Almost invariably, one of the first questions I get asked when people first visit my workshop is ‘where do you buy your timber?’ And whilst there is an element of truth to my standard cringe-worthy dad joke response of ‘from the wood shop’, there are many background factors, standards and colloquialisms in the industry that, once you learn the vernacular, make buying the stock for your projects so much easier.
Whether you’re buying your timber from a large-scale retailer (or even wholesaler, depending on the magnitude of your orders), a local or boutique mill, or even privately through the classifieds or socials, some of these considerations will apply to any board you ever buy. Most of what I’ll be writing about will apply to buying from larger and reputable retailers and suppliers.
I’m not going to cover the details of tendering for logs, the specifics of calculating how much stock you’ll need to buy, or the particulars of buying in strapped packs such as reading tally sheets – the first is outside the scope of this article and the latter two are the subject of another article this issue.
Industry standards and conventions
As a natural, fibrous, non-homogenous substance, we all know that no two boards are ever the same. Accordingly, there are standards and tolerances for the dimensions and assessment of quality by which furniture and joinery timber is sold here in Australia. Having these details memorised or ready at hand when you are
