Thread: Cheapest way to buy timber

In my case all the doors are hollow. The older hollow doors are heavier and stiffer than the newer ones.
In my case the doors are free, or I am being paid to replace them, and just remove the old one for disposal.
I replaced one door because it was warped, and used it as a paint table for the next two months. Did not care about splashed paint on the door when I was pre painting parts for a picket fence.

Originally Posted by Jim57

The problem I am having is finding reasonable price timber, Bunnings has 90x45 treated pine but some of the guys say not to use it because of the treatment and there is only one place in my town that deals with demolished timber and he doesn’t have a lot to offer. There are are few timber mills in my town and I haven’t investigated them yet, in your opinion are they worth looking at and if so what can I expect as far as timber

One problem with saw mills is you can't usually buy just a few pieces from them - you have to buy packs or lots.
The timber might also not be dry and you will have to wait some time for it to dry out and then you risk ending up with cracked and twisted timber. This is one reason why decent timber costs so much.

I mill timber at a tree loppers yard and sometimes I mill logs for people for money.
We end up with loads of (usually oddly shaped) offcuts that still have significant amounts of usable timber in them but recovering the usable timber takes a lot of messing about, which is why we usually chuck them out to start with.
If I have spare time I sometimes take some of the more interesting offcuts and spend time on recovery, or take them to a Mens shed, but most end up on the fire wood pile or goes thru the chipper.

The Jarrah slab sitting on the fork lift is an example of an offcuts.
There were 3 other similar offcuts generated to turn the log into a square cant.
That slab on the forklift has a very thin middle but I managed to recover a bunch of short/thin/narrow boards from the two ends - it was a lot of work
I've kept some and given some to a Mens shed.
Being "Rift Sawn" during drying they have all cupped (I expected this) but now they are almost dry I have cut some into narrow boards and can easily thickness the cup out of them. It's only because this was a stunning log that I bothered to do this. Jarrah is also really nice to cut and generates the most amazing coloured sawdust.

Jarrah1.jpg

Some mills have a scrap pile which often has some good stuff on it but the last thing they will want is a stranger scrabbling thru a pile to select a few pieces, running the risk of getting injured etc, then haggling about the price all for just a few $$. Mills RE usually in the business of producing and selling bulk product. This is also why we don't let anyone go through our waste pile.

You might be amused by my workbench history post here.
It also describes one of my door and cardboard box benches.
Workbench histories

Originally Posted by Jim57

Thanks for the advice , I need all the help I can get lol. ...

Jim, you are largely asking the right questions, but perhaps it is time to refocus. You repeatedly mention cheap timber; this could be a mistake.

A very good friend, is a highly experienced and very competent joiner working in the "studio furniture" segment of the market. He always laughs at the dicotomy of woodworking tools at places like bunnings where you have both tradesmen's tools and handymen's tools - he calls them real tools and toy tools. His argument is that tradesmen spend an apprenticeship and the first ten years in their trade learning how to really use tools properly. It becomes part of them. They quickly realise it is not cost effective to use substandard tools; time is money; your reputation is your only true asset. Handyment rarely have the skill sets of the professionals and they need all the help they can get. They are usually not as skilled at recovering from problems, and hence need better tools than professionals!

In my view, the same argument applies to materials. Sub-standard timber is usually counterproductive, until you have the skill set to convert it to "select" quality. And timber is a surprisingly small part of the cost of woodworking. May I respectfully suggest that you use "select" grade timber only until you think that you can identify what is "select" grade and can convert rough timber to that specification.

BigChains are quite expensive sources of timber and their quality control has a lot of room for improvement. There should be better sources near you.

Originally Posted by BobL

... One problem with saw mills is you can't usually buy just a few pieces from them - you have to buy packs or lots.

The timber might also not be dry ...

So true, most saw millls are set up to deliver rough sawn green timber by the truck load.

