MrGreg

I'm just getting started with woodworking as a hobby. I recently came across a warehouse full of african hardwood that is being sold for $1/board foot. For comparison, normal prices on this would be $5-$12/board foot.

I just paid about $1000 for what I would call ~$7000 worth of beautiful african cherry. Now my shop's full and I've got plenty of wood for several years worth of projects!!

(For anybody interested, this is around Portland, OR. PM me for details)

johnnymk

Wow, that is really amazing. Is that the actual name of the wood? What kind of grain does it have? Similar to oak or something else?

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MrGreg

I actually got 4 types of wood.

Makore (aka African Cherry) - very tight grain, looks a lot like white oak, some has spaulting

Olonvogo - yellow/tan color, has a ton of spaulting

Limbali - open grain, has a rich chocolate color

Aiele - light brown and/or pinkish in color

I've run samples of the first 3 through my planer and they are very pretty.

Their inventory and contact info is posted here:

http://www.mrgreg.org/files/inventory%20summary.pdf

All rough sawn, 8/4, pretty strait, mostly clear. I didn't see a single knot in the entire warehouse. The place is going out of business and needs to sell
everything by end of month. Everything is $1/bf. Minimum order was
250 bf.

guiseppewv

What quality is the wood? Veneer?

Hopper1

Sounds like a roadtrip to Portland is in the works.

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ialsohaveadream

I WANT SOME! Do they ship? I was considering doing Pergo in my bedroom, but if I could get nice hardwood for just as cheap, that's my kind of deal!

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MrGreg

Keep in mind this is all rough sawn, so you'll want to have access to a jointer and planer. And no, you can't use mine

ialsohaveadream

My dad does construction, so I have access to pretty much any tool.

Again, I ask...do they ship? I wonder how much ground shipping would cost on 400 square feet of hardwood.

MrGreg

I'm guessing a lot, and I'm pretty sure they aren't set up to ship. If you want to know for sure, call them. The phone number is on the inventory I linked to above.

zippyjuan

My uncle did that- he gets a hold of wood from shipping crates at a factory and milled and routed it to make a beautiful floor. He is also a wood carver (extrememly good too- animals and birds mostly). He also burns a lot of it for heating and cooking. Hard woods are more difficult to carve. They just want to get rid of the stuff so they don't mind that he takes it. I love the texture of wood and recently put in Pergo (condo rules won't allow actual wood floors on upper level units because of possible noise in the unit below).

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BrewMaster

i have real hardwood in my house and it is not all it's cracked up to be. for durability and maintenance, i'd rather have Pergo. hardwood, despite the name, still dents when you drop a pan by accident on it. Pergo, in my experience, is a bit more dent and scratch resistant. my parents have Pergo that is about 8 years old in their place it still looks brand new.

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oblongmelon

Hardwood is great! Especially old hardwood, like 100 year old chestnut and mahogany. Don't forget, it's livability is what creates character-and for floors, pillars, railings and decorative mouldings made out of these woods to look as good now as they did 100 years ago when first installed, then you can be sure that you've invested in some good quality cuts and workmanship. How long is pergo guaranteed for anyway?
(and trust me, I've dropped a hell of alot of cast iron on my hardwood and have yet to even scratch the surface)

johnnymk

Do you realize how much work it would be first to make sure it's straight, then to make it the correct width? Then you have to router each piece for tongue and groove, then after installing it, it has to be machine sanded and sealed numerous times.

Plus the cost of shipping from Oregon would probably be very expensive.

ialsohaveadream

I was kinda hoping it would be like iFloors.com, where you can have it shipped to one of their local warehouses, and then pick it up for no shipping cost. I'm optimistic like that.

And yes, I realize that work that goes into hardwood flooring.