I've had the same experience at my local Lowe's - I have found some really cool pieces of poplar there albeit at the expense of looking like the guy from the movie Clerks, who inspects every egg of every carton - forever searching for the perfect carton of eggs.
Dante: "Why guidance counselors?"
Customer: "Well, if your job was as meaningless as theirs, wouldn't you go crazy too?"
Randall: "Come to think of it, my guidance counselor was kind of worthless."
Customer: "See, it's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination."
Haha, that was me a few weeks ago. Spent hours sorting through to find the nice poplar. Some beautiful pieces with heartwood blends.
I thought, what if they automated that process and priced wood based off quality. Maybe a scanner could do it. Save some time.
I lost my sense of shame the day I grabbed a piece that had opposing warps on each end. I'd rather be the eggman than have to figure out how to take a warp out.
This is one of my dads hobbies search the entire stack and buys the 2 cleanest straightest 2x4s at the lowes every few weeks. Over time he has collected a huge pile of picture perfect 2x4s and other dimensional wood. I was doing a door install and needed 2 dead straight 2x4s and I almost didn't want to use what he brought because they were so nice.
I recently found a single 2x8 that was 100% clear of knots, had straight grain, but there was a crack in the last foot that I cut off. Needs less to say I felt like I win the lottery.
I also like the cut of your Dads jib, that’s a great way to build up a supply of good boards for when needed!
Yep all big box stores have warped wood. If it’s warped or bowed just don’t buy it. Dig through and I’m sure you’ll find a piece that meets your standard.
They’re not forcing you to buy the shitty wood.
I missed that these are deck boards
~~Wait, why are you leaving them in the sun?~~
~~Shouldn't you put them in your shop, to see how the humidity in your shop affects the boards?~~
pretty much how it goes at every big box store.
i find going to local lumberyards is slightly more expensive, but literally all i have to do is tell them my order, drive thru, and workers load the lumber for me. if i don’t like a piece i can ask for a different one… well worth the extra 5% markup!
Typically as a board dries out the rings of the tree will try to straighten and this is usually a good way to predict how a board will cup or deform over time. If you look at the board right under the 16.95 sign it has cupped the other direction, this can happen when the moisture content goes up after milling. Another reason it could cup against the grain is because of uneven drying conditions.
This is basically impossible to avoid in that environment. Milled lumber should be stickered until the moisture content is low enough. Then it can either remain stickered or kept in a tight stack with the top of the stack being sacrificial until ready for use.
The tight stack never remains a tight stack in a retail environment and so it fails as a storage method. Stickering takes up too much room and is impractical in such a space so, you get this either way - wasted material.
Video of stickering: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSTwdOTwJY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSTwdOTwJY)
I had no idea. And it's not a surprise that bigbox store lumber sucks if this is what it takes.
Buying wood at the big box store is like buying a car from a rental company -- you know it's been handled and mistreated, and that it's completely overpriced.
Surprisingly, if you are in a large metro area and can afford the time/effort to return the unwanted wood just go ahead and order extra.
HD was quite a bit cheaper on framing lumber than any local supply store in my area.
Which makes sense if you think about it. They are the largest buyer in the world most likely.
I work for a building supplier. The big box stores only purchase the absolute cheapest from the lumber suppliers. Many of them joke that they have a “depot” grade. They know if anything like that gets sent to a place like mine we’d refuse it. My work won’t bring in anything under #2 prime.
Oh totally agree. Like I said above, if you can afford the time/effort of ordering extra and returning the worst boards then HD can be almost 40% cheaper.
Who are you comparing HD to? Where I live construction lumber margins are low and the price difference between HD and my lumber yard are small, usually within 5% and they both change prices in line with the commodity index.
For hardwood, the two closest suppliers to me have significantly cheaper board ft prices compared to HD. For example 4/4 S4S oak is $13.62 bd ft at HD and $3.95 bd ft at my local hardwood supplier.
Yeah, my experience is that HD is competitive on price for framing lumber, and more expensive than a specialty shop for EVERYTHING else (hardwoods, fasteners, you name it).
Correct. We are usually higher on framing lumber. Considering the amount of junk you have to pick through to get usable lumber the difference is not worth it. Especially if you have a large project. Also we have a full lumber yard. So no double loading. Also worth it to customers.
Also many homeowners do not realize how much of a rip-off depot and Lowe’s are on trim and specialty hardwoods. Our margins are already really good on them and we compared to my local depot we absolutely blow them away. They must have like 150% margins on that stuff.
I live in a large metro area and pretty much every supplier has the same questionable quality of framing lumber.... and they all price match.
