do you mill your own boards?

[HowardH]

do you enjoy it as part of the process?  I used to - until I found a local hardwood dealer, Brazos Forest Products.  I needed some poplar to build painted Adirondack chairs.  I called them up and they said they could joint and surface 4/4 boards to 13/16 for $1.75 bd/ft!  The big box stores sell the same thing for around $6.50 bd/ft.  I used to buy what I needed at Woodcraft for $2.90, wheel out my noisy, massive dust spewing, Dewalt 735 and then plane away for an hour or two.  I can't afford not to have them do it, considering they have a huge planer that will surface the wood to the degree I need it and I won't fill up my dust collector.  The time savings on my project will be nice as well since I won't have to waste time preparing instead of building.  I don't think I'll be selling my planer and jointer anytime soon but it's nice to know I can call them up and have it ready and waiting for me when I get there.  That's great service!

 

[EcoFurniture]

Small amounts I process in my shop. Anything wider then 12", hardwood and anything that will take more then an hour and new blades will get outsourced. I have a company in town that charges $90/hour for their two sided planer and thickness sander. You would be amazed how much they can do within an hour! Well worth it.

Cheers,
Andreas

 

[HowardH]

I should clarify one thing.  That $1.75 bd/ft for Poplar isn't the extra cost to surface it.  It is the cost of the wood after surfacing.  [big grin]  That is just unbelievably cheap in my book.

 

[Wood_Junkie]

I usually do my own milling/prepping.  But a recent project required several hundred lineal feet of 1x4's of QSRO.  For $0.55 a foot, a lumber shop down the road a ways straight lined both sides and surface planed it to 13/16" (per my request).  Came out great and with one single pass through my own planer and 1 minute of hand sanding (it's just red oak, LOL...) for a face-side cleanup it was ready for routing, staining and finishing.  Prepping all that lumber would've taken me *weeks*.  Well worth the $200 or so.  That was hours and hours and hours I got spend with my family and on other side projects.  [big grin]

I have a big pile of black walnut that's destined for some projects.. I might haul it down there, pay, and haul it back.  ;-)

 

[tbellemare]

Howard:

I live in Austin and BFP is my provider of choice here. I think you hit on something...

Tom

 

[HowardH]

I saw where they are just off of Ben White and 35.  May have stop by on my next trip down to San Antonio!

 

[tbellemare]

Please look me up also, Howard, I'm on the way...

Tom

 

[Frank Pellow]

Yes I do.  Mostly I use my Delta 8 inch jointer and 15 Delta 15 inch planer; but sometimes I make use of my ACM 400 milimetre band saw and even resort to a thin kerf blade on my General 650 table saw.

I quite like milling and the added options that it provides me for sources of wood.  Many of the places that I purchase rough-sawn wood will mill it for you, but it is expensive to have them do so.  

On some large jobs I have considered getting the lumber milled but have not found anywhere that will do it for me at a price that I am willing to pay.  By the way, that is also the case for most work (both woodworking and non-woodworking) that I do.  Sometimes pay for it but seldom have I found quality work available at a good (for me) price.

 

[stvrowe]

I purchase all my wood in the rough (except for secondary woods which I usually order S2S with SLR) and mill it myself.  I do so to get the flatest and straightest boards possible.  I can usually extract thicker pieces from milling myself as well. 
Steve

 

[festooltim]

When doing a big project i prefer buying straight from the saw mill. I have have  bought it just rough or just one edge for cabinets i found it best to get it planned at  13/16 then i can glue up my panels and clean them up in the planner. The mill was usually a little rough on their planer marks so i like to make the final clean up pass. I had a 18 inch Delta planer so hogging down rough board was no problem but the clean up was no fun.

 

[johnsonri]

For me, milling is part of the fun project. My projects are more for leisure/hobby though. If time were money for my projects, I think I'd outsource the larger quantities.

Rey

 

[festooltim]

There is something to be said for making a pile of sawdust and shaping and sanding, its kind of therapeutic just doing something simple with a satisfaction of seeing a result.

 

[BigLou80]

My local mill straight lines all the lumber (at least all the lumber I buy) and has most of it planed to 5/4 or 6/4, thier planer marks are a bit much to sand out so it always get a couple of trips through my planer. The amazing part is I can get 5/4 to make in to 3/4 for less then I can get 3/4 for at the lumber yard.

I was showing them how to use a ts75 to straight line some 2" thick walnut slabs that were to big for thier saw. I convinced them it was a better option then a chain saw.

 

[HowardH]

I was in Lowes today and was cruising around their lumber area.  They have s4s poplar for the equivalent of $4.10 bd/ft.  I wonder if I showed them my receipt for Brazos Forest Lumber for the same thing at $1.75 if they would match the price?  Have you ever tried?