Maple for cabinets from HD

[Schleeper]

I'm shopping for maple for my kitchen cabinet project. The local HD stocks 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, and 1x6 S4S boards in assorted lengths. Unless I need something wider for a large drawer front, is there any reason I shouldn't be buying my lumber from them?

Is there a significant price advantage to buying S2S? Would it offset the additional work involved? (Since I don't own a jointer, do I really have a choice?)

[Black wallnut]

The best reason I can think of not to buy your hardwoods at the BORG is the cost. You will likely be able to buy a higher grade of lumber for less money from a real lumber yard.

You can edge joint with a router, a straight edge guide and a guided bit or a template bushing. You can also straight line rip one edge on your table saw with any of several different jigs you can make. Once you have one edge straight and square to the faces you can simply rip to width. Finally you could straight line rip with a sawboard and a circular saw if the stock is wide enought to support your saw board.

[Pappy]

Best reason...I just bought 4/4 'paint grade' soft Maple for $1.77 a bd ft. It is clear enough to be used as face frame material with minimal waste. (Actually a little less with the mailman's discount!)

Check the price of Poplar at the box stores. To see the board foot price divide the price of a 1x6 by half it's length. (8' 1x6 = 4 bd ft)

[poolhound]

You should definitley check out the prices from a local lumber yard first. I agree with the other posters you will most likely get better quality at a cheaper price. Many places will also mill for you. depending on the quantity you need you could always reach out to other local BT3Central members and see if anybody is willing to "lend" you some prep time in their shops.

As an example depending on what width you want, BORG prices for something like poplar can be as high as $4-$5 a bd/ft. I can purchase it at a yard for $1.50.

[drumpriest]

Router jointing tutorial link #5456321 (well, some large number anyway)...

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=27458

I don't have stories as awesome as these guys about getting maple for less than 2$ a board foot, but certainly you can get it cheaper than at Home Depot, and you can certainly get it straighter with a router or a router table, or a table saw and a jig, or a jointer than you would get from Home Depot.

Also, checking out a lumber yard, you'll see a much larger quantity, and can therefore probably pick out nicer pieces than you can find in a box store.

[Schleeper]

Thanks, guys. I knew I must have been missing something. HD gets $3.19/ft. for 1x6 maple, which works out to $6.38/board ft!

Trouble is, the big boxes make it so darn convenient to shop with them. I've got 3 HD's and 2 Lowe's within spitting distance, and the nearest lumber yard with the kind of stock y'all are talking about is at least a half hour drive from here. And it's in Pennsylvania, where I'll have to pay sales tax. (There's no sales tax in Delaware.)

I'd LOVE to hook up with some other BT3Central members in my area, for a lot of reasons. So far, though, I haven't noticed any other posters hailing from The First State.

[cgallery]

Thanks, guys. I knew I must have been missing something. HD gets $3.19/ft. for 1x6 maple, which works out to $6.38/board ft!

I do like the quality of the borg lumber in a pinch. Very little waste, nice and dry. Combined with coupons and factoring in waste, sometimes the price isn't that bad.

[poolhound]

Not sure where in DE you are but a simple map search yields a number of "lumber" companies. these may well only be constructional lumber but its worth a check. It is also worth looking for some local cabinet shops and asking them where they buy their materials.

[rnelson0]

You're probably better off going with S2S. I bought some HD S4S yesterday and it's far from straight edged. You might be able to get S4S and just sand it smooth, but if that's the case why not get S2S and smooth the other two sides with your saw/router?