Trip to Crosscut Hardwood in Seattle

Bill Satko

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Methow Valley
Yesterday my wife and I decided to take a day trip to Seattle. The goal was to visit Woodcraft, Rockler, downtown Seattle (used/rare bookstores, antique stores, craft stores, etc.) and Crosscut Hardwoods, the purpose of this thread.

Crosscut is located just South of downtown Seattle, not far from the Mariners baseball stadium. This area is full of old warehouses and manufacturing buildings, most from early in the 20th century and some older. The location of Crosscut is in one of these old warehouses. It is a large warehouse with many rooms. I took these pictures with my camera phone.


Last time I was here much of the floor space was taken up with giant slabs of waterfall bulbinga with tags of woodworking shops they were destined for. This time, most of it was gone. I found just a couple piles this time.
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This section (below) is where they have stacked 16/4 and 12/4 rough hardwood.
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This is a picture of where they stack the pallets that come from the trucks. They will break these piles down and stack them in their proper sections.
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It is hard to convey the size of this place. I have to run out right now, but when I get back I will post some other observations and some pricing that I noted.
 
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Ok I am back. One of the reasons that I went down to Crosscut was to do a little scouting for wood that I will be needing in order to build a few benches. Just trying to get a feel for species, sizes and prices. I was looking for wood that would be relative inexpensive, but good for benches. Besides looking at your normal 8/4 in order to cut and set edgewise for glue up as a bench slab, I also was interested in just buying a giant thick slab for a top. That explains why I have so much pricing for the 16/4 sizes.

I thought it would be interesting for others to see what is available to me in this area. I need to explain that the width of these rough slabs varied but many were around 12" or maybe slightly larger. With all that wood around me, my mind goes into a kind of fever and afterwards I am not sure what I saw. I only know the pricing because of the pictures I took.

16/4 Rough Hardwood (no grade was stated)
Eastern Ash 6.50/BF
Popular 4.00/BF
Khaya 8.50/BF
Hard Maple 12.75/BF

12/4 Rough Hardwood (no grade unless stated below)
Eastern Ash 5.25/BF
Popular 3.75/BF
Red Oak 7.50/BF
Hard Maple 9.00/BF

8/4 (FAS except as noted)
Northern White Oak SAB 6.75/BF
Superior European Beech 5.00/BF

Some other misc pricing (FAS)
4/4 Popular S3S 2.95/BF
1/2" Popular S2S 2.50/BF

I was surprised to find the European Beech and what seemed to me a good price.
 
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shoulda meet you sooner, then i could have had you for a guide to this place..wow what a lumber yard:thumb::thumb:

Probably better you did not. You would have rented a u-haul, loaded it up with alder and other NW species and drove back home. Not sure what your wife would have thought about that!
 
Probably better you did not. You would have rented a u-haul, loaded it up with alder and other NW species and drove back home. Not sure what your wife would have thought about that!

Knowing Larry, I think you meant "you would have rented a u-haul and asked Griz to meet you there with an empty rig ..."

I still remember my first (and, sadly, so far my only) trip to Lakeshore Hardwoods a local-ish 100% clear face dealer to me. Nowhere near as big as the operation you visited, but memorable nonetheless.

Glad you and your wife had a good trip!
 
Man, that sure beats the hardwood store that I've found in my area. Surely somewhere in the greater LA area there's a decent hardwood warehouse, but I sure haven't found it yet. There's one in downtown LA that sounds promising, but they're only open weekdays, and I haven't made it down there when they're open yet.

I priced 8/4 and 4/4 SAS poplar at Arroyo Hardwoods in Pasadena (they're about 20 minutes from my house) and it was over $5 per board foot. Since I was needing about 50 board feet for my dog gate, I passed and used pine from the Borg. (Arroyo wanted over $7/bf for select pine.) :eek:
 
Man, that sure beats the hardwood store that I've found in my area. Surely somewhere in the greater LA area there's a decent hardwood warehouse, but I sure haven't found it yet. There's one in downtown LA that sounds promising, but they're only open weekdays, and I haven't made it down there when they're open yet.

I agree Vaughn, there should be a good hardwood store in LA somewhere. I mean you have a huge market and transportation of Eastern Hardwood (US/Canadian) is not that much different to Seattle or LA. The only place Seattle should beat you would be local species.
 
Hi Bill,
I stop by there once a month just to see all the different species that I hear about but have never seen. Next time you are there check out the Macassar ebony, only $59/ft. I talked with one of the sales reps and he said the Seattle area is one of the biggest exotics market around. Lots of high end cabinet shops and artisans making custom fixtures and furniture. Our neighbor used 8/4 Wenge for his kitchen countertop. Next time you visit check out the Gallery of Fine Woodworking in Pioneer Square--1st and Jackson. Pretty amazing stuff. You'll get lots of ideas there.

I get as big a thrill from visiting Griz in Bellingham as you do from Crosscut. My daughter is at WWU so I have a good excuse to visit. She is a little suspicious when I bring the trailer tho.....
 
Welcome to the forum John.

Yes, I am familiar with the Gallery, if fact I stopped by there last weekend. Always an inspiring place to visit.

I really noticed a drop off in the amount of exotic species laying about at Crosscutt this last visit. I wonder if I just caught them between ship loads or is the slow down in the economy starting to be felt by them.

Why don't you start a thread over at Welcome & Introductions explaining who you are and what you like to do? That way everyone in the forum can get to know you.
 
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