Questions on working, buying and sourcing Maple

[Bluekingfisher]

Morning all,

We are having our kitchen re fitted, long story short, swmbo was looking at shaker style vynil doors in Maple effect.

Of course they are not cheap to buy so I got to thinking about making our own. If I was in the States I'm sure I could pick it up anywhere but does anyone know where I could source Maple in the Cambrige area, info on workability factor and relative costings would also being appreciated.

I will use veneered maple ply for the door panels, it being a kitchen will there be any special treatment to the timber and ply to reduce moisture ingress.

Thanks all.

David

 

[Waka]

I made my kitchen about 10 years ago in m
]Mapel, the doors are shaker style and I have to say looks really great.

The workability of Maple is good, bearing in mind you can get hard or soft Maple, I used hard. I have just bought some Mapel from Timbmet and I think I paid about £30 a cubic ft for 1" rough sawn.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks Waka, very helpful , just so as I get it right, how would I calcul;ate what a cubic ft is?

What would it be in say a 6" x 1" sawn planks, how may feet would that be.

Thanks again.

David

 

[marcros]

david,

you need to calculate each part into decimal feet, then multiply them up.

so, in your example, assuming that you want to know how many cubic feet in a board of 6" x 1" x 1' (i.e. per foot of 6x1)

(6/12) = 0.5 (half a foot wide)
(1/12)= 0.083 (1/12" of a foot thick)
(1)= 1 (1 foot long)

so 0.5 x 0.083 x 1 = 0.042 cubic feet

Sorry if this is telling you how to suck eggs. The other way that I sometimes think about it, is how many pieces would I get into a 1' x 1' x 1' box? The stack would be 12 pieces high, and 2 pieces wide, so there are 24 linear feet of your chosen size in a cubic foot. Works easier on some sizes than others though!

If you have a lot of components, do it on a spreadsheet, and total at the bottom.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Marcros, thanks very much, not teaching me to suck eggs at all. I don't but that much timber form specialist mills, most of my timber is reclaim or bought in small amounts form local timber merchants so the terminology can get a little confusing when not used to it.

I suppose I didn't want to pitch up and not have a clue of what the merchant was on about - I guess the more unscruplious could see that as a way of bumping the price...perish the thought.

Thanks again for the assistance.

David

 

[Steve Maskery]

This is one area where our American cousins have a more workable system than we do. They use Board Feet. Although it is 1/12th of a cubic foot, it is more easily imagined. It is a board 1" thick and 12" wide. So a board 6' long would be 6 board feet (assuming it was an inch thick and 12" wide). If it was only 6" wide it would be 3 board feet. But if it was 2" thick, 6" wide and still 6' long, we would be back to having 6 board feet.

Given that timber here is often sold in cubic metres, which is even more difficult to visualise, I think the chances of us adopting the convenient Board Foot are approximately nil.
S

edited for mathematical accuracy!

 

[Chems]

The easiest way to think about it I find, in a real looking at a plank of wood type of way is:

A board 12 inches wide, by 1 inch thick by 12 feet long is a cubic foot.

So the calculation to work your cubic feet is:

Width x Thickness x Length (Inches)

Divided by 1728 = Cubic Feet

Then times this by the cost and you know how much a certain piece of wood is going to cost. Figure out a few pieces, like how much a door will cost, or a drawer front, then multiply it for the whole kitchen. Then add at least 33% for waste. Some say 50%.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Yes, I am more familiar with the US means of calculating timber ( Iread too many yank mags), which to be fair makes more sense, at least to me.

Cubic metres, doesn't even bear thinking about, although it does sound like a lot of timber, much more than a weekend WW would need to buy in one go.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Chems - Thanks for the tip, I guess I 'll have to re figure as I was thinking of 20% waste. I still think it will work out cheaper than buying the blow moulded vynl doors and look 100% better.

 

[Waka]

Seems all the questions have been answered. Keep us up to date with WIP when you start.

 

[simocco]

Marcros, thanks very much, not teaching me to suck eggs at all. I don't but that much timber form specialist mills, most of my timber is reclaim or bought in small amounts form local timber merchants so the terminology can get a little confusing when not used to it.

I suppose I didn't want to pitch up and not have a clue of what the merchant was on about - I guess the more unscruplious could see that as a way of bumping the price...perish the thought.

Thanks again for the assistance.

David

check out the wood price calculator - on this site somewhere its very helpful!

 

[tomatwark]

If your supplier is working in cubic metres all you need to do is take the amount in cubic feet you have worked and divide it by 35.315 and it will give the cubic meters.

I always work out my timber in cubic feet as Chem's said a board 12 ft long x 12" x 1" is a cubic foot and easier visualize.

Tom

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks fellahs, info and breadth of knowledge as always very helpful, much appreciated.

David