Is harvesting from a board the right way to get timber?

[glynster]

Hi, I'm still brand new to woodworking and have been watching a DVD of Ian Kirby where he explains that the standard way to get timber for woodworking is to buy boards (hardwoods) and then harvest your cutting list from within those boards - he says that the grain will never run straight on boards and that you can avoid the knots etc. He also says that the waste is something you just have to be philosophical about. I am not questioning him as such as I am sure that this is the way the finest timber is extracted for fine furniture. But, is this the COMMON practice on a day to day basis? I want to create a wall-mounted plate rack/holder out of oak as my first project because it will be a scaled down study of building larger pieces, be manageable and wont break the bank if I mess up the cuts etc. I assumed I could just go to an online timber supplier and order my cut list (oversized slightly). Am I being a muppet in assuming this? Would I get grain going diagonally and effectively be "cheating" to do this? I am quite happy to buy larger boards - in fact I intended to to some extent but it seems a shame since they could be used for grander pieces and I am aware that oak is (in my mind) a much more precious natural resource than it is often considered. For example, I assumed that if I bought a board 200x20x1000 that I could easily get 2 lengths of 90x16x1000 - but it seems from what Ian Kirby was suggesting I would need to buy a selection of boards and may possibly only get 1 such length running diagonally - is diagonal grain such a problem anyway?

Thanks for your help - I am sure these are stupid questions but when you havent done this before it's a puzzle.

 

[Racers]

Go to the wood yard have a good look through the pile of boards and pick out some nice ones, don't trust someone else to do this for you.
That way you can make sure you are getting the best, matching timber for the whole project.

Furniture makers can afford to have more waste than amateurs so they can buy full lengths and use the best bits, most yards will cross cut boards so you can pay for what you want.

Pete

 

[AndyT]

Both ways of getting wood are, of course, perfectly fine. There is always some wastage when cutting wood to finished sizes and you have the choice - you can pay a merchant to prepare the sizes you want, or you can buy a big board and do that job yourself. The merchant should be better at it, from experience and choice of boards, but as a diy customer your order would be a tiny one and might not get much attention.

In my experience, for my first projects using hardwood I bought professionally prepared pieces in the sizes I needed and just had to cut them to lengths, which can be complicated enough. I got all good wood with very little left over.


Later on, having found some sawn boards at reasonable prices, I felt ready to try the puzzle of estimating how many boards I would need and then deciding how to cut my pieces out, working round defects etc. It's not a trivial job - probably a day's worth of head scratching.

The other factor is whether you want to invest in the tools and effort for all that sawing and planing.

 

[glynster]

Thanks for the replies - I dont seem to have a furniture-quality hardware supplier anywhere near me in Reading, Berkshire - they all just seem to sell sappy softwood for construction so Iw as thinking of buying online and trusting that I get some decent stuff from timber merchants who specialise. I like your idea Andy, it is very intimidating trying to work out what boards I would need to get my cut list from and pointless since I note that the merchants will cut to size anyway. I was going to try either http://www.timbercut4u.co.uk/ or http://www.goodtimber.com/ or most likely http://www.slhardwoods.co.uk/ since they tend to do an impressive range. If you can recommend anywhere better then I'd be all ears, thanks.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Yes you do.......Arnold Laver. On the old A33

PM me if you like, I live in Eversley (6 miles from Reading) and I use AL all the time. The trick is to choose the timber yourself because if you don't have a planer/thicknesser then you going to be hand planning an awful lot if you trust someone else to choose the wood on your behalf.

AL also have an offcuts bin with gnarly stuff that's all about 1m in length. Its an excellent place to pick up cheap 2inch stuff for legs and thicker pieces. American white oak, walnut, maple, European oak, sapele, iroko, ash. The selection isn't endless but they've got all the mainstream hardwoods and in very long lengths if necessary. They also carry a large stock of veneer'd 8x4 sheet goods with some quite exotic choices incl walnut etc...very handy.

I'll make a trip with you if you like as any excuse to get up there works for me

 

[woodfarmer]

If there are any boat builders near you, especially if they do repairs you might find what you want there. Even plastic boats usually have some "brown wood" in them.

Having said that I would not worry too much about skew whiff grain, mostly it is easier to saw along the trunk.

 

[AndyT]

I've posted on here before about projects done both ways. This thread was about a bookcase from ash, where I ordered planed timber from Robbins in Bristol and got exactly what I needed, all clear, knot free, flat and straight: https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/hand-tooled-bookcase-in-ash-t51016.html

In contrast, this garden chair started from rough sawn boards and some guesswork: https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/garden-chair-in-oak-t43584.html and shows how I went about fitting my requirements onto what I had bought.

Robbins are a bit unusual I think in that they don't have any minimum order and will supply small quantities, though I expect they are expensive. SL Hardwoods have certainly been recommended on here enough times for me to remember the name.

 

[custard]

Hello Glynster,

I might be out towards one end of the spectrum here but I'd recommend always personally selecting your own boards, look for consecutive boards from the same tree to minimise colour variations, and always buy a lot more than you think you need to allow for high levels of wastage. If this is too expensive an approach then think about making smaller projects. For example here's a cracking little project for a beginning/intermediate woodworker that doesn't need much more than one or one and a half cubic feet of timber. To my mind it's not unreasonable to plan on spending £100 and a day of your time buying the wood for this project, when you might then invest 100-150 hours in actually building this piece.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-co ... 4-Seg2.pdf

Timber selection is one of the main ways of differentiating your furniture from mass produced alternatives, and in my opinion it deserves to take a fair share of your time and woodworking budget. Furthermore, squeezing the absolute best result from your raw material is one of the essential skills of woodworking, and Ian Kirby is absolutely right in saying this will sometimes require an angled cut in a board to get a pleasing grain pattern.

You're quite fortunate living in Berkshire as you have some very good timber yards not too far from you, Tyler Hardwoods for example has some superb stock.

Good luck!

 

[RobinBHM]

There is quite a difference between selecting timber when woodworking is a hobby for pleasure and selecting timber as a business.

If you are at all able, I would strongly recommend visiting a timber yard and selecting your timber and buy plenty so you have options to select for grain and colour rather than for yield. Its much more satisfying to cut up your boards to suit the most interesting grain and colouring. Of course when you've cut the most beautiful board of timber 100mm too short, plan B comes into operation...................