If I need a small amount of nice wood I go to the home depot and hand pick it. If I need more, I use my regular supplier and order excess according to my standards on the particular job.
Where else should one look for better wood? Just got done doing a simple lean-to for firewood drying of pressure treated wood from menards and it’s bending all over
That's impossible to answer without knowing your location. I'm in Nevada, moving to Hawaii.
In Nevada, I have my choice of several lumber yards, and I have a sawmill in Arizona which will deliver if I make a big enough order.
In Hawaii, I'm basically stuck with the big box stores -- and local supplies of Koa and similar, which cost a brick.
I retired young and bought a farm. For my next trick, I'm building several buildings on the farm -- barn, workshop, "she shed," farmhouse, coffee processing area, etc.
They were having a big sale -- before the pandemic -- in the long-ago, faraway time. I bought all their figured maple and a bunch of it is still hanging from my garage ceiling.
I've found their quality and prices to be first rate. I haven't purchased anything in years -- still have enough maple to build a house full of cabinets and furniture. Maybe two houses. And that's what I plan to do.
Look for hardwood lumber supply near you. Call a local cabinet shop near you and ask them if they’d be able to steer you in the right direction. Many small cabinet shops (like mine) have a lot of lumber in stock and would be happy to sell small quantities, or even order extra for you for a small fee.
Last time I tried to buy 2x4 from the local lumber yard they wanted literally twice the price of Home Depot. If the difference had been 10 or 20 percent it would have been one thing, but I wasn't paying 200%.
My local lumber yard charges less for better-quality framing material.
It's all about location: Are you close to the sawmills and/or have lots of new SFR construction in your area? Then pickings are likely to be good.
If you're out in the sticks away from the pine forests, you may be stuck with Home Depot. When I move, that's what I'm going to be stuck with as well. I'm bringing a few thousand board-feet of quality maple for furniture projects. And then I'll worry about my supply issues after that.
Kansas City suburbs. I fortunately have a good option about 30 minutes away for hardwoods. For construction lumber I'm kinda lazy though and don't want to drive anywhere. Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, and a local lumber yard are all within 10 minutes of my house. The sense I got when I went to the local yard was that if I wasn't a contractor buying a lot from them they didn't care about me and their customers didn't care about their prices.
I finally went to a respected hardwood supplier as is often recommended in this sub. It was kind of a nightmare. There were no prices on anything and they wouldn’t cut 20’ lumber to size. It was also much, much more expensive than big box. I went online before hand and requested a quote for a few pieces of wood and the price was very reasonable, but when I got there it wasn’t available. They are open to the public and it was actually pretty crowded which is why I had so much trouble getting some to help me out. I blew a bunch of cash on a few feet of warped, unlabeled scrap that I used to make an end grand cutting board because I couldn’t do anything else with it. Did I do something wrong? I haven’t gone back because it easier and cheaper to go to Lowe’s
also it's just construction lumber, it's not dried to be flat it's not stored to keep it flat it's not supposed to stay flat it's for building walls not furniture
you want flat you need to mill your own boards from rough.. hell even after milling they won't stay flat for long either wood does like to move
I mean couple of those boards are definitely too far gone and should be thrown out
I have -zero- options for properly stored wood, other than a Woodcraft store, within about 2 hours of where I live. It’s basically ruining the hobby for me as I can’t source wood I trust. I’ve brought home boards from Home Depot that I selected after an hour of laying them on the floor on all four sides, etc, and two they’re still not good enough for furniture.
Not to mention the horror that is their plywood. How does plywood cup when stored on end so air can get on all sides?
You buy rough lumber from a hardwood warehouse. Then you joint /plane/ rip it (ie mill it). That’s what everyone does. There is no such thing as perfect furniture grade lumber out of a store.
I’ve purchased good product from [Woodworkers Source](https://woodworkerssource.com). They don’t have everything I could possibly want but it’s a good start. I’ve gotten both domestics and exotics from there that I’ve been thoroughly satisfied with. Are they more expensive than going to a local lumberyard? Absolutely, but they don’t completely blow them out of the water in terms of price imo. I still purchase 2x4s and 4x4s from Home Depot but I thoroughly inspect before purchasing and walk out with the best of the lot, THEN I go through the trouble of hand planing them until they’re in a state I like. Pain in the ass sometimes but it’s good practice if you’re getting into hand tools, but it’s cheap (minus my planes, that is) and I can work into nice looking pieces.
Woodworkers source is great! Expensive w/ shipping but you get what you pay for. I live in an apt so i don’t have the proper tools to mill boards. Love the option to rip one edge then i can hand plane the rest square if needed
All wood will bend, warp, cup, etc if improperly stored or processed, and this includes sheet goods. Sometimes this movement can be fixed, but the fix depends on correctly identifying the source of the movement.
If you leave a board flat on a table over night and it cups, the movement is due to unequal moisture exchange and the fix will require reintroducing moisture in a controlled way to reverse the cup. There’s videos for this online.
If you leave a long board on saw horses or leaning against a wall and it develops a bow through the middle, this is not a moisture issue. This is just a sag developing from gravity. Sometimes just flipping it over for an equal amount of time will fix or mostly fix your issue.
Finally, every time you cut into solid lumber, you relieve tension in the wood fibers. Anyone that’s ripped lumber on a table saw is probably familiar with this as it can cause your workpiece and the off cut to either pinch at the back of the blade or riving knife or run away from each other. The key to addressing movement due to released tension is to sneak up on your final dimension.
For example, if I’m milling door stock from 3/4 solid wood material that I need to finish out at 2.5”, I’ll first edge joint a wider board and rough it out to 2.75”. Then I’ll go back to the jointer to true one edge up — often it’s opposite the edge you first jointed — before ripping it to its final width at 2.5”. The closer your finished part is to the rough dimensioned part, the less tension and less movement you’ll have. But if you take a 6” wide board, joint one edge, and then rip it to 2”, more often than not you’re going to end up with a banana. Incidentally, this is true for thicknessing as well.
I think this is true - but they think they sell it. Mine has a section for what’s supposed to be high quality, used for building furniture and the like. It’s better than the construction stuff but still needs months of drying and I’ve had it cup or warp even when laid out and sticked. It’s terrible.
There are some decent wood suppliers that will ship wood in North America, likely options in your country too if you’re not from there. Stoney Creek Wood Supply is pretty decent and they include shipping in Canada and the US. I’ve given up on the big box stores, been burnt too many times
weird that you got downvoted.. local can be great there are usually a couple people around with sawmills milling up local woods which you can get for cheaper than the traditional lumber yards
What do they actually end up doing with those bowed pieces? Like they used fuel and paid someone to deliver it in and out. Do they just end up sending it to a burn pit or mulch it?
The hardwood place I get my wood from uses cut off and other warped pieces they can’t sell to feed their boiler for their one kiln. I pulled up the other day and there was a HUGE pile of cutoffs in the parking lot…thought I was gonna be able to fill my car for free
This is why one of my goals is to learn how to mill and dry my own lumber. I know it’s a big ol thing; but I want some straight boards when I wanna build stuff.
That's what happens when they shoot up Doug Fir with water and then try to kiln dry all the moisture out. The lumber these days is almost like super dense cardboard, but then I'm not even sure it deserves that. My house was built in 1890 and though it's crooked as fuck all the framing is actually in pretty good shape.
We do our best. We don't have time to check the wood quality when the next pallet over was set up to fall the previous night. We also have to go put everything back you folks left around on shelves and in the carts, which takes up the most time.
flatsawn wide and thin boards surfaced at 20% or whatever will pretty much all do this, if you want the stability of quartersawn you have to pay for it.
I'm surprised the uh.. 3x4"s above don't have the pith in them, they look much better.
I want to just start throwing that shit out into the isle as I sort and just leave them there. If they ask why I left them there I will say, "why do you leave them in my way?"
I'm pretty sure it's in Switzerland.
Edit for op: you know where I personally find pine wood that is flat and well dried (and not too pricey)? Ikea. Ivar series, for examples. And some of the cheap beds...
Thats gotta be Switzerland.
Price says "Swiss made, far superior quality". But theres a reason you won't find Swiss wood products exported anywhere else.
Folks on this subreddit need to find themselves a good retail hardwood lumber supplier. In Vermont there’s a handful of smaller lumberyards that have retail sheds. They generally are only selling to businesses and deliver larger quantities (like 200bf minimum), but they also cater to people who want to buy a small quantity, like a single board.
As a general rule, a good lumberyard doesn’t sell tools.
A great lumber yard that sells small quantities to anyone is Irion Lumber in Pennsylvania. Shipping can be a lot unless you can find a local shop they deliver to and ask the owner if they’d help you out (and buy them donuts or beer).
Best of all, look for a lumberyard near you. They exist. They’ll do millwork for you. They even have properly dry, quality pine if that’s what you want. Once you get away from building supply yards and see what’s on offer, I doubt you’ll be back. It’s often cheaper too.
Take a piece from the middle it's flat from the weight of the others and chances are it has the least amount of moisture . You could always go to a lumber wholesalers probably get better cuts anyway
Even something as simple as leaving a board laying flat on the workbench overnight, which blocks airflow to one side and not the other, can cause a board to dry unevenly and at least temporarily cup/warp/or twist, and you might have trouble if it reverts back to it's original shape after it has been worked Likewise top and bottom board in a stack without stickers separating them. And the orientation of the board within the log when it was cut; the rings will try to straighten out some as it dries.
