Guest PoonTangRat Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hi I'm looking for a good piece of Alder or Swamp Ash and am trying to find an online retailer through which to buy this from UK or Europe. Any information/links will be useful even if its just a link to a similar post. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Online retailer simply ain't gonna happen. Most timber/tonewood suppliers are far too small and busy to maintain an online inventory for stock which fluctuates depending on the sign of the moon... You need to pick up a phone and make some calls. David Dyke will probably have something to fit the bill, and Touchstone tonewoods and Craft supplies are worth a try. Google will get you contact numbers and the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PoonTangRat Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Yeh OK thanks for the info. I was expecting to have to do that anyway and I can get the numbers of places pretty easily I just wondered about price ranges. But I'll give those people a ring aswell thanks mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PoonTangRat Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 As a kind of reply to myself that will hopefully help others, I have found an excellent place to go to buy lumber in the UK. Infact funnily enough it was only 15 minutes drive my house! Its a sawmill linked with the Forestry Commission near Winchester in Hampshire. They have a large drying shed where I arrived expecting to find a few pieces of wood but turned out to be spoilt for choice and spent an hour just choosing which type of wood to use. Another advantage of this place is its staff, incredibly helpful and genuinely interested in your needs. Finally I was pleasantly suprised with the cost, I arrived expecting to spend £50 on a piece of wood just big enough to fit my design on but left with a beautiful piece of English Ash measuring 2" x 17" x 48" for just 17 of my hard earned english pounds. and my colleague got a lovely oddly shaped piece of oak at 12" wide and at least 6 feet long for just £25!!. Anybody looking to buy wood in the UK I would highly reccommend you visit or at least contact this place. Lecture and Praise over The Timber Mill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 my main concern with that supplier is: "The timber retrieved from our forestry activities is brought to our sawmill in Mottisfont where it is loaded onto the bandsaw and milled for our customers orders or stored in our drying sheds for future use." How dry & stable is the timber? You'll often find that timber is kiln dried &/or stored for several years at XX temp & XX humidity. They don't seem to specify any of that on the site. Maybe I'm being overly cautious but I'd recommend storing the timber indoors for a few months to acclimatise, cut it to size & leave it for a few more just to see whether it warps or checks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Wood doesn't need storing at XX temp and XX humidity. Cycling the stuff is good. Also, very, very, very few (read: practically no) wood dealers store wood for X number of years before selling it. If you want to know moisture content, get a humidity meter. Even klin drying per se is no guarantee. I store wood in uncontrolled conditions for long periods, then in controlled conditions for a few months (3 at least, usually) before actually using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PoonTangRat Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 my main concern with that supplier is: "The timber retrieved from our forestry activities is brought to our sawmill in Mottisfont where it is loaded onto the bandsaw and milled for our customers orders or stored in our drying sheds for future use." How dry & stable is the timber? You'll often find that timber is kiln dried &/or stored for several years at XX temp & XX humidity. They don't seem to specify any of that on the site. Maybe I'm being overly cautious but I'd recommend storing the timber indoors for a few months to acclimatise, cut it to size & leave it for a few more just to see whether it warps or checks. Well some of the guys working there have been there for 60 years so I think they probably know what they are doing by now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Well some of the guys working there have been there for 60 years so I think they probably know what they are doing by now! If you paid £17 for 0.944 cubic ft of ash (that's from your dimensions), looking at the price list on their website shows that you bought green wood. If generally accepted convention is to be followed (by guys from far longer ago than 60 years), then you'll need to leave that for 2 years to dry out properly to the point where it'll be stable for guitar building use. That's why proper instrument blanks cost more - the drying of the wood takes time, and therefore adds value, and therefore price to the wood. You've got enthusiasm, but maybe before you start getting all smart-ass towards helpful advice, you need to understand that things like guitar building can require different standards of material than standard joinery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Fine cabinetmaking requires the same kind of 'dryness' from wood as guitarmaking does; always, always ask your wood supplier when it was cut, when they got it delivered, how it's been dried, and how long its been drying. At least, if you plan to use it within the next 2 years. And then still wait a while before using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Yep, sounds like you've got green wood. That'll need at least 2 years to airdry, plus a few months stored in a stable, indoor environment to stabilise. You need to get the end grain surfaces sealed with wax or latex paint ASAP or you'll loose a lot of the length to checking. You should also be prepared to loose some thickness as the wood will likely shift a fair deal as it dries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Well some of the guys working there have been there for 60 years so I think they probably know what they are doing by now! haha....I worked in a clothing factory for about a year between jobs...they made clothes for one of the high street's biggest chains, Arcadia. Some of the people there, mostly women had been sewing, pressing, cutting material for many, many years & I can assure you that they didn't know much about fashion eg. http://www.minitex.ee/old/Images/risew.jpg also, "buy cheap, buy twice" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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