Graduating from MDF & DIY Shed Pine

[Trigger]

After the last few years mucking around with MDF and horrible DIY shed softwood I took the plunge lunchtime. I went to Robbins in Bristol and picked up some red cedar, iroko and maple in one of their discount bundle sales. The iroko planks are going to be made into a fence for my diy router table with plenty to spare and the maple is destined for small coffee table for the conservatory (according to SWMBO).

The whole lot was £46 and it half filled the back off my Mondeo estate so I'm well please with my purchase.

 

[Ironballs]

Sounds like a good deal and have fun with all that wood

 

[Karl]

Good idea - just be careful with that Iroko. Some people have a [highly] allergic reaction to the dust (not everybody thought - I don't).

Cheers

Karl

 

[Trigger]

I sure will. The fence is tomorrows project and I can't wait to get going on it.

 

[Trigger]

In fairness the bloke at Robbins did warn me about the iroko dust as well Karl but thanks for the reminder mate.

 

[OPJ]

Wow, that's the first time I've heard the words "Robbins" and "discount" used in the same sentance!! :shock: :wink:

It sounds interesting though; how much wood did you actually get? Do you have any photo's?

 

[Trigger]

A shock I know Olly. But it's pot luck and they generally they advertise on their web site when they have the bundles for sale. There wasn't a huge choice today as most had been sold but I was well please with the maple bundle for £15. There is one piece in the bundle that's about 500mm x 600mm x 60mm thick which is going to make a small table top and there is also enough in the rest of the bundle that will be suitable for the legs so that's going to be a small occasional / coffee table for the conservatory.

Where do you normally buy from Olly. I'm guessing its not Robbins :wink:

 

[OPJ]

You're not wrong there, Trigger! :wink:

For hardwoods (native ones, at that) I tend to use Interesting Timbers out near Radstock. It's a bit of a drive but, as far as I'm aware, there's nowhere in Bristol that sells anything other than imported hardwoods. There's also Charltons World of Wood (no website) in Radstock. Only heard of them on recommendation but, their prices seem cheap.

With softwoods, I favour a small company in Clevedon (Staddons, again, a bit far from you). Bristol City Timber (Ashton Gate) are very competitive price-wise; I'm just not sure about the quality of their redwood for furniture making... I guess it does vary from time to time, like most things. :?

Out your way, while bearing in mind that I've not dealt with any of these firms myself, I can think of Golding, Scadding and Bendrey Brothers (actually, I think they do locally-grown timber... :roll: ).

If you've got a length of maple which is 500mm or 600mm wide then, you're gonna need a serious planer thicknesser to tidy it up!!

 

[Trigger]

Thanks for the advice Olly

I've heard of Interesting Timbers and Radstock isn't that far from me really plus I could get there quicker than the drive across the city to Ashton Gate. A complete nightmare of a journey :x I'll check the others out you suggest and Bendry's is about a mile or so from where I live. Every time I've been there it is to get fencing or decking materials. Not cheap but good quality. They do stock some native hardwoods so I might nip down there this morning for a quick look around and see if I can get a price list.

The maple I'm going to have to saw down and joint to make a table top as my humble little CCNPT won't cope with it the width but all part of the fun. :wink: