Local:
Bowery Building Supplies- 55 Bond St New York, NY (212) 505-0022 - between Lafayette and 3rd. The closest place to ITP for lumber.
Metropolitan Lumber
(212) 966-3466 175 Spring St
Homefront Hardware & Lumber - open 24 hours and they will cut wood for you.
(212) 545-1447 202 E 29th St, at the corner of 3rd Ave. (6 train to 33rd)
Home Depot (locations in Queens and Brooklyn for lumber - the Manhattan stores don't sell lumber) carries constuction grade and furniture grade pine as well as some hardwoods including red oak and in some stores, aspen, and maple. They also carry a variety of plywoods; construction grade pine as well as cabinet grade birch, and luaun. The big advantage to the big home centers like Home Depot and Lowes is that you can pick through the boards to find the better ones if you know what to look for.
Lowes in 118 2nd Ave - Brooklyn NY, 11215 (718) 832-5549, carries lumber.
Dimension Lumber - the closest source for quality rough sawn hardwood lumber (ITP has a planer/jointer for smoothing rough lumber). After describing the approximate dimensions of the boards you would like to purchase, a forklift driver will pull out a stack of boards and bring it to you. You'll be able to select the boards you want. Even though they're rough cut, look them over with a sharp eye to grain type, cupping, knots, splitting, warping, and dimension. Always carry a measuring tape. The boards will be measured with a hooked lumber board rule and a quick calculation of the board/ft vol. (1 board/ft. = 1"x12"x12") will be made and your cost will be the vol. x the board/ft. price of that grade and type of wood. Dimension will also do the planing as well as mill work for a price. 517 Stagg Street; Brooklyn, NY 11237 (718) 497-7585
Rosenzweig Lumber - 801 E 135th St Bronx, NY 10454 (718) 585-8050 the tops for rough sawn hardwood boards sold by the board/ft. You need to know what you're looking for when you go to Rosenzweig and how to ask for it, then you'll be able to pick from the huge array of quality hardwood (and some softwoods too). Pick up an "I (heart) wood" bumper sticker there. 801 E 135th St Bronx, NY 10454 (718) 585-8050
Reuse/Recycle - There's a great deal of free wood on NYC streets especially on large garbage night. Some past street finds: maple butcher block, wide antique pine boards, and high quality lumber-core plywood. Caution used lumber nearly always contains metal fasteners such as screws and nails, and inevitably there is one that remains well hidden until it is hit by the teeth of your power saw - sparks fly and the blade is nicked or chipped or worse yet, it sends something flying that can cause injury. Never put used lumber through the saws or the planer/jointer
Build it Green BIG/NYC - 3-17 26th Ave. at the corner of 4th St., Astoria, Queens (718) 777-0132 A warehouse full of recycled building materials of all kinds for sale at low prices in Astoria, Queens north of Roosevelt Is. and Socrates Sculpture Park. A hit or miss place to go browse for ideas - some unusual things like electrical fittings of use only to Con Ed.
Woodworking Tools:
Home Depot - Good for the basics, but before picking out a power tool here, be sure to check online for comparative ratings and prices for the kind of tool you need.
Garret Wade, Soho, 161 Ave of the Americas just above Spring St. 2nd floor A tool boutique with a combination of European, American, and Japanese tools aimed at the high-end weekend woodworker. It's also a convenient source for some hard to find items like Japanese saw blades and high quality wood finishes like pure Tung Oil. Watch for occasional sales.
The Japan Woodworker - Alameda, Ca. - great source for all kinds of quality tools at reasonable prices but also includes some of the world's most beautiful (and costly) handmade Japanese tools.
Tools For Working Wood - 27 West 20th Street Suite 507 - New York, NY 10011 - This New York City woodworking tool supplier has an informative site.
Online:
Fine Woods and Wood Finishing
Constantine’s - wood and woodworking supplies
Garret Wade - dye, shellac, oil, varnish
The instrument makers supply companies below carry small pieces of high quality woods and other items that are sometimes useful for ITP projects;
Milburn Guitars - wood finishing, instrument building
Stew Mac - wood finishing, instrument building
Luthiers Mercantile - wood finishing, instrument building
Exotic Woods - special woods primarily for making instruments
Milburn Guitars - french polishing tutorial
| Woodworking Tips
How to select a good board:
- Sight down the board along the edge and along the flat. A slight curve along the edge is acceptable provided it is not a compound curve. If the board curves when you sight down the length across the flat face - avoid. it will take extra work to straighten it with a plane or saw and you'll lose some of the board's width in the process. Avoid especially boards that twist from end to end.
- Look at the end of the board. Is it flat or does it curve or "cup"? Avoid "cupped" boards.
- Look at the grain at the end of the board. Does the grain go the long way across the end of the board "flat sawn" or does it run the short way from one face of the board to the other "quarter sawn". Flat sawn is common and less desirable, quarter sawn lumber, which can be hard to find, tends to be tougher and straighter and more dimensionally stable - quality wood flooring is usually quarter sawn.
- Look for splits, and signs of dry rot or excessive sap in softwoods. Small knots don't compromise the strength of the wood much but they may not be right esthetically for a given project and can cause problems in planing and sanding (knots are harder than the surrounding wood and tend to stand out when sanded - they can also cause problems with wood finishes since they are darker in color, less absorbent than the surrounding wood, and sometimes ooze sap).
Woodworking Basics - choosing wood, tool basics
Woodworker.com - techniques for sanding, finishing
The Wood Box has good information and help
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