Drying kilns and a dressing mill may be co-located with the saw mill or on a different site. Immediately timber comes out of the kilns it will be sorted, graded and packed.

There are real work place safety, insurance and distraction issues from having strangers on site.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

In my view, the same argument applies to materials. Sub-standard timber is usually counterproductive, until you have the skill set to convert it to "select" quality. And timber is a surprisingly small part of the cost of woodworking. May I respectfully suggest that you use "select" grade timber only until you think that you can identify what is "select" grade and can convert rough timber to that specification.

BigChains are quite expensive sources of timber and their quality control has a lot of room for improvement. There should be better sources near you.

Reminds me of the time 40 odd years ago when I first got my EzyCut table saw and jointer and one of the first things I did with it was to set about making a cot for my soon about to be born son.
I went to Bunnings and saw the price of pine and (even then) balked at the price so I didn't buy any - a few days later I was at WA Salvage and they had seconds pine on sale. It was awful stuff, bent, twisted and cupped, but I thought, it's cheap and I will use my EzeCut to get the timber straight.

After many weekends I had a few straight pieces the sizes I wanted, a lot of sawdust, and many pieces that were under and odd sizes. But I started building the cot anyway - ever tried building anything with lots of different odd sized timber - it's a nightmare. Eventually I gave up and went and bought the straight pine from Bunnings. My son was 4 months old when he fist got to sleep in it.

FWIW the price of the pine paled into insignificance compared to the service it gave over the Last 40 years
After my son used it, 5 great nieces and nephews used it, as did our two grandies.

Cot.jpg

... Reminds me of the time 40 odd years ago ... I went to Bunnings and saw the price of pine and (even then) balked at the price ...

Back then we were selling to Bunnings Brothers - before Wesfarmers involvement - and they were passionate about the quality of their product. Different ethos now. A typical sale was 3,000 to 5,000 m3!

BobL Eventually I gave up and went and bought the straight pine from Bunnings not any more you dont, maybe where I live we are at end of the road but how anyone builds a house or furniture from their stuff is beyond me.


and Bob what the hell did that poor monkey do to get treated like that?

Originally Posted by Tonyz

BobL Eventually I gave up and went and bought the straight pine from Bunnings not any more you dont, maybe where I live we are at end of the road but how anyone builds a house or furniture from their stuff is beyond me.

Correct - remember I run a couple of saw mills and have access to a yard FULL of logs and already cut dry slabs -hundreds of them .
I should stop milling and start making but I really enjoy the milling process.

and Bob what the hell did that poor monkey do to get treated like that?

Its doing what a lot of monkeys do, hanging by its tail.

Thanks again everyone great advice that makes sense and I be taken it all on board , but the good news is I looked in Facebook and what do you know there is a guy selling assorted timber (hardwood) at $7 lm and he recons it’s straight and dry only 15mm a from my home. So this weekend end I hope to be into my first bench, after some good advise I am thinking about buying a damaged door and roping it off with 1/2 mbf. Thanks again for all your input

Cheap= bad quality.
It takes the same amount of work ( possibly less) to build something out of good quality materials as it does from cheap rubbish. The end result with good materials is far better, so it’s not worth the bother trying to save a few quid on timber.
Start small, take your time, be thorough.

I dont really use pine any more, however just recently my wife asked me to make her a cutting bench. I bought non structural pine from bunnings at 6 bucks for 90mm x 35mm sections 2.4m long. Put them through the thicknesser and there results were great. Sure, there is a bit of waste but so cheap! Not bad at all.

I've built stuff out of free/reclaimed/scrap lumber as well as out of forklift pallets. I learned something very useful.

It's ten times as much work to get half the results you can easily get out of good lumber.

For me, it was a false economy. It's never the right size. Full of warp, twist, cracks, and knots.. It takes a zillion joints. Then, after all that work, it looks boring. Light beige, with uglies and nail holes all over it, and no really cool wabi-sabi character.