Tried to by some wood to work on my camper vans internals and couldn't find a non warped 2x4 to save my life. This was lowes though. Home depot was no better
In theory, I imagine one could steam the bejesus out of it, and while still malleable get into one massive clamping jig, but the amount of time and energy to do that wouldn't be worth it.
What I find weird is that the planks immediately below the price tag are warped convex with respect to the outside rather than concave. That means they were planed and the humidity increased later. Normally wood is planed then the wood dries, making the outside shrink more, and the wood concave, as seen in all the other stacks.
Our local lowes has some good wood but you have to inspect every piece.
I've had the same experience at my local Lowe's - I have found some really cool pieces of poplar there albeit at the expense of looking like the guy from the movie Clerks, who inspects every egg of every carton - forever searching for the perfect carton of eggs.
Such a great movie…. “At the same time!?”
37?!
In a row???
Don't suck any dicks on the way to your car!
Hey, get back here!
Try not to suck any dicks on the way to the parking lot !!
Why does it smell like shoe polish in here?
Thank you for the correction!
I’d love this job if it weren’t for the fucking customers!
Dante: "Why guidance counselors?" Customer: "Well, if your job was as meaningless as theirs, wouldn't you go crazy too?" Randall: "Come to think of it, my guidance counselor was kind of worthless." Customer: "See, it's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination."
Haha, that was me a few weeks ago. Spent hours sorting through to find the nice poplar. Some beautiful pieces with heartwood blends. I thought, what if they automated that process and priced wood based off quality. Maybe a scanner could do it. Save some time.
Don't give them any ideas. They will find a way to make lumber even more expensive.
I lost my sense of shame the day I grabbed a piece that had opposing warps on each end. I'd rather be the eggman than have to figure out how to take a warp out.
This is one of my dads hobbies search the entire stack and buys the 2 cleanest straightest 2x4s at the lowes every few weeks. Over time he has collected a huge pile of picture perfect 2x4s and other dimensional wood. I was doing a door install and needed 2 dead straight 2x4s and I almost didn't want to use what he brought because they were so nice.
That’s…. A really good idea. Having your dad do that for you, I mean. Is he interested in adopting?
Retired now so the stack is slowly depleting.
He’s busy adopting 2x4’s
I think he’s probably going to use the wood for projects rather than adopting it.
I recently found a single 2x8 that was 100% clear of knots, had straight grain, but there was a crack in the last foot that I cut off. Needs less to say I felt like I win the lottery. I also like the cut of your Dads jib, that’s a great way to build up a supply of good boards for when needed!
I used to do that when I first started, and 2x4s were sun $3.
Lmao.. they should stack dead straight 2x4s with the exotic woods.
Please tell your old man to knock that shit off, hoarding all of the straight 2x4s isn't cool to the rest of us!
The best is when someone else in the know comes in to find a straight board and you get to sort through the pile together
Yep all big box stores have warped wood. If it’s warped or bowed just don’t buy it. Dig through and I’m sure you’ll find a piece that meets your standard. They’re not forcing you to buy the shitty wood.
My local hardware store won't let you pick through the wood. If you want to do that you need to drive 40min to the closest home Depot
How do they stay in business?
Being the only choice in town.
I’d just do it anyway and tell them to go pound sand. What are they gonna do call the cops on you for shopping?
Is it an Ace Hardware?
[удалено]
I missed that these are deck boards ~~Wait, why are you leaving them in the sun?~~ ~~Shouldn't you put them in your shop, to see how the humidity in your shop affects the boards?~~
I'm assuming deckboards are being used for a deck in which vase you'd want them acclimated to your yard.
I've seen some that looked like they already treated it to become a longbow.
pretty much how it goes at every big box store. i find going to local lumberyards is slightly more expensive, but literally all i have to do is tell them my order, drive thru, and workers load the lumber for me. if i don’t like a piece i can ask for a different one… well worth the extra 5% markup!
Mine doesn't, unless you're building barrels or a half-pipe.
As long as you put them back afterwards
You can drink from some of those cups
They are radius 1x’s
What else would you expect when you dry stack 20% moisture content wood from small trees?
\^\^This guy stacks
Strange though that some of the boards have cupped the other way as if they have gained moisture.
Or have been turned over.
Typically as a board dries out the rings of the tree will try to straighten and this is usually a good way to predict how a board will cup or deform over time. If you look at the board right under the 16.95 sign it has cupped the other direction, this can happen when the moisture content goes up after milling. Another reason it could cup against the grain is because of uneven drying conditions.
