WTB--Wide 8/4 and 12/4 Sugar Maple

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I'm making a really high end woodworkers workbench, and want to use sugar, aka northern hard, maple for the bench top. The plans, which I want to follow, call for the top to be 4" thick and made by gluing 4" wide boards together on their faces, i.e., the edges will be the bench top.

I want to get 8/4 x 10"W x 8'L boards which I can mill to glue-ready surface finish and then rip two 4" wide boards from the original 10" width. I also want one 12/4 board to make jaw faces for the vises.

I have exhausted every source I know of from Hickory to Knoxville; nobody has or can get boards wide enough from which to rip two usable boards. The popular explanation is that no one up north wants to wait another 10-20 years for the trees to grow large enough to yield wide enough boards.

The only boards I can source are 6-8" wide. At $8+/bf, cutting a single 4" board from an 8" board leaves entirely too much unusable cutoff material, for which I have no immediate use. Does any one know of a source, local or up north, that might have the sugar maple lumber I'm seeking? Thanks.

 

[J_Graham]

So it's been awhile since I have stopped by Kluttz in Concord, NC but they had some beautiful 8/4 rock maple last time I was in there. I'm not sure there is a major difference between the two? I am going that way in about 2 weeks and would be happy to check for you if it's not urgent.

 

[bowman]

Contact Glenn at GPS Hardwoods in Kernersville, he may have what you are looking for.

 

[Roy G]

Wiley, you could piece a couple of narrower boards together to get your 4" width.

Roy G

 

[EricS]

Not sure if you tried West Penn Hardwoods. Located in Conover, NC

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

Not sure if you tried West Penn Hardwoods. Located in Conover, NC

I talked to a guy on the warehouse floor; never heard back from him.

 

[EricS]

I’m not sure where you are located but this store is amazing. Every type of hard wood from around the world. Better bring check book and then some….. They are open 1/2 day on Saturday. I may run up this weekend. I’m only about 20 minutes away. I will see what they have.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I’m not sure where you are located but this store is amazing. Every type of hard wood from around the world. Better bring check book and then some….. They are open 1/2 day on Saturday. I may run up this weekend. I’m only about 20 minutes away. I will see what they have.

What store? I'm 45 minutes West of Asheville, 20 miles from TN border. I would travel from Triad to Charlotte if the price was right. If the store is in that range, please check for 8/4 x 10"W x 96"L sugar/northern hard/Canadian maple.

My regular source for hardwoods and BB plywood is getting 6"-8" wide northern hard maple in this week. I can make the boards work, but the cutoff/waste factor is going to be expensive. Read my original post for reasons I want 10"W boards.

 

[bowman]

White Maple Hardwood Lumber For Sale in North and South Carolina | GPS Hardwoods

I don't know how wide he offers, contact Glenn and ask.

 

[Phillip Mitchell]

Have you talked to Steve Wall Lumber in Mayodan / north of Winston Salem?

I have gotten some great quality and wide hard maple in varying thicknesses there several times in the past.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

I finally located sugar maple at Wood Warehouse in Franklin, just over an hour from my shop. Buddy, the owner, couldn't source 10"W boards; he procured 6"-8" wide boards. The narrower boards mean more waste/cutoff, but the lower $/BF make the final cost of making my workbench top about the same. After I'm finished I'll stare at the cutoff pile with an adult beverage in my hand and figure out something to build with the leftovers. I'll definitely have a lot of 2x2 pieces for turning or table legs or whatever.