MIMF

by **Ido Oz** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:09 am

Hello dear friends,
Im looking for a lumber supplier who will sell me curly and quilted lumber so I can cut from it 18.5"x8"x1/2" (47x20x1.25cm) boards for tops. Does anybody knows a supplier in the US or Europe that will sell me this lumber in a reasonable price? (And I dont mean pre-cut expensive tops like those StewMac and Northridge sell.)

Thank you and have a great weekend.

by **Larry Davis** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:27 am

Good luck with that. The expectation of buying high quality, expensive figured maple on the cheap is not realistic. Suppliers and vendors of this are not ignorant.

by **Daryl Kosinski** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:45 am

Look up local hobby sawmill owners. Go for a visit and tell them what your looking for. Most hobby mill operators love to talk about and supply wood to other hobby or pro builders.

I once asked if he had any quarter sawn spruce. He said no but I have a big log I haven't sawn yet. He handed me a marker and said draw on the end of the log how you want it cut, I did and a week or two later he called and said I have your log. I picked up the entire log worth of lumber for 50 cents a board foot. That was 25 years ago so it may cost a little more now.

At another sawmill a couple of years ago I was buying mill run walnut. There was a pile of fiddle back maple there he threw in a half dozen boards no charge because I bought a lot of walnut and he was moving/retiring and wanted to clear out his shed,

by **Randolph Rhett** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:23 am

I would think it depends on where you live. I’m not even sure if you are in the US, Canada, Western Europe or some place like Dubai or Singapore.

Raw lumber doesn’t ship well in small quantities. If you don’t want to pay Stewmac prices you will have to go to a sawmill or lumber yard. In the US there are lumber yards local to most urban centers. For example, I live in the San Diego, California area. There are three lumber yards I can think of that carry furniture grade lumber. I can usually find Maple, Spruce, Mahogany, Walnut, etc. This is scrub land desert so none of these species grow here. It is not always easy to find nicely figured wood, so I buy a stick or two whenever I see it. Also, Rosewood and Ebony have practically disappeared. I don’t know what I am going to do when my current supply runs out. I desperately need to find a reliable and cost effective alternative.

I assume if I can find Maple in San Diego, as far from the source and still in the CONUS as possible, it should be available in any urban center. If you are in Samoa, I have no idea where you would get it.

by **Bob Gramann** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:29 am

My curly maple bindings come from Home Depot. Their hardwoods are always flatsawn. Occasionally, in the maple rack, there’s a curly piece. It’s the same price as all of the other pieces.

by **Brian Evans** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:02 pm

https://www.woodtoworks.com/Flame-Figure-tops_c_22.html

I buy most of my guitar specialty wood from them. Always satisfied, and they tend to send me sample side sets of figured maple for free, they use pieces of rosewood big enough for three or four headstocks as packing stiffeners, etc... Prices are in Canadian $.

Brian

by **Gordon Bellerose** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:58 pm

The above post has the web site for the supplier I use also.
Bow River Woods from Chilliwack B.C. Canada.
Always satisfied by their offerings.

by **Bob Howell** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:48 pm

curlymaple.com

might have what you want.

by **Matthew Lau** » Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:04 pm

You might ask John at Old World Tonewood.

If his maple is anything like his spruce, it will be spectacular.

by **David King** » Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:57 pm

If you are willing to take a chance I've seen occasional good deals on eBay. You really have to study the photos and ask questions. Often the wood is too wet to build with so you need to have the facilities to resaw it and sticker it to keep it from staining or warping, checking, honeycombing etc. Ideally you want to start a long term working relationship with a reliable supplier and slowly work your way to the top of their call list. That can take a long time and cost you an investment. The quilted maple market is quite different from what it used to be because everyone with a log now knows they can sell it directly to the end user for many times what they would have gotten from a broker or large mill. The days of $50 billets are long gone because there is always some rube willing to pay $450 or more.