Buying hardwood lumber in Maine

Eric Eckman

Member
Messages
20
Location
Brunswick, ME
Hi, forgive me if this is the wrong area of the forum to post this question- I'm new to the forum and a newbie to woodworking in general. So far, I've made my bench, a set of adirondack chairs, a night stand and a blanket chest- I've been happy with the results and have been reading and trying to absorb as much information about becoming a quality craftsman as possible and I am already starting to see some improvement in my projects as well as less head scratching in the process.

I'm ready to take the next step in woodworking and start buying roughsawn hardwoods to mill down on my own for my projects. I have acquired a planer and jointer, but I'm starting to realize that buying hardwoods this way is not nearly as user friendly as going to the big box store and signing over the rights to your first born child in exchange for some pre-dimensioned lumber. I live in Brunswick, ME and wonder if there is anyone from the area who can point me in the direction of the most newbie-friendly source for buying hardwoods. It's a little intimidating since I really don't know anything about buying hardwoods- I've found two places that seem to sell it, Fat Andy's and Mainecoast Lumber, but I don't know if they intend to focus more to hobbyists like me or to professionals. Is it possible to go directly to a sawmill and buy lumber? And if so, where do you do it?

Sorry for the basic level of questions, but I feel that there is a dearth of information on the net about how a new woodworker should go about finding and buying hardwoods. I've seen myriad articles about the grades of wood and why it's better to surface it yourself rather than buying it from the big box, but I just wonder how to actually find the materials in the first place.

Thanks for your help.
 
Thanks Don, I appreciate the warm welcome. After browsing photos in the flatwork gallery, I'm a little hesitant to put up pics of my rookie work, but here goes . . .
 

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I'm a little hesitant to put up pics of my rookie work, but here goes . . .

No need to be hesitant, that is some fine projects Eric:thumb: Also just talk with whoever you choose to purchase your hardwood from, you wil most likely find out they are very helpfull:) and after your first purchase you will have a better feeling of what to do and won't feel the rookie jitters anymore, at least that is my experience with my first few purchaces.
And lastly, welcome to the family:wave:
 
Eric those are great. If that's your ideas of just getting started I can hardly wait to see what happens when you get realy good. Alen Levine builds adorondak chairs and he even has some kiddy chairs. I converted his sketches to sketchup files. There over on the design forum if youd like to see them.
 
Thanks guys, I guess I'm just going to bite the bullet and go place an order at one of the lumberyards that I've found and just get to work. My next series of projects is going to focus around the office room of our new house so it'll be a corner desk system with a cabinet and probably a few bookshelves- I want to do it all in oak so I guess I have a bit of shopping to do.
 
Hey Eric, Welcome !
Those are nice looking projects:thumb:
I'm about 3 hours south of you in NH.
I've had really good luck reading ads in Craigs List as well as the local paper. I do have a lumberyard in the town I live in (currier lumber) that treats me pretty good on s4s.
I will check with several of the places I buy rough sawn stuff from and ask for a referral in your area. I'll do this on Monday.
What I really enjoy about buying local lumber is that I know that it came from a tree near my house, was rough sawn by local workers and the project was built by a local (me :rofl:)

I find that a lot of places don't get too excited about selling less than 200 bf of lumber. The smaller guys tend to like the 2 or $300 sales because it goes right into their pocket. Anyway I spend most of my time just talking to the guys asking their advice and getting friendly. every visit after that I bring a dozen of Dunkin Donuts finest for the guys. So I tend to get their best price even if I only pick up 50 -100 bf. Ayup
 
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Eric...

Welcome to the forum.

If Travis Johnson doesn't chime in here, maybe you can find him with a PM. I know he's pretty busy lately with a new job, but he's from Maine and pretty knowledgable about harvesting timber. He has his own woodlot, and cuts/mills from it. I'm pretty sure he could give you some valuable info.