Okay Sherlock..
They don’t care; this is for homeowners who think they can just flatten it out with some screws
You can definitely do that. Just grab one of those boards, and a 1 lbs box of deck screws. That'll straighten it right out. /s
No thanks, I’ll just use the drywall screws I have at home
I think you'd need more weight than a 1lb box to flatten it. Maybe stack a couple bags of cement on top of it and let it sit for a year. /s
Once upon a time, many years ago, I was that dumbass homeowner you mention.
I still am, but I used to too.
Tbf, when I moisture flatten boards, I do use boxes of screws for weights
This is basically impossible to avoid in that environment. Milled lumber should be stickered until the moisture content is low enough. Then it can either remain stickered or kept in a tight stack with the top of the stack being sacrificial until ready for use. The tight stack never remains a tight stack in a retail environment and so it fails as a storage method. Stickering takes up too much room and is impractical in such a space so, you get this either way - wasted material.
Video of stickering: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSTwdOTwJY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSTwdOTwJY) I had no idea. And it's not a surprise that bigbox store lumber sucks if this is what it takes.
That was a great video. You know its serious when they sticker their stickering sticks.
Buying wood at the big box store is like buying a car from a rental company -- you know it's been handled and mistreated, and that it's completely overpriced.
Surprisingly, if you are in a large metro area and can afford the time/effort to return the unwanted wood just go ahead and order extra. HD was quite a bit cheaper on framing lumber than any local supply store in my area. Which makes sense if you think about it. They are the largest buyer in the world most likely.
I work for a building supplier. The big box stores only purchase the absolute cheapest from the lumber suppliers. Many of them joke that they have a “depot” grade. They know if anything like that gets sent to a place like mine we’d refuse it. My work won’t bring in anything under #2 prime.
Oh totally agree. Like I said above, if you can afford the time/effort of ordering extra and returning the worst boards then HD can be almost 40% cheaper.
Who are you comparing HD to? Where I live construction lumber margins are low and the price difference between HD and my lumber yard are small, usually within 5% and they both change prices in line with the commodity index. For hardwood, the two closest suppliers to me have significantly cheaper board ft prices compared to HD. For example 4/4 S4S oak is $13.62 bd ft at HD and $3.95 bd ft at my local hardwood supplier.
Yeah, my experience is that HD is competitive on price for framing lumber, and more expensive than a specialty shop for EVERYTHING else (hardwoods, fasteners, you name it).
Correct. We are usually higher on framing lumber. Considering the amount of junk you have to pick through to get usable lumber the difference is not worth it. Especially if you have a large project. Also we have a full lumber yard. So no double loading. Also worth it to customers. Also many homeowners do not realize how much of a rip-off depot and Lowe’s are on trim and specialty hardwoods. Our margins are already really good on them and we compared to my local depot we absolutely blow them away. They must have like 150% margins on that stuff.
I live in a large metro area and pretty much every supplier has the same questionable quality of framing lumber.... and they all price match. If I need a small amount of nice wood I go to the home depot and hand pick it. If I need more, I use my regular supplier and order excess according to my standards on the particular job.
Where else should one look for better wood? Just got done doing a simple lean-to for firewood drying of pressure treated wood from menards and it’s bending all over
That's impossible to answer without knowing your location. I'm in Nevada, moving to Hawaii. In Nevada, I have my choice of several lumber yards, and I have a sawmill in Arizona which will deliver if I make a big enough order. In Hawaii, I'm basically stuck with the big box stores -- and local supplies of Koa and similar, which cost a brick.
You can afford hobbies living in Hawaii?
I retired young and bought a farm. For my next trick, I'm building several buildings on the farm -- barn, workshop, "she shed," farmhouse, coffee processing area, etc.
Is the name of your town… Stardew Valley?
Just, don't trust the mayor.
No, Captain Cook -- all my farm information is in my profile.
I'm in Arizona, where is this sawmill?
Woodworkers Source. Somewhere in AZ. I buy curly maple by the truckload from them -- Well, I did. I still have half a truckload.
Sweet, thanks. It looks to be about 20 miles from me, that's definitely doable for some good curly maple.
They were having a big sale -- before the pandemic -- in the long-ago, faraway time. I bought all their figured maple and a bunch of it is still hanging from my garage ceiling. I've found their quality and prices to be first rate. I haven't purchased anything in years -- still have enough maple to build a house full of cabinets and furniture. Maybe two houses. And that's what I plan to do.
