Where to start...

[joneill]

So where does everyone find wood in the RDU area. The big box stores work for pine but what if you need a white oak board or red oak, or maple or tulip poplar? Do local sawmills have that kind of variety? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I don't have a stockpile air drying in a barn...yet...:gar-La;

 

[ScottM]

Jeff we have a couple great sawers in the triangle and also some great lumber stores. In the banner on top of the page click on "Woodworking in NC"

 

[ptt49er]

Jeff,
If you look up to the menu bar and click on Woodworking NC there are a lot of options. There are several saw mills not far from ya, as well as some local lumber yards. Check out all the links. Screen shot below is what I am referring to.

 

[JJD]

It's a bit of a drive for you, but the NC Hardwood Store in Gibsonville is a great place for wood. They have a huge warehouse of stock and a large collection of "shorts" that can be had for 50 cents less per board foot than the regular stock. Whatever you need, they have. Plus, they are very helpful in finding what you need. I was searching endlessly for 12" wide cherry for drawer fronts to no avail. Tom (the nice guy in suspenders that look like rulers!) seemed to remember that he had an entire pallet of such stock way back in the corner. He fired up the forklift and moved two or three pallets around uncovering this stack of beautiful 4/4 cherry in 12-13 inch widths. He encouraged me to sort through them and take my pick. It was beautiful wood!!!!

 

[Tarhead]

Jeff,
Welcome and great first question! It is Woodworking isn't it?

Check out NC Hardwood Store in Gibsonville. Good folks and they offer us a discount (you may have to be "Discount Qualified"). Open til noon on Saturdays. Best selection and closest to Mebane. Check out their shorts rack if you have your dimensons ready and save big. If you go, tell cousin Donald Fogleman I said hey. Ask about delivery services if you don't have a truck or get them to cut your boards to rough dimension.

If you have the space and time to airdry wood we have fresh sawn HW group buys a few times/yr. Keep your eyes peeled for the announcements especially around our spring picnic and fall get togethers.

You can also post what you need here and make a swap. Some of us have a hardwood stash and some of us have what my wife calls a STABLE. (Obsessive/Compulsive disorder which results in a Stash That Accumulates Beyond Life Expectency :gar-La; ) I barely have a box of toothpicks so she's not talking about me. Ask Jeremy, he'll agree, really, no fibbin.:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:
Mark

 

[clowman]

If you can plan your projects around Jeff Mill's "Raleigh lumber runs", your patience would be rewarded.

Here is a thread how he works his runs Lumber Run
Here is another thread for a recent lumber run
You can also send Jeff... a private message. Even if you can't wait for another run, he's great to talk to.

 

[woodArtz]

Another vote for the Hardwood Store! (unless you can catch one of the lumber runs by our own sawyers) From Mebane, the drive to Gibsonville is actually not bad. I may be headed that way on Saturday morning.

 

[Bryan S]

Jeff your only about 25 minutes or so drive from The Hardwood Store. Here's a link to directions to the store about 2 miles off of I40/85. There are some great folks there and great selections of lumber.

The lumber runs are nice and you can score good lumber at good prices as well as meet other members there and make new friends. But don't drag your feet like I did last spring and missed out on some cherry, Jeff's lumber runs get spoken for fast sometimes. Keep an eye on the classifieds also, I scored this stack of cherry from a member here. You can read about the suckage I received in this thread.