Hi All!
Does anyone have any suggestions on where I could buy some maple or cherry? I want to make a piece for my brother for a Christmas gift and I ran out of PG wood. I ordered from the GF store on Friday but I don’t have any tracking numbers yet and I doubt they’ll be here by Friday. Any suggestions would be very welcome!
I’m not sure where to look other than the Lowes/Home Depot route as I don’t have any good wood resources in my area. I don’t think they carry Cherry or Maple though. Maybe check for some cabinet makers in your area?
I’d mail ya some, but I just looked and I only have about two small sheets of each left and that’s probably not enough for ya. (Shoot, didn’t realize I was so low!) :-/ If that’s all you need I could put a few in the mail for you and you could just pay me back whenever. Of course, if you’re across the country it might not make it in time anyway. I’m in CA.
If it doesn’t have to be cherry or maple, you can find rather thick (unfortunately) natural basswood plaques at stores like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. (You might have to engrave without the tray, which is a bit of a bother, but we have a tutorial for it in the Matrix.)
Jules has a good suggestion. Hobby Lobby has a lot of wood products and you might find something. If you get desperate, check out their home decor plaques/signs too that can be had for 40% off. I’ve taken a few of their pre-made signs, sanded off the paint and reused the wood. Most of them are cheaply made and they’re pretty easy to deconstruct to re-purpose the wood.
In the unlikely event that you are in Ottawa, Ontario, the two places to go would be The Wood Source or KJP Select Hardwood.
Wherever you are, there’s probably a store that’s similar. Try googling for “lumber (your city)” or “hardwood lumber (your city)”. At least here, the specialty lumber places have wood that’s about half the price of Home Depot and is better quality with more selection.
Woodcraft or Rockler might have wood that is planed on both sides that might fit the bill. Maple and Cherry are certainly two that they may have in larger stock. If you are in the Seattle area you may try Compton lumber. They should have Maple and Cherry plywood or dimensional lumber in the premium section.
I have lived all over the in the past 18 years and have found a quick search on google using keywords like specialty hardwood near me or the type of wood you want near me will typically find what you need. I am attaching an example picture of a site I found in my local area (Virginia Beach/Norfolk area) and most of the wording on their site is the same as any other specialty lumber yard:
I don’t know if there’s something posted but I think it would be cool to make a map of all Glowforge users. No street address, just general local/city. Which we could all laser cut!!!
