Speedball Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Stopped by one of our local homestores the other day and was suprised by what they are now selling. Frozen pizzas, bread, canned soups, cake mixes, stuff for the medicine cabinets. What is this world coming to? Everybody wants to be like Meijers and Walmart..sheeeesh.[:|] Yes, I would like some 2'x4's, a sheet of plywood and a gallon of milk please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 The framing crew got hungry................one stop shopping.............EH !!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Lol...lol, .......that crossed my mind. Maybe fire up the customers new oven to bake a pizza so the workmen can eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 The portable mill that can cut your timber on the spot where you cut it, oh that is so much better than a lumber yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Just like the old drive-in movie theaters: They're just about all in splinters! They can't seem to compete with the big box stores. Trio Lumber in Dearborn Heights and M.A. Man's in Trenton are two of the last good ones. There's still a few around but what a shame. Hardware stores, too. There are hardly any real ones around. Most ar just "home centers' that sell cheap junk.We have one chain around here called ACO. All of their so-called "hardware" breaks or rusts if you look at it too long. Give me a real hardware store any day like Al-Wick Ace Hardware in Allen Park or Grand Hardware in Southgate. Now THERE'S a hardware store! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 25, 2007 Moderators Share Posted January 25, 2007 If you think it's hard to find a lumberyard, try finding any decent wood ! For nice exotic wood we have a couple of good places, very expensive though. But for regular building material you really have to pick through it just to find something straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Quality lumber has gone the way of Drive-In theatres, as Picky stated. Our trees are genetically tweaked now so that they grow like the Dickens. Big 'ol growth rings which decreases the stability of the product. We used to have two lumberyards in my itty bitty town years ago. Both are now gone. Thank goodness we still have a old style hardware store. It's been here forever. I do as much buisness as I can there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 I wonder if Riverside Lumber is still around in New Orleans. I bought some cypress there for a bookshelf years ago. Cypress would be a nice layer over MDF for speaker boxes, but it would have to be a 1/2 inch board over the MDF. I don't think cypress veneers well. In the DC area we used to have a regional chain called Hechinger's, it was pretty decent. Then they tried to be all things to all people and start selling stuff to compete with K-mart and Wal-mart . Hechingers went under even before Home Depot came to town. Same thing happened with a Florida chain called Scotty's. If you knew what you wanted you could get in & out quickly. Most of the staff was clueless, but that's OK if the customer knows the store better than they do. Then they started selling a bunch of 3rd world goods that looked a great deal like American brands. Hmmm... There are still a few Scotty's hardware stores around. Around here unless you are a cabinet company, H-D is it. We have a Lowe's but we stopped going there since we were PO'd every time we left. There are a few wholesale lumberyards that cater strictly to local cabinet companies, which are also an endangered species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Last summer I was re-tiling our bathroom. I got to the end which was the slight stepdown from the new floor into the hallway (~3/8"). Now I figured a simple little "ramp" style threshold wood strip would do the trick mathing the Red Oak of the hardwood floor outside the bathroom. Shoooooooooooot; try to find one around here!! There are none. Even the specialty hardwood flooring stores won't even order you one unless you're an installer much less carry one in stock. I had to find a piece of red oak strip and get real creative with a tilting sabre saw.[:^)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Home Depot and Lowes took over the local action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted January 28, 2007 Boom, Riverside lumber was the place I was thinking of, there was 8' of water there, they may be reopened ? There is a guy with a sawmill about 2 miles from here, I have bought some Cypress and Pine from him in the past, cheap. I still have three of the Cypress boards left, have been saving them till I figure out what I want to build with them. The three boards are 1" thick and 14" wide and about 10' long. I have been having that Cypress for about 2 years and it's hard to belive it hasn't cupped being 14" wide or bent in any way. I also have about 12 Mahogany boards 1 1/4" X 8" X 10' will make something nice when I figure out what that " something " is, Mahogany is not easy to come by, or cheap, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Home Depot and Lowes took over the local action. atleast the one in your state are half way decent.... NJ sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Hey dtel, Riverside Lumber's website is still up. www.riversidelumber.com (I think, pasting from Mozilla doesn't work) I am fortunate that I know a boatbuilder locally who is a wood fanatic and stocks all different kinds of wood, including some rare types. He's been kind enough to make me some custom molding in cypress and sold me some very handsome teak that I made into a keyboard stand. He also makes the "half hull' ship models for offices, beuatiful, alas out of my price range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Dtel...another thought...you ever heard of barge boards? The barges that came down the Mississippi from the Ohio Valley to New Orleans in the days before steamboats. Once in New Orleans, most were broken up and sold. Many of those boards wound up in buildings in the Vieux Carre and Marigny. Some of the ones I've seen were amazing, 12 foot long, 16 inches wide and 2 inches thick cypress...not grown like that anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Oh they're grown, at least down south, you just can't get to'em. Cypress is so dense the logs sink instead of float, at least the bald cypress that I know. Houses in east Texas back in the old days were made from local cedar, so insects were never a problem. I have seen cypress flooring for sale, oddly enough it is not a real popular wood, but I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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