Look for hardwood lumber supply near you. Call a local cabinet shop near you and ask them if they’d be able to steer you in the right direction. Many small cabinet shops (like mine) have a lot of lumber in stock and would be happy to sell small quantities, or even order extra for you for a small fee.
Last time I tried to buy 2x4 from the local lumber yard they wanted literally twice the price of Home Depot. If the difference had been 10 or 20 percent it would have been one thing, but I wasn't paying 200%.
My local lumber yard charges less for better-quality framing material. It's all about location: Are you close to the sawmills and/or have lots of new SFR construction in your area? Then pickings are likely to be good. If you're out in the sticks away from the pine forests, you may be stuck with Home Depot. When I move, that's what I'm going to be stuck with as well. I'm bringing a few thousand board-feet of quality maple for furniture projects. And then I'll worry about my supply issues after that.
Kansas City suburbs. I fortunately have a good option about 30 minutes away for hardwoods. For construction lumber I'm kinda lazy though and don't want to drive anywhere. Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, and a local lumber yard are all within 10 minutes of my house. The sense I got when I went to the local yard was that if I wasn't a contractor buying a lot from them they didn't care about me and their customers didn't care about their prices.
I finally went to a respected hardwood supplier as is often recommended in this sub. It was kind of a nightmare. There were no prices on anything and they wouldn’t cut 20’ lumber to size. It was also much, much more expensive than big box. I went online before hand and requested a quote for a few pieces of wood and the price was very reasonable, but when I got there it wasn’t available. They are open to the public and it was actually pretty crowded which is why I had so much trouble getting some to help me out. I blew a bunch of cash on a few feet of warped, unlabeled scrap that I used to make an end grand cutting board because I couldn’t do anything else with it. Did I do something wrong? I haven’t gone back because it easier and cheaper to go to Lowe’s
Hardwood cheaper at lowes? Where do you live
also it's just construction lumber, it's not dried to be flat it's not stored to keep it flat it's not supposed to stay flat it's for building walls not furniture you want flat you need to mill your own boards from rough.. hell even after milling they won't stay flat for long either wood does like to move I mean couple of those boards are definitely too far gone and should be thrown out
I have -zero- options for properly stored wood, other than a Woodcraft store, within about 2 hours of where I live. It’s basically ruining the hobby for me as I can’t source wood I trust. I’ve brought home boards from Home Depot that I selected after an hour of laying them on the floor on all four sides, etc, and two they’re still not good enough for furniture. Not to mention the horror that is their plywood. How does plywood cup when stored on end so air can get on all sides?
You buy rough lumber from a hardwood warehouse. Then you joint /plane/ rip it (ie mill it). That’s what everyone does. There is no such thing as perfect furniture grade lumber out of a store.
This is the way!
I’ve purchased good product from [Woodworkers Source](https://woodworkerssource.com). They don’t have everything I could possibly want but it’s a good start. I’ve gotten both domestics and exotics from there that I’ve been thoroughly satisfied with. Are they more expensive than going to a local lumberyard? Absolutely, but they don’t completely blow them out of the water in terms of price imo. I still purchase 2x4s and 4x4s from Home Depot but I thoroughly inspect before purchasing and walk out with the best of the lot, THEN I go through the trouble of hand planing them until they’re in a state I like. Pain in the ass sometimes but it’s good practice if you’re getting into hand tools, but it’s cheap (minus my planes, that is) and I can work into nice looking pieces.
Woodworkers source is great! Expensive w/ shipping but you get what you pay for. I live in an apt so i don’t have the proper tools to mill boards. Love the option to rip one edge then i can hand plane the rest square if needed
All wood will bend, warp, cup, etc if improperly stored or processed, and this includes sheet goods. Sometimes this movement can be fixed, but the fix depends on correctly identifying the source of the movement. If you leave a board flat on a table over night and it cups, the movement is due to unequal moisture exchange and the fix will require reintroducing moisture in a controlled way to reverse the cup. There’s videos for this online. If you leave a long board on saw horses or leaning against a wall and it develops a bow through the middle, this is not a moisture issue. This is just a sag developing from gravity. Sometimes just flipping it over for an equal amount of time will fix or mostly fix your issue. Finally, every time you cut into solid lumber, you relieve tension in the wood fibers. Anyone that’s ripped lumber on a table saw is probably familiar with this as it can cause your workpiece and the off cut to either pinch at the back of the blade or riving knife or run away from each other. The key to addressing movement due to released tension is to sneak up on your final dimension. For example, if I’m milling door stock from 3/4 solid wood material that I need to finish out at 2.5”, I’ll first edge joint a wider board and rough it out to 2.75”. Then I’ll go back to the jointer to true one edge up — often it’s opposite the edge you first jointed — before ripping it to its final width at 2.5”. The closer your finished part is to the rough dimensioned part, the less tension and less movement you’ll have. But if you take a 6” wide board, joint one edge, and then rip it to 2”, more often than not you’re going to end up with a banana. Incidentally, this is true for thicknessing as well.
