machining service for their rough sawn it’s the factory behind their warehouse and it’s all nice new machines which give an excellent finish. I got a pack of150x32 DAR few months ago lovely quality.

I've also been told (by a wholesaler that does their own drying) that air drying will take one year per inch of thickness. 50mm = ~2 inches = 2 years

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Do you think 30% of it will be unusable? Or just a big portion of it will take really long to dry?

I would imagine that it would be for continuity of supply. You wouldn't want to buy a small amount then wait for it to dry, then use it up and start the whole process again. If you have a larger quantity, once it is dry and you are using it, you could order more so that by the time you have used up the first lot, the second lot will be dry and ready for use.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Just on Britton's machining services - how much was it?

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Do you think 30% of it will be unusable? Or just a big portion of it will take really long to dry?

not so much unusable or taking a really long time, more an insurance policy.
If you were to buy a pack splits and checks during drying can largely be ignored because of the quantity you bought.

But if you only buy enough boards for a table and bed (say) you have no spare stuff should even just one board split or check or warp excessively during drying.

I spoke to Britton timber earlier in this thread via the phone and gave me a price for 50x125 oak and today I sent them an email with a list of what I want/sizes and asked about machining costs. They gave me another price for the rough sawn white oak which is 10% more then what I was told over the phone (its not GST too as both quoted price excludes GST)! How annoying is that...

sounds like you have gone from the pack or near pack quantity price to the price applicable for a few sticks

Originally Posted by ian

sounds like you have gone from the pack or near pack quantity price to the price applicable for a few sticks

There's generally a "broken pack" surcharge for small orders; someone has to go and pick out what you want, strap it and update their inventory list

I see, well that makes sense

If you are buying quantity -- more than what you need for the immediate project -- don't buy dressed.

Also, it's almost always better to dress component sized pieces rather than whole boards.
and when dressing, make sure that the sticks going through the machines are around 300 mm longer than what you require -- then if there is any snipe you can just cut it off.

Just a suggestion... Home – American Hardwoods

We buy large enough quantities for m3 rates so no idea what per lm rates could be.