Specialty Lumber Sources
There is a great source of lumber that a lot of woodworkers, hobbyists, interior designers and architects aren't aware of or don't use: the small specialty hardwood lumber supplier. They often sell on the web to local craftspersons, using photo inventories and descriptions to show their stock nationally. The internet has drastic enlarged the possibilities of what woods are available, enhancing design prospects. These smaller suppliers, often family businesses, will sometimes specialize in large, thick, figured, unusual wood species because supply and demand for these woods are far more profitable.
Some of the advantages of dealing with small companies are more personal service and finding something unusual and quite outstanding for your client. The major difficutly seems to be the lack of consistent dryness of the wood offered. Sometimes being sold as kiln dried or air dried for many years and ready for use, when if fact often the slabs are far from dry, which can lead to serious problems. An industrial measure meter able to probe at least 1-1/2" into the interior of the wood is a necessity. A craftsperson needs to know what is acceptable for a given project and how to dry the material, if necessary. Also, wood that is dried too quickly or with too much heat can have collapsed grain on the inside of the slab that doesn't show from the surface. This collapsed grain can come to the surface months or even years later in the form of small checks to large cracks destroying an otherwise well-made project. Again, experience is key.
These smaller suppliers are scattered all over the United States, with many located in areas where the lumber they are supplying is grown and they own their own saw mills. I have found them in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire, just to name a few. I have also found them in urban areas where they don't cut their own logs, but have connections around the world in places such as Mexico, Central and South American, the United States, Africa, Tasmania, etc. They can have large selections of wood species with many varieties in thickness and size.
The main advantage in working with the small supplier is because of the personal nature of the business. They know where every piece of wood in their inventory originated, selecting and removing an individual tree, and having little impact around that tree unlike large forest operations that install large roads and clear cut whole areas of forest.
The small supplier is choosing his woods carefully to provide the best product for his customers, thereby giving the craftsperson the best possible service around.
