Thread: Where do you find Timber?

Hi Jamie,

It is sad to see the timber go to waste, roadsides, widening of roads, new subdivisions etc etc etc.

Personally, I find I am restricted by $ or the lack thereof, time, tools, ability and space to get the timber, process it and store/rack it. I have no problem using it though.

Having said that, I try to buy my timber from people who do do their best to deal with such timber, DJ, Exador, the sawmill at Highfields, Dai Sensei and others I've met through the forum. occasionally I sucumb to timber from bunnies though

cheers
Wendy

Originally Posted by barnsey

One thing that caught me was David's admission that he is getting out of timber altogether and just selling equipment. No money in it. No-one will pay for timber blanks and slabs!!

Moreover he suggested that there probably wasn't another good supplier north of Sydney. I'm sure I'll invite a few responses there but the point remains - woodies want everything for nothing here. I hear it over and over again.
.

Depends on what you mean by "good supplier". I spent an interesting couple of hours at Lazarides a couple of weeks ago. Not cheap, but good variety and very good service.

And over the years I've bought a few blanks from Stan at Mullinbimby Woodworks. Heavy on the camphor laurel but lots of other stuff as well, and Stan is one of the legendary characters in Australian timber.

So there we have two places that know their stuff and will take the time to help a customer.

I don't think we lack good suppliers.

I have to agree with switt775.

I have bought most of my very good pieces of timber from Lazarides over the last couple of years. I have always been very pleased with the service and the memory of good value and service has lasted longer than the price I paid on the day.

IMHO they are well worth the effort.

Thornburn

when i started out woodworking i got prices form Lazarides and was disgusted at the prices they were charging. so i went out and bought an Alaskan chainsaw mill.

the original idea was to cut timber for me but i soon reallised there was a market for reasonable priced slabs and turning blanks.

however most of my customers are down south. i send so much stuff down there by courier that i have spent $5000 in fastway tickets in the last 2 years. i have made just enough out of the timber i sell to keep me in sandpaper and varnish and the odd band saw and wood lathe. and now have enough to purchase a Lucas mill. witch i have ordered.

i would love to quit fencing and cut timber full time but i would need more support from queenslanders mainly brisbaneiters.

it says something that people can buy blanks from me and get them sent down to them for less than they can buy them for down there. and i still make a good profit on them.

th reason for the high prices is all these so called sawmills and the like in town that purchase timber from the sawmills and resell it at a huge mark up. sometimes over 150% this has made people. sorce timber for themselves otherwise they would have to give up woodwork.

storage is also an issue for a lot of people not being able to store lots of material or large offcuts in there small backyard sheds. i have there for started to offer timber storage where i will store timber bought on my property either in the shed or under tarps depending on what is wanted. and i will aslo cut slabs to length where most suppliers will only sell you a whole slab. say you wanted to make a coffee table and only need a slab 1.2m long but the shortest they have in the timber you want is 4m that is a lot of timber to pay for that will sit out the back untill you finnaly have a use for it.

i am close to this topic and have spent many hour thinking about why Queenslanders wont buy timber.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

SNIP.....
i am close to this topic and have spent many hour thinking about why Queenslanders wont buy timber.

Cause they are Queenslanders. The QLD coat of arms has the word "Cheapskate" Under the emblem.

that may well be but as you head north the folk become more and more freindly.

now lets not wander off the topic.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

now lets not wander off the topic.

Since when has any post on here remained on topic

QLder's Don't handle criticism very well do they...

Originally Posted by glock40sw

Since when has any post on here remained on topic

QLder's Don't handle criticism very well do they...

You are right they don't and criticism is handled differently by all people. I don't recall anyone having a go at Northern NSWmen or offering anything other than requesting support for a timber industry that is sick at best.
Sure there are a number of opportunists in the golden triangle offering material for those that feel money is no object but for the vast majority has no value in our every day lives. There are millers who do offer value but that is hard to source and almost always on a door step basis. What we are trying to suggest is that there is a heap of quality material that is being sent to waste.

Some of it in log form because it is uneconomic to resurrect bowl or craft timber. If you are happy to see that then so be it.

What we might be suggesting is that apart from commercial stock from these fellings there is a huge amount of timber that could otherwise be used in the areas that compose these forums. What we need is support to make it viable to return them to the masses.

If a guy from Houston can be ecstatic that he was able to purchase 6 bowl blanks not more than 200mm in dia for $55.00 coz it would cost him 10 times that at home for nothing as exotic then you have to wonder what we are doing or rather wasting.

