[SawDustJack]

Have any of you used a mail order or internet outfit .. Are they upfront about the material ?? Where it came from , cut after a storm , return if not satisfied with them paying return shipping ?? Still decent prices after including shipping ??

 

[TexasTimbers]

Although I am taking advantage of a few niche markets I can't really call myself a mail order outfit yet, but I can give you my experience as a buyer. Before I got involved in sawmilling/selling wood I often bought it through mail order outfits I found in the back of WW mags.
I probably made somewhere between 20 and 30 purchases usually smaller orders from one to ten boards. I can't remember all of the comapnies I used but I do remember a couple.
Suprisingly, I never had one single bad experience. I never sent, or even felt like I should send anything back or ever felt like I got ripped off. I feel I am fairly picky too.
If my experience is indiciative of the wood mail order business as a whole, I'd say the speaks well of the type of people who get involved in the industry. :thumbsup:

Edit: Although there have been some comlaints about them, I find that Woodfinder can be a good source for suppliers, and also I always had good luck with the companies who advertise in the classified section of Woodshop News. Most of them have been advertisers for many years. Woodshop News is the single subscription I try to not let lapse.

 

[Daren]

, I'd say the speaks well of the type of people who get involved in the industry. :thumbsup:

I agree there, I have done a few things over the years for a living (plumber/welder/home improvement contractor...service related stuff) I got into the wood business to have a product, cash and carry. I got stiffed on some service work, kinda hard to take the work back once it has been performed and the customer doesn't pay:cursing: . I have found that the guys in the wood business on both ends, seller and buyers, are pretty square dealing folks.

I have only bought lumber (a bunch of 1/4" thick 8"x8" square that I could buy cheaper than I could mill to fill an order) once and the dude was fair. I do sell a decent amount of lumber online and shipping is a problem on both ends. Shipping lumber is a pain in the rear, and I don't charge any handling fees, just what UPS charges I pass on to the customer. I would rather just sell it out of the shop, but if a customer contacts me and needs it shipped, I ship it, a sale is a sale. I said it is a pain, but we know how a guy can get hung up by the "drop by" customer too for hours talking in the middle of the day for a $100 purchase, either way it is part of the business so I am not complaining.

I think the cost of shipping for the customer is unavoidable, if he could find it locally he would, if shipping adds $1 bft to what he was looking for and couldn't find it the price may be a bit higher but he has his wood. I mean try to go to the local lumber yard and find stuff like this on the shelf... a 50" wide curly maple bookmatch. http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=104&limit=views

I buy MANY things online, I live in the boonies most things (tools, hardware...) are a 30 mile drive. I would rather, if I am not in a big hurry and can wait a few days for it, order it online and pay a couple bucks shipping and not have to chase parts all day. 1/2 the time the stuff is cheaper online than I can get it locally so even with the shipping I am o.k.

Daren
http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

 

[Kirk Allen]

Buyer beware when it comes to online wood purchase! KNOW your source. We have had a couple folks out there who basically made a habit of ripping people off or selling them junk.

Places I would avoid like the plague:
Thinwoods.com (Iowa)- Sells junk and has a full time lawyer:thumbdown:
New England Specialty Lumber (Vermont): "Bankrupcy court" :thumbdown:

Place with exceptional business practic and great wood:
Curlywoods.com :thumbsup:

 

[SawDustJack]

Daren you dawg you , wide slabs of curly maple is what I'm looking for :thumbsup: ..

 

[TexasTimbers]

Daren you dawg you , wide slabs of curly maple is what I'm looking for :thumbsup: ..

Then why don't you Curlywoods like Kirk mentioned and see what he has. Although I have never persoanlly traded with him, I have heard Kirk rave about his integrity since I have known him and Kirk ain't gonna lie about someone's business ethics. :no:

If you don't see what you want call him, he is always coming across new wood.

AFA Kirks experience with bad guys it just goes to show you there are nogoodniks everywhere there is a buck to be made. i think it's good to post known baddies like that. I have been lucky obviously.
i still want to believe that all in all we are a better lot than say, used car salesmen and roofers, although I have been in both of those industries also.

Caveat: Good roofers and honest used car salesman do exist. :shifty:

 

[alexanderbuzzsaw]

I live in Port Lavaca Texas and I had bought a sawmill 3 years ago. My brother lives in Rye Texas and has 35 acers of hardwoods, hickory, red oak, white oak, magnolia, pine, sweetgum, holly and trees I have not identified yet. They stand around 80 to 100 feet with striaght trucks up to 60 feet tall and some 3 to 4 feet round at the base. I have cut nearly 10,000 bf and have sold only about 1500 bf. I have a sight at www.roughcuthardwoods.com go check it out. We also run SIX MILE PIC-N-PAC were you can come out and pick your own produce. My prices on the lumber is cheap so anybody close by Rye Texas