I have been meaning to get something out sooner, but well, no excuses. Its been a busy fall. Lumber sales have slowed down over the summer, which is kind of normal. But I hope you are planing to be working in the shop soon.
I have found a new way to ship. Bundles are getting really expensive. Shipping out west just is tough. Fed Ex has come up with a flat rate pallet. Depending on where you live from me, I can ship 1200# of wood for between 130 to 300$ to either a fed ex terminal where you pick it up or to a business with a loading dock and forklift. I can still do Fastenal as well, but not as far west. But if you can use material from 46 to 47" long, these pallets are a great cost saver. I think I can do 250 board ft in most of them. Maybe a bit more. I have to include the weight of the box and pallet and stay under 1200#. If I plane the wood, that helps cut the weight. Fed ex truck terminals are around most cities. I even have one close to Seymour. Maybe work together with other woodworkers you know to fill a box. I have had several groups do this for pallets over the years. Shipping is always my biggest hurdle in selling online. I hate when shipping bundles when the freight is more then the wood. Any questions, let me know. It may take me a bit to get this down, but it seems to be pretty good.
Now that shipping is covered, I can speak about the wood. I have been selling more wide stock as of late. Also stuff for guitars and other music making pieces. I sure don't understand much about that world, but I try. Those pieces do get pricey fast due to the demands for all white material.
Bark pocket maple in 4/4 and 8/4 stock is in. Lots to pick from. The 8/4 has some nice wide stuff. Also spalted maple in 4/4 material. I have a ton of spalted air drying right now. I also have a pile of 5/4 heavy curl that is stained but dried. Very cheap if you want the whole pile. I think there is about 250 ft.
Out of the woods I am hearing about lack of good figure and how hard it is to find. One mill I buy from sawed several million feet this year with no figure showing up hardly at all. Birdseye is getting really hard to get in white material and heavy eye. Its a shame in my eyes more makers not using the colored material in their work. The figure is usually way better. I think the color adds to the piece as well. But to each their own said the man as he kissed his cow...
Yes its harder and harder to find exceptional material. But I do have a good amount of wide heavy figured curl and birdseye. Its not cheap, but if you need something for that one special piece, let me know. I also have a good amount of thick stock in curl and am working to get more 8/4 birdseye. I am getting some flame birch sawed as quarter sawn stock. I am waiting to see how it turns out. I do have plenty of 8/4 flame birch and some exceptional wide flame birch I am making my kitchen cabinets out of flame birch right now. Everyone says they are stunning. Charles Neil has been working on his Calista Anne out of flame birch. I know he can't wait to do more out of it.....not! Its hard and heavy as can be a complete bugger to work. But the results are stunning. I have some beautiful 5/4 and 6/4 in it as well. I will be getting some 4/4 curly walnut. It sounds like really nice material. I also have gotten some curly red oak. Nice wide material. Very reasonable as well.
I have a good amount of 5/4 and 6/4 birdseye too. Odd sizes that no one else carries.
I did put birdseye maple flooring in my home this year. Its stunning. I added a picture below. I can have this run for you if you are looking for something really different. No one has birdseye flooring like this. The fellow who installed it remarked that he had done several "birdseye" floors, but none of them had figure like mine. He said the typical "birdseye floor board has 3 or 4 "eyes". He said most of the floors had less eyes in the whole floor then this had in a few pieces. I like good material. This flooring is. A lot of it is 8 feet long. almost unheard of in the flooring world. If you have questions, let me know. It does take time to get the material and have it run into flooring.
Lots of live edged curly maple in thicker stock sizes. The live edged material seems to be what folks are looking for lately. I do have 12/4 and 16/4 as well as 8/4 and 10/4 in live edge.
I am including a few pictures as well. One is the smaller of the 2 shipping pallets from fed ex. Gives you and idea of size. Some wood shots of course.
Always glad to answer any building or finishing questions. I am one of the few if any wood sellers who actually make a living building and finishing with the material I sell. I have done a lot of weird things over the years, so if I can give you an answer, I will. Let me know how I can help.
Thanks again!
flat rate pallet
