These are 15 great places to get wood for woodworking. By the end of this post, you will learn about several common and rare ways to obtain wood for your projects. Some are obvious, some are not, and some can even reward you with a lot of free wood. If you have any questions about 15 great places to get wood for woodworking, please leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer them.
Finally, here are the 15 places once again. Woodcraft is an established supply company with nearly 100 years selling and supplying carpenters. They serve most major metropolitan areas with a store and have a high-quality online store to buy wood. Amazon has an amazing collection of wood that you can buy online, including assorted boxes of exotic wood scraps, pen blanks, specific woods and various woods, usually up to 24″ long.
In reality, it all boils down to the type of project you're doing and what you're targeting. If you decide to use more common woods, you will discover that there are many more sources. You'll even discover places where you can get free wood. I use a lot of hardwood, so I like to buy in stores specializing in carpentry.
But it comes at a price. Fortunately, here in Atlanta, I have about 6 specialty woodworking stores (that I know) to choose from. Some are national brand stores, such as Woodcraft or Rocsler. They are usually located in major cities, so you may have to drive to visit a.
Here in Georgia, we only have 2 woodcraft stores in the entire state. The cheapest boards, screed strips, are usually very rough, with rounded edges and many imperfections. More expensive wooden planks will have much straighter edges, less warping and a smoother finish. The screed strips are very economical pine planks that tend to feel rough to the touch, have rounded edges and can be quite deformed.
They are designed to be used inside walls where they will never be seen, which is why they are so rough. Screed strips come in different sizes depending on the store, but you can almost always find them in sizes of 1″ x 2″, 1″ x 4″ and 2″ x 2″. And for just a couple of dollars for 8-foot boards, they're a bargain. In addition to the super low cost, I also love screed strips because their rustic texture is perfect for certain types of projects.
If you've ever wanted to do something with raw pallet wood but didn't want to have to search and cut a pallet, screed strips are the perfect answer. You'll get that rustic texture with much less work. Framing wood is another type of wood that is super cheap. Framing wood is exactly what it sounds like: it is intended to be used to frame walls.
These boards are usually straighter and not as rough as screed strips, but you still need to be careful when choosing the boards to look for the straighter and smoother options. The other disadvantage of framing wood is that it usually has rounded rather than straight edges. For some projects, this isn't really a problem, but for certain construction projects it could make it difficult to get good joints. Common boards usually come in 1″ thick boards in a variety of widths.
And while it's a little more expensive than screed strips or framing cleats, it's also a big step forward in terms of quality. The word plywood probably does not remind me of beautiful and high-quality wood. But plywood can work great for all kinds of DIY projects. You will find a wide range of quality and price in the hallway made of plywood.
Some of the very nice and thick plywoods may look quite expensive. But if you consider how much wood you get, it's actually a good deal. You can cut a large sheet of plywood into smaller pieces for smaller projects or even cut it into strips to make inexpensive wooden boards. So MDF is technically not wood; it is medium density fiberboard and is basically made of sawdust, resin and wax formed into smooth panels similar to plywood.
Even though it's not really wood, MDF is ideal for many DIY projects. It is always absolutely straight, completely smooth and it is very easy to cut, since there are no wood grains or holes for knots. And MDF is usually much cheaper than comparable plywood. To get the most bang for your money, you can buy a 4ft x 8ft MDF sheet and cut it to the size you need.
But you can also buy pre-cut MDF planks if you want to save some time. Most home improvement stores have a bin or shelf with scrap wood somewhere near the back of the store. Waste wood is wood that is too deformed, broken or damaged in any way to be sold at full price. It can also include wood scraps left after customers have cut the wood in the store.
And because waste wood cannot be sold at regular prices, it is usually very cheap. If you need smaller pieces of wood, scrap wood could be a good solution. You may be able to cut the damaged parts of the board or find some smaller debris. But there's a lot of luck at stake: depending on the day, you might find a huge pile of wood to pick up or an empty bucket.
For smaller pieces of plywood 2×4 &, check out any local construction project (we have several new neighborhoods up here) — check with workers ,26% are usually OK for you to dig into your scrap pile. But what if you need something out of the ordinary or you need to get a particular hardwood for a project?. Most hardwood merchants carry wood suitable for furniture, such as maple, walnut and cherry, with a good selection of dimensions and lengths to choose from. If you live in a larger city, you may be close to a woodworking store, such as Woodcraft or Rockler.
Their specialty is selling retail tools & carpentry supplies, but they usually carry small quantities of hardwoods. They also carry a good selection of small blanks for wood turners and boom spinners. Sawn timber can be expensive in such stores because they do not deal with large volumes. But if you live in the city, then this may be a good option to compare it with a hardwood sawmill.
Being new to woodworking, you should plan a visit to a local hardwood store and plan to spend at least an hour or two looking at everything that is available. Another great resource on where to buy wood for DIY furniture and carpentry is local online woodworking groups. Since I do a considerable amount of carpentry work with old hand tools for woodworking, I like that my boards are as easy to work with as possible. Suppose also that you are a novice carpenter who intends to use the resulting wood in indeterminate carpentry projects.
Probably the best way to find these places is to search the Internet or talk to the local carpentry clubs or the nearest carpentry shop. . .