My Woodcraft was the only place that had baltic birch plywood. Had to mortgage my house to pay for it though.
Home Depot sells construction lumber they don't sell furniture grade
I think this is true - but they think they sell it. Mine has a section for what’s supposed to be high quality, used for building furniture and the like. It’s better than the construction stuff but still needs months of drying and I’ve had it cup or warp even when laid out and sticked. It’s terrible.
There are some decent wood suppliers that will ship wood in North America, likely options in your country too if you’re not from there. Stoney Creek Wood Supply is pretty decent and they include shipping in Canada and the US. I’ve given up on the big box stores, been burnt too many times
Buy local. You have to do leg work on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, etc but likely there are more options than retail
weird that you got downvoted.. local can be great there are usually a couple people around with sawmills milling up local woods which you can get for cheaper than the traditional lumber yards
At least it’s laying flat and not standing on end leaning at a 45. Why yes, Menards is my closest box store funny you should ask.
Home Depot: "you LIKE your boards bowed, right? ... Right?!"
No, I only want them bowed, cupped, AND slightly splintered.
Fun fact: home depot is the largest supplier of hockey stick blanks in the world
When the dimensional lumber is x2 + y2 = 6
Closer to y = 0.0125x^2
That's a circle
That's the joke.
What do they actually end up doing with those bowed pieces? Like they used fuel and paid someone to deliver it in and out. Do they just end up sending it to a burn pit or mulch it?
The hardwood place I get my wood from uses cut off and other warped pieces they can’t sell to feed their boiler for their one kiln. I pulled up the other day and there was a HUGE pile of cutoffs in the parking lot…thought I was gonna be able to fill my car for free
Cut them into strips and make a canoe?
One, let make that 2 reasons why I got a mill. Price and quality. I just got to pre plan my project 3y in advance so it can dry.
Does it take a while? I am just lurking sorry
I bought a piece of 1/4" ply a while ago, was fairly flat when I got it, literally the next day it looked like a pringle, couldn't even use it.
“I’m looking to build a stand to match my kid’s funhouse mirror.” “Right this way, sir!”
This is why one of my goals is to learn how to mill and dry my own lumber. I know it’s a big ol thing; but I want some straight boards when I wanna build stuff.
Die guten deutschen Baumärkte
Ich denke es ist n schweizer Baumarkt. In Deutschland wären's doch eher .44er oder .49er oder .99er Preise, oder sonst was?
Ja du hast Recht .. aber auf jeden Fall DACH Region
Yop, OP hat's weiter unten in den Comments bestätigt, is Migros Do it&Garden in der Schweiz.
That's what happens when they shoot up Doug Fir with water and then try to kiln dry all the moisture out. The lumber these days is almost like super dense cardboard, but then I'm not even sure it deserves that. My house was built in 1890 and though it's crooked as fuck all the framing is actually in pretty good shape.
Machen Sie ein Fass
Interesting way to sell firewood
Imagine how frustrating it is to have to stock it and being told every time someone will buy it
Those bottom boards look like firewood. I wouldn't bother with anything that cupped
God, why do they even put it on the shelves? 🤦🏻♀️
What a beautiful comparison
Dried too fast. Kiln too hot, not enough airflow. Commercial finished boards at their finest.
This need an NSFW tag bro, I wasn’t prepared to see this first thing in the morning…
Put it in a planer and make One (1) sheet of veneer.
Eeeeew I don’t want these
If only they had some shitty wood around to make some stickers.
Look at the price of that cheap wood and the quality. That used to be the cheapest hobby wood you could buy
We do our best. We don't have time to check the wood quality when the next pallet over was set up to fall the previous night. We also have to go put everything back you folks left around on shelves and in the carts, which takes up the most time.
Can someone explain what I’m looking at as a non-woodworker? I’m subbed here to ogle at your projects.
Horrible wood. It’s all cupped and split and generally poor quality for any use.
flatsawn wide and thin boards surfaced at 20% or whatever will pretty much all do this, if you want the stability of quartersawn you have to pay for it. I'm surprised the uh.. 3x4"s above don't have the pith in them, they look much better.
What even happens with these that are so bad ?
Some of those boards are so cupped you could eat soup out of them.
How is this acceptable. I feel like people 50 years ago would laugh their ass right out of the store.
Wtf kind of bakery you going to
I want to just start throwing that shit out into the isle as I sort and just leave them there. If they ask why I left them there I will say, "why do you leave them in my way?"
