sourcing decorative woods

[mkirby]

Hi all,

I want to get into wood working I want to start of with the basics so bought myself a band saw and a book on making boxes.

The big problem i am having is sourcing decent woods that will make attractive boxes. I live in northumberland and we seem to have no where to buy wood especially in small quantities. Can anyone recommend anywhere that will sell a variety of interesting woods? Are there places on the web who will deliver as im restricted in how far i can travel. My only transport is by bus or bike so i have to lug the stuff back myself.

Im starting to think im never going to get to use my saw.

Any help very much appreciated.

cheers

mark

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Hello Mark,

I know there are a fair few on-line Timber Merchants, and quite a lot deliver. However I've never used any of them so would not like to recommend, but I have heard about Arnold Laver Timberworld.
The problem with ordering timber on-line is that you can't inspect and choose it yourself before you buy it, You might want to ask if anyone on here has any offcuts that they could send your way. Or has experience with any on-line timber merchants.

You do get small batches of timber on Ebay every now and again, and as they have to show a decent picture of the actual timber you're getting this might be a worthwhile bet. Plus they will want to accurately describe the timber to keep their feedback rating high.

Hope this helps you out a bit_Dan

 

[Max Power]

Where abouts in Northumberland are you Mark? There are a number of timber merchants up this way

 

[tekno.mage]

I've bought wood online from Stiles & Bates - mainly to make up a parcel to a weight (I was buying finishes that had to go by courier and would pay the same shipping charge for anything up to 10kg). I was quite happy with the wood I bought from them which was a mixture of UK native wood and exotics.

I've also occasionally bought wood on ebay - and usually been very happy with the results, as has been said the seller usually includes one of more photos of the wood - and I don't buy if the photos are not clear enough!

Best bargain I found that way was listed as 5 African Blackwood pen blanks - which I won for 99p with £2.00 shipping . There was a photo of the five blanks, but nothing in the picture gave a sense of scale and the seller hadn't actually stated the size, but calling them pen blanks implied they were quite small. Well, those blanks must have been intended for HUGE pens - as they were each nearly 2" square x 7" long!!!

tekno.mage

 

[Pip]

British Hardwoods deliver, contact them on line or by 'phone.
Only had one order from them, (so far), but highly satisfied
pip

 

[jasonB]

Have a look at Timberline, they do thin boards aimed specifically for boxmaking and do mail order although you can't buy straight off their site.

http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Woods_ ... xmaker.asp

Also SLH do some project packs of suitable timber for small boxes

http://www.slhardwoods.co.uk/SearchResu ... ject+packs

Jason