In the meantime the comment is proffered about woodworkers in general not wanting to pay for timber in general not a specific demographic based on regional boundaries.

So a few of us are prepared to go to significant effort to collaboratively gather some of these resources. Are there others willing to contribute space, effort, marketing to achieve this - we would be happy to hear the constructive views from others.

Jamie

i whole heartedly agree with everything barnsey said above.

this is exactly the reason Jamie (barnsey) , myself and allan (sigidi)making our best effort to not only supply woodworkers and construction with affordable timber but also try to reduce the amount of quality mill logs sent to landfill or put threw the chipper. but we cant do this alone we need the support of other woodworkers and millers.

Retailers like Lazarides and Mullumbimby WW need to charge a fair price to cover high overheads and their time dealing with customers.
When a woody turns up and they spend an hour with them looking for the best timber to suit their needs and going through a pile of slabs to find the best one they earn their money.
I would rather spend my day milling away without interuptions and then wholesale my timber to a retailer like them.

On the subject of timber waste I think it's a case of one man's trash is another's treasure. You need to match the timber with the buyer. If you can't its worse than firewood as it just takes up space in your shed. The hobbiest timber market is not very big in Australia and many hobbiests help themselves to timber wherever they can get it.
Anyway your welcome to my truckload of red ash, old man banksia and miscellaneous offcutts. I'd like to get them out of my shed so I can have more room for timber that has a market.

Cheers
Steve

if you see them demolishing the tree's for housing estates, bring out the chainsaw and go for your life!

I dont use much (read none) timber anymore but prefer when I do not to buy from timber recycler/reclaimer type vendors for a number of reasons.
I usually buy timber for a commission and these suppliers are in my experience not always accurate in their claims of timber moisture. They mostly slab saw even when quartering is a better way to process a particular timber and logistics prohibit the return of substandard product.
If you are willing to buy green and wait for it to dry then great but that is not always possible.

I have usually used one of the two bigger timber vendors here in Sydney but recently I went looking at a certain western Sydney timberyard and out of the 11 species I had interest in 9 were unavailable or prices were a joke.
I am not moaning about this in fact I was not all that supprised as I think this reflects the endemic death of craft culture in this country along with a lot of other things but dont get me started!

I have long dreampt of having a portable mill of one or both types but that is unlikely to happen and if it did I wouldnt have much use for the timber anyway.

Think I will go and hurt myself now !

Ross

At the risk of sounding like a broken record

Weisyboy was disgusted at the prices a popular timber merchant was charging for craft/turning timber. Do I need to start a poll on that subject?

We are collectively looking at solar kilns and better quality/diversity of timber to end users. We can mill some of the best eucalypts into 4X1 for flooring/decking till our hearts content. We'll pay our bills and make a living.

What we see is the quality timber that gets wasted and as keen woodworkers ourselves are totally frustrated that we can not use it, much less be able to convey it to others. We're too busy milling and nobody wants to do anything about the waste of the resource.

"On the subject of timber waste I think it's a case of one man's trash is another's treasure. You need to match the timber with the buyer. If you can't its worse than firewood as it just takes up space in your shed. The hobbiest timber market is not very big in Australia and many hobbiests help themselves to timber wherever they can get it.
Anyway your welcome to my truckload of red ash, old man banksia and miscellaneous offcutts. I'd like to get them out of my shed so I can have more room for timber that has a market."

Stopper, that's like saying my petrol tank's leaking - come and salvage what you can. I understand your business requirement but!!

Chikoroll is gunna solve it all with a chainsaw vigilante and Different's answer is to runaway from the issue.

Come on you guys!! Is this a woodworkers forum looking for better things or not.

Who has wished they had an alternative resource to create their piece but had to settle for something less?

So how do we change that??

Will you support people trying to do that??

Jamie

Originally Posted by barnsey

We are collectively looking at solar kilns and better quality/diversity of timber to end users. We can mill some of the best eucalypts into 4X1 for flooring/decking till our hearts content. We'll pay our bills and make a living.

Good on ya for wanting to have a go. But be aware that the flooring/decking industry is littered with the bones of people that thought that they could make a fortune with one little solar kiln and a 4 sided moulder. In the present industry downturn, you will want to keep an eye on the market. Also remember, it only takes one product rejection to send you broke. $1000 worth of timber can turn into a $50,000 tearout re-install claim.

Also, be aware that some of your species need to be treated for internal/external use. If you send it out to be contract treated, then you are eating into your profit.

There is a lot more to "Value adding" than meets the eye.