Rough sawn is rarely dry enough for immediate use. My recommendation is to get a moisture meter...you will use it often. If you're getting rough sawn right off the saw you will either need to dry it in a kiln or stack and sticker it for awhile (a year per inch of thickness is the rule of thumb). If it's already been stacked then not so long. But you do need to check it.

Good luck. I enjoy starting with a log. The thread of evidence is unbroken.

Cheers.
 
Eric, there are two hardwood lumber stores in Portland - Atlantic Hardwood and Maine Coast Lumber. Everyone in Maine has a Hammond Lumber in their area and Hammond can get hardwoods (at least the common ones) and Baltic Birch Plywood, although they don't generally have it right there on hand. There is also a hardwood dealer in Yarmouth called Fat Andy's. If you keep an eye on the Uncle Henry's classified ads (or their website), there is also a guy in Portland who sells hardwood. Hope that this helps you.

BTW, I'm from Jay - about 1-1/2 hours from you.

Jim
 
Jim,

Thank you for the info, I did go to Maine Coast Lumber this week and came home with the materials for my current project, seemed like a good place with pretty fair prices. I stopped by Fat Andy's and he must have sensed my newbie-ness because he quoted me $3.99 bd/ft for 4/4 Oak when Maine Coast had quoted me $2.30 over the phone- I think he was trying to take advantage of me. I'll be a regular customer at Maine Coast, but I'll definitely keep my eye out for the guy in Portland who sells hardwood. I've been watching Craigslist more lately and I've seen some great deals on wood, I guess it's just a matter of being the right time and the right place with the craigslist stuff.

Thanks for the input,
Eric
 
Jim,

Thank you for the info, I did go to Maine Coast Lumber this week and came home with the materials for my current project, seemed like a good place with pretty fair prices. I stopped by Fat Andy's and he must have sensed my newbie-ness because he quoted me $3.99 bd/ft for 4/4 Oak when Maine Coast had quoted me $2.30 over the phone- I think he was trying to take advantage of me. I'll be a regular customer at Maine Coast, but I'll definitely keep my eye out for the guy in Portland who sells hardwood. I've been watching Craigslist more lately and I've seen some great deals on wood, I guess it's just a matter of being the right time and the right place with the craigslist stuff.

Thanks for the input,
Eric

Glad you got the lumber you needed and had a good experience at Maine Coast Lumber - did you go to the one in York or in Biddeford? I have heard that Fat Andy's prices are very high - my nephew in Poland Springs has bought from them before and mentioned how expensive it was. Sounds like you got a good price at ME Coast on what you needed! There is a place in Moscow, too - Lazy P Ranch - he saws his own and air dries it in a barn. I bought some shorts from him last year and was very pleased. Another possibility for you is to use the WoodFinder web search engine.

That about runs me out of ideas. There isn't a whole lot of woodworking resources here in Maine! (of course, that's other than Lie-Nielsen and a couple of very well respected woodworking schools, one in Rockport).

Jim
 
Yeah, ME Coast Lumber had good prices and was very accommodating- I went to the one in Westbrook. I definitely won't go back to Fat Andy's- they never responded to an email that I sent them a while ago and seemed almost annoyed to have to deal with me when I stopped in.

It's a shame that there aren't many other woodworking resources here, I was looking for a woodworking club or maybe some classes at a community college and haven't found much yet. I know about Peter Korn's school in Rockland, I actually have his book, but it's priced a little bit rich for me right now. I need to steer well clear of Lie-Neilson, I've definitely caught the plane bug after realizing how much more quickly and conveniently I can finish with them as opposed to sanding, but at this point, I should probably stick with tuning up flea market and ebay specials.

Eric
 
Hi Eric, welcome to the Family :wave:

Nice looking work you have there, keep it up :thumb:

Being in Tokyo, the only thing I can offer on the lumber front is some prices, I paid about $18 a board foot for some 5/4 walnut a while back..... :dunno:

Oh well sushi is cheap here :D
 
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