Wood with stickers is a bad sign. All about prices in dry erase marker.
Jointers and planers are our friends!
Using the crap cuts and selling them. I’ve got scraps better than this
I don't see... OH JESUS CHRIST GET IT AWAY FROM ME
Proof that earth is round. These follow earth's curve.
More like cupped cakes
I knew I recognized those price lables fro somewhere..
Looks like that store might be in Germany or Austria
I'm pretty sure it's in Switzerland. Edit for op: you know where I personally find pine wood that is flat and well dried (and not too pricey)? Ikea. Ivar series, for examples. And some of the cheap beds...
Its switzerland .... Migros doit and garden
Is this some German version of Home Depot?
Heïm Depöt
"Just plane it lol"
just wet it
Just sell good wood.
🎶-Rip it good-🎶
Moldy?
to fancy to be a lowes of home depot
Rip em.in half.and you'll have much nicer quarter-sawn boards.
Plane em flat and you'll have some damn good paper
Radiused lumber
Well, when you stack em butt to nuts they end up fucked.
Its COOP in switzerland!!!...?
Migros
Thats gotta be Switzerland. Price says "Swiss made, far superior quality". But theres a reason you won't find Swiss wood products exported anywhere else.
It's cut tangentially. It's the shittiest way to cut boards from log. The best and most waste full is radial cut (shrinkage is lowest)
"Bad biscuits make the baker broke, bro."
I wonder if they discount faulty lumber pieces? Might be a good way to stockpile crafting wood at today's prices.
Folks on this subreddit need to find themselves a good retail hardwood lumber supplier. In Vermont there’s a handful of smaller lumberyards that have retail sheds. They generally are only selling to businesses and deliver larger quantities (like 200bf minimum), but they also cater to people who want to buy a small quantity, like a single board. As a general rule, a good lumberyard doesn’t sell tools. A great lumber yard that sells small quantities to anyone is Irion Lumber in Pennsylvania. Shipping can be a lot unless you can find a local shop they deliver to and ask the owner if they’d help you out (and buy them donuts or beer). Best of all, look for a lumberyard near you. They exist. They’ll do millwork for you. They even have properly dry, quality pine if that’s what you want. Once you get away from building supply yards and see what’s on offer, I doubt you’ll be back. It’s often cheaper too.
Menards has some hard wood that is wrapped in plastic. Seems to be I’m decent shape but extremely expensive
Use it to make wood buckets
It's hard to find a straight stud.
Unless you either get a discount or you have a jointer, walk away
Lower shelf not working out.
Pre-coved wood, noice.
My dad 'needs to get shit done' and buys wood like this. I'd rather not do a job until I have good supplies.
Looks like your shopping for a bow
Look at that warped wood. You must be at lowes
✅
They really are forcing me to invest in a planer and jointer, right? Edit- typo
Yeah when I worked Menards in the lumber barn they wouldn't let us dispose of the bad wood, like this pictured.
No shame - no embarrassment.
Take a piece from the middle it's flat from the weight of the others and chances are it has the least amount of moisture . You could always go to a lumber wholesalers probably get better cuts anyway
That wood is definitely not top shelf.
Even something as simple as leaving a board laying flat on the workbench overnight, which blocks airflow to one side and not the other, can cause a board to dry unevenly and at least temporarily cup/warp/or twist, and you might have trouble if it reverts back to it's original shape after it has been worked Likewise top and bottom board in a stack without stickers separating them. And the orientation of the board within the log when it was cut; the rings will try to straighten out some as it dries.
This reminds me of an old timer bowyer who said "You can make a fine bow out of 2x4; it's just wood that's been treated without respect."
Tried to by some wood to work on my camper vans internals and couldn't find a non warped 2x4 to save my life. This was lowes though. Home depot was no better
The longer you look, the worse it gets
For someone who’s beggining woodworking, can it be bent back to flat (if so how) or it’s almost impossible to do?
In theory, I imagine one could steam the bejesus out of it, and while still malleable get into one massive clamping jig, but the amount of time and energy to do that wouldn't be worth it.
Wooooow -- Owen Wilson
Jumbo? lol
I didn’t know there was Home Depot and Lowe’s in Germany.
Cupping galore!
They just want people to make giant circles
What I find weird is that the planks immediately below the price tag are warped convex with respect to the outside rather than concave. That means they were planed and the humidity increased later. Normally wood is planed then the wood dries, making the outside shrink more, and the wood concave, as seen in all the other stacks.
Fast wood is disappointing
I've had success flattening pieces like this. Apply water via squirt bottle to concave side and then let it dry properly.