Flooring as WW Material

[jackellis]

I am just finishing up some drawers made from oak flooring I bought for 50 cents per square foot. Glueing up panels for the deeper drawers is getting easier and faster with practice and I like the fact that the wood is mostly flat.

Local prices for rough hardwood lumber are pretty high around here. I have a stash I've bought relatively cheaply but I'm also thinking about other supply sources. Lumber Liquidators has unfinished, 5" wide "utility grade" flooring for under $1/board foot. I'm thinking that would make nice, relatively affordable stock for certain kinds of projects, even if I have to throw half of it away because it has knots and other imperfections.

So what am I missing here?

[JR]

It is sound logic as far as I'm concerned. Remember the Lumber Liquidator "woodworker special" a couple of years ago. A lot of people got a flat of odds and ends for dirt cheap. Most had to cull out half or more to get to the good stuff, but still reported it as a good deal.

JR

[jackellis]

I meant to put this in the Project-Related Discussions Forum. Sorry.

[sondich]

flooring vs. lumber

A couple of things to keep in mind: flooring, especially a lower utility grade, will probably give you a lot of short pieces from 1 1/2-4' in length whereas hardwood boards are usually 8'+ in length. Flooring widths will be fixed, which may or may not be a good thing. Also, flooring grades are usually proprietary, so the manufacturer can decide what can go into a "utility" grade, unlike hardwood lumber which has a uniform grading system (FAS, sel/btr, #1C, etc). Flooring manufacturers are production based, so I've seen them use very nice stock to fill lower grade orders and sometimes push the grade to fill upper grade orders out of lesser stock.

If possible, break the bands and take a close look at it before you buy it. It may make your decision a lot easier.

Buying flooring may provide savings if you have a specific project in mind and you're sure the flooring specs are a good match, but I'd be cautious about buying it for stock if you're unsure what you're going to use it for.

Good luck.

[lakkdainen]

Most of the cheap wood flooring I've seen, and personally used, is far from the straightest lumber you'll see. For flooring that doesn't matter though as you're using a stapler fired by a hammer to straighten it out as you install it.

Another thing to think of is thickness... after planing down the underneath (usually has waves/ridges) , you'll probably be well under the normal 3/4" you could easily get from 4/4 lumber.

All that said, like you, I've been tempted to buy some for general WW use.