The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING

BUYING WOOD, AND TRADE TERMS Notes on buying wood

Buyers of waney/wane edge timber in small quantities direct from the saw-mill or timber - merchant or dealer must expect to pay considerably more per foot than buyers of complete logs of any one variety. Moreover, they cannot assume the right to pick and choose invidividual planks, but must be prepared to accept them 'as they rise' from the pile. However, most co-operative merchants will allow selection, particularly to known customers, although they must necessarily charge higher prices. Imported square edge timber is stacked according to thickness; the planks may be from different logs but the quality is usually fairly consistent throughout the pile, and therefore it is reasonably safe to buy 'as they rise' and only pay extra for small quantities. Wide, flat sawn boards are usually obtainable in home-grown and some African woods, but as they are cut from the centre of the tree, pith defects and pronounced cupping must be expected. Quartered wood can sometimes be obtained in fairly wide boards, particularly in English oak, but are obviously more expensive. Wide boards in teak, Honduras mahogany and other valuable woods are unfortunately now almost unobtainable owing to past over­exploitation; any such extra wide or long boards and planks command considerably higher prices. A fair average specification for teak and Honduras mahogany is now about 8 in (200 mm) wide and 8 ft (2.4 m) long, but African woods have not yet been over-exploited, and greater widths and lengths are commonly available. In ordering teak it is more economical to give the timber-merchant exact descriptions of the minimum widths, thick­nesses and lengths required so that he can pick the nearest. Assuming that planks 8 in (200 mm) wide and 7 ft (2.1 m) long will suffice, then he may be able to supply widths of 81/4 in (210 mm) and lengths of 7 ft 3 in (2.2 m), thus saving valuable timber. Thicknesses are usually very full indeed, but only charged for at the nominal grading.