Hardwood suppliers, drivable distance to Oxford.

[jamesevenlode]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a recommendation of a few hardwood suppliers within a drivable (up to around 100 miles each way) distance of Oxford.

I'm an instrument builder, so I have the usual luthier wood suppliers already (Touchstone, David ****, Exotic Hardwoods UK Ltd etc).
I want to be able to go to a supplier and root around in their stock and pull out interesting pieces that I might be able to season for instrument building.
I can process woods here so happy to buy large boards.

Particularly interested in honduran mahogany, spruce (sitka, adirondack, alpine), zebrano, american walnut, ebony, rosewoods, snakewood, koa, figured maple (flame, quilt, burl) and general anything that is striking and heavily figured.

Cheers.

 

[OM99]

You could check them

http://www.sykestimber.co.uk/hardwood.html

about an hour away from you and they do have an extensive list of hardwood.

I have never used them so no idea on their pricing structure though.

Oli

 

[Zeddedhed]

If 98.3 miles is OK (according to Google Maps) then try Timberline in Tonbridge in Kent.

Clicky clicky below for a list of their hardwoods. I've heard it said that they can get you pretty much anything.

http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Woods_List/index.asp

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Deep in Wood, Abingdon? I know a guy who uses them and rates them.

 

[jamesevenlode]

Thanks folks, this is all very helpful.

100 miles isn't a hard limit- I sometimes drive down to David ****'s which is 250 miles round trip.

 

[custard]

With a shopping list like that Timberline is pretty much the only show in town. But even there you'll need to be realistic. I know plenty of furniture makers that drive a regular circuit of yards, they'll have been tipped off when an interesting delivery happens and be there soon after it's arrived. So don't expect stupendous quality across every timber species because the majority of the stock has been well picked through already. What you can reasonably look forward to however is getting to see the one or two deliveries that have arrived in the past few weeks, and provided you're flexible you'll nearly always drive away with a couple of real gems.

Good luck!

 

[RobinBHM]

Timbmet in oxford were stocking some rare timber recovered from a flooded lake.

Might be of interest?

http://www.galleryshowroom.co.uk/produc ... ermet.html

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Despite their unfortunate name, these folk have a hardwood shed which is something of an Aladdin's cave - there is a lot of "run of the mill" (pun intended) stuff, but some more interesting little gems lurk there from time to time.

http://www.goodwillies.co.uk/home/3177046

Cheers, W2S

 

[custard]

Timbmet in oxford were stocking some rare timber recovered from a flooded lake.

Might be of interest?

http://www.galleryshowroom.co.uk/produc ... ermet.html

Surrey Timbers have some of the exact same stuff. I looked at it but passed as there's better tropical boards available from traditional sources, many of the timbers are virtually unknown here so it's difficult to inspire a client with them, and there's no sequential boards from the log so you can't book match to build up wider boards.

There's always some slightly wacky timbers in circulation. Right now there's Elm from Hollyrood Palace, 100 year old Cuban Mahogany uncovered from a Docklands warehouse, and Burmese Teak salvaged from a freighter sunk by a U Boat off the coast of Ireland!

Incidentally Timberline have quite a bit of salvaged Thai Rosewood that's rather nice although most of the boards are a bit on the narrow side.

 

[AndyT]

If you want "interesting timbers" you are less than 100 miles from http://www.interestingtimbers.co.uk in the Mendips.

They mostly have native timbers, but as they are willing to buy and plank individual specimen trees, they do have more exotic or highly figured boards sometimes. Have a look through the Gallery section to see the scope of what they sell.

 

[jamesevenlode]

If you want "interesting timbers" you are less than 100 miles from http://www.interestingtimbers.co.uk in the Mendips.

They mostly have native timbers, but as they are willing to buy and plank individual specimen trees, they do have more exotic or highly figured boards sometimes. Have a look through the Gallery section to see the scope of what they sell.

Those are some interesting timbers...

Thanks for the help people- I really appreciate it.