timber...

[jkhuri44]

just a question to the more experienced DIyers on this board.

where does one get properly milled, "square" timber...im talking square cross sectioned battens, and the like...

some woods are pretty good, like Maple. you can generally get that very straight as it has no knots etc.....Pine...usually comes in horrible shape...at most yards i've been to.

Anyone, who's particularly built furniture before, know or recommend a good place?

[Chris H]

Mathews Timber in Rooks Rd Vermont, Vicco.

[jkhuri44]

hmm, i am in Sydney

[Gian]

Hi Jamil, what are you trying to build? What's the project?

[jkhuri44]

Hi Gian,this is just a general question. At the moment building speakers, but would like to make furniture soon

[tunetown]

Try Anagote Timbers in Marrickville.

[jkhuri44]

ah, i remember that name, Cheers peter.

[rick]

no wood is square in the yard .. its impossible .. wood moves around weekly
getting it square is part of the "process" of making stuff

if you want squarish stuff you can get it milled ( for a small fee ) from most big yards

cresent timber in annandale will mill on the spot for you .. or to a list .. then you just stick it in your car and go home

unless the timber is like 100 years old and 100 years dry it will start changing shape overnight ..
but it could be considered square for ever as well depends on your tolerance and the plank

All those big heavy machines and handtools i have are there to make things square ..

If you want beautiful wood its all unmilled un square sitting in planks for cabinet makers to buy and mill up

annagoat is a fav but not what you want ...
cresent ( building types plus some pretty )
or trend timber in windsor all pretty no building are your shops

Iron bark in lillyfield is amazing and its all recyled ..
and nobody can afford to shop there anymore !

[rick]

really want to build furniture ..?
the smart guy would start by buying .. nearly what you want as already built 2nd hand furniture .. and restore or rebuild that .. the wood is straight dry .. costs nothing and you get to really understand how things are made .

[jkhuri44]

Yeah, i do modify stuff when the need arises...It's interesting and fun, nothing to do with "being smart" tho.
Building, is just fun....building speakers has taught me a lot about making things, same with doing a car audio install...making a bed might be considered redundant or a waste of time, but again, teaches you a lot.
Also, its nice to be able to look at raw material, and end up with something that you had in your head...worth the effort imo.

ps. thanks for those yards rick, definately over the ones i've been going to.

[stosostu]

Many years ago I built a set of bunks for my kids and every time I went in their bedroom I had a smile of pride on my face. They (the bunks, not the kids) have now gone to another family member and are doing a great job there, and will no doubt move again in future. There's nothing like making something out of raw materials with your own hands.

[rick]

sometimes i just go to Trend timbers just to look at the slabs

that is by far the best place to poke around for affordable beautiful beautiful wood without knowing what your doing or talking about.. very helpful staff..

go out just for the look .. I highly recommend it jamil .. it will either convert you to using real woods or not !

... not feeling like you dont belong is a big thing when it comes to timber yards

I hate the builders yards

[Alastair Reynolds]

There is something "magic" about nice timber. I have a block of Huon pine that my late father had milled in Tassy 40 years ago from an old log recovered from a lake. It smells and feels nice. It is beautiful just as a block of dressed timber

[Ausrock]

Jamil,

What woodworking gear do you have? Reason for the question is that from experience,I've found that the better the gear, the better the chances of a quality result.

Years ago I was considering buying a Triton setup........talked to some experienced "chippy" friends who's general opinion was that it was as good as the guy setting it up and using it, so I ultimately bought what I wanted. Over time I found that it was great for general timber work BUT was unlikely to ever be consistantly reliable and/or accurate enough for good/quality furniture or cabinet making. As it turned out, the Triton along with my drum shell moulds, vacuum forming setup and other gear was all in our work's factory when it burnt to the ground last August and I'm still attempting to negotiate some compensation.

[jkhuri44]

hey chris,
im just starting out really.

i have a drop saw, router with several cmt bits, jigsaw, some hand tools etc, nothing worth noting really.

i dont own a table saw or bandsaw, or anything for milling.

as mentioned, so far i've been mainly building speakers, i would like as mentioned, to try my hand at some furniture soon as well.

[rick]

Jamil
i have EVERYTHING for milling wood ... huge industrial everything
so dont be afraid of buying the wood you like if you have a way to get it to turtlerock and the muse for learning how that stuff all works ..

that said if you cut your arm off with my 1/2 tonne 18" wadkin cross cut mitre saw ( either of them ) i am not insured for that .. so slowly slowly ..
the 3/4 tonne overhead router is equally as dangerously fun

but point being is there is a fine furniture makers wet dream setup at my studio .. if anybody is inclined to hang out in the mens shed after hours talk about nothing too much .. get addicted to tools and build stuff .. offer is open ( around my timing of coarse ) .

Caviet ..
its rick .. all the gear no idea ...woodworker talking here folks .

[jkhuri44]

lol thanks rick, i'll keep that in mind.

I should also say that I am slightly scared of certain tools... power saws scare the shit out of me. i had a piece of wood sort of kapow while sawing it a few weeks ago....and nearly take my eye out, thank god for eye protection...altho, that certainly gave me a jar which is well needed to respect power tools, hahaha.

I wish they were, somewhat..."more safe"....

[Chris H]

Nothing is safe about a wood machinists workshop! 100 percent concentration or bad things will happen. It's a bit like shooting,.....it's the unloaded gun that kills.....in other words, ALWAYS treat a gun as loaded. No exceptions....never.....
I was ripping a length of pine at a small furniture factory, totally focused on what i was doing and the blade caught a loose knot and catapulted the timber straight back and through a half inch sheet of chipboard shelving 8 ft away from the bench. That being the case I have made it through my years at Maton, 5 years at the furniture factory, building the mud brick house, restoring two boats, shipwrights assistant on restoration work of the Alma Doepel and over 25 years of surfing without a single stitch or broken bone.... a combination of caution and luck I suppose!

[jkhuri44]

*shudders*

indeed, some woodworkers even with full care and safety get bad luck on their side. good to know you're still eye, hand, and mindful!

[rick]

stay scared of them jamil.. it will serve you well ..

the thing for me is ear muffs .. without them those little things like hand held routers sound like they are going to hurt me every time i turn them on .. i F@#$ing hate em

which is primarily why i have the uber heavy three phase stuff .. it barely makes a noise and doesnt vibrate at all
.. the down side is you could cut your arm off before you even noticed it was missing

stay scared it will serve you well

after you have a kickback .. you can be scared respectful and educated all at once

ermm untill then

stay scared it will serve you well

[jkhuri44]

necessity is the engine of perseverance...
so, i'll get over my refusal to use saws...some day...
its pretty frustrating trying to bribe a joiner to cut 5 pieces of wood for 50 bucks, hahaha.
That said, i bought a hand mitre saw last week, and cut 15 support braces so accurately i scared myself, and it pretty cool being old fashioned!

[The Tasmanian]

Hey Jamil - avoid pine as its too unreliable and wont stay straight. Unless its in small lengths.

Avoid anything from indonesia/malaysia as you are supporting the rape of forests and habitats, corruption on a massive scale (best to ask where its is from)
A really good timer to use is building grade (merch) Oregan.
What I do is go to a decent timber yard, and go through their 200 x 50 Oregan planks until I find some that are clear - almost no knots. You can take these planks to someone and get it ripped up and dressed.
I built so many doors and windows doing this, all my house doors and windows, and all the studio doors and windows at BJB.
Pine is good if its hand picked and clear - its also pretty environmentally good.
Powertools are like business partners, always keep an eye on them. They will rip something off you if you become complacent...

[jkhuri44]

oregan ey? i think i've seen that at bunnings, fairly dark wood, and pretty pricey right? you do get what ya pay for tho!

[The Tasmanian]

Its not dark - its a subtle orange colour, which becomes enhanced with oil.
Bunnings etc is not the place to go for this sort of stuff.
You need to go to a big building supply mob to get the 250x50 or 200x50 planks.
Most builders/carpenters dont buy timber from bunnings - only hardware.
Where do all your local builders go for beams etc? it will probably be cheaper too (Go west!)

Support the smaller mills ( Bunnings is part of the coles/woolies corrupt duopoly destroying all the small hardwares/timber yards/petrol stations/grog shops/health food stores/newsagents/fruit shops/chemists / farmers/food suppliers etc. Apart from that are they are OK???

But better to have these type of duopolies last in the choice of where you spend your $ with.
Support the small independent building yards, and help keep them alive.

[The Tasmanian]

You can get great timber on gumtree - there's lots of people stashing wood - and then procrastinating. It goes really cheaply, and is usually nice and dry and stable.

Get on to gumtree, (and even ebay) and buy the odd plank/pile here and there, and keep a stash of planks at home, that you can go and get milled (or DIY) into the correct sizes as projects call for.

A few guys I know in tassie, have huge amounts of timber stored for their superannuation - and each year the asset gets more valuable. (Huon pine/sassafras/myrtle etc).
One of the guys spent 5 years living in the bush pulling huon pine out of rivers - with this in mind.
(Huon pine can stay underwater for hundreds of years without rotting.)
When I first met these guys, they showed me these collections in shipping containers and sheds as investment, at the time I thought I was not so sure.
Now I see otherwise.
Timber is becoming like gold.

[jkhuri44]

whod have thunk it ey? Thats fascinating.
cheers for the tips chris.

[Chris H]

My Father was a builder and is now 86, retired in LauncestonTas, and still makes his blackwood furniture, though now it's about one piece a year. He works his lathe regularly though. Not a bad supply of timber in his shed too.
When I was in my early 20's I traveled to the Pieman river with my empty backpack and took the cruise boat to the entrance. I stuffed the pack full with bits of Huon Pine that was lying in the sand at the entrance. They used to float logs down the river........

[Alastair Reynolds]

Had the chisel and Plane out over the weekend, just doing some simple work hanging doors and trimming & fitting the door furniture. It is cathartic to work with simple handtools and wood...good for the soul.

[rick]

here is the best piece of advice i have ever had about wood ...

(sic)
"there will come a time .. sometime after you fall in love with wood and you have scrounged every piece of timber you ever walked past and stored it away .. there will come a time when you know what you actually like building , the kinds of wood you actually like using and the kind of timber you hate
and you will treat most of your old timber pile with contempt or at best with a love hate relationship ..

that is the time to act

find a new woodworker further down the river then you ring him up and just give him all your wood ,
just give it to him !

save only the very very best pieces because left unchecked a man will surely collect more wood then he can ever use or ever store ..

the newbee will love you for giving him your hard found loot ..!

now you are free of the rubble of wood you will never use ....here is the plan

store your day to day working building type wood where it belongs .. at the timber yard !

go in when you need something specific
rummage through their stocks .. only pay for the straightest driest most stable of woods ..
leave the rest in the yard .. let them store the wood you will never use ..

here is the best bit ..
from time to time you will see a plank or two of really beautiful wood ..
this is something you can buy ..
for whatever price it is .. for you will never see it again .. and you must never regret buying great wood .

So now your collection ( err mass ) of wood that was under your house .. in the roof.. under tarps in the back yard is gone
your life is better for it

.. now you just have a small reserve of select timber that inspires you to create.. "


err ..now if i could just follow my own advice everything would be rosie !

[jkhuri44]

here's another bit of advice...
when you tell a joiner you want something mitered with 1 angle to be 30 degrees.
save you're breath....

i walked into 2 places, 2 bone heads tell me, "here ya go mate, 30 degrees"...

me - "nah mate, thats 60 degrees"
them - "blank stare"
me - i think your saw's computer is telling you its tilting the saw 30 degrees from 90 degrees.
them - nah sorry mate cant do it.
me - "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"