Ordering Hardwood Online?

[quadrcr87]

I am looking for some wood for a computer monitor stand and the options at Home Depot, Lowes & Menards are limited. What they do have in stock is damaged and warped. Any suggestions on where to order online?

The finished dimension of the top I am making will be 30" x 11.5" x 3/4"
I am looking at Walnut or Maple. I am open to other hardwood suggestions as well. I plan to finish it dark with an ebony stain and poly.

I don't have a planer or joiner so I am looking for a dimensioned board 12" wide ready to cut to length. I prefer not to glue up thinner pieces. I can then router a bevel on the edge.

Thanks

 

[dogdog]

are you just building a shelf to stand up the monitor(s)... ?

I have used the soft wood stair case steps for that... $14.99 and stainless steel legs from Ikea. came out nice. stain (light walnut color for the soft pine) and 3 coat of poly, buffed and buffed shinny. But the steps is 1" thick though not 3/4". It have the Oak Hard wood ones also but those cost $50 each.

This is what I used. I make it long enough to fit 2x 27" monitor. which is 40"-ish...


https://www.homedepot.com/p/48-in-x-11-1-2-in-Unfinished-Pine-Stair-Tread-8503E-048-HD00L/202087175

This one if you wanted to be lavish and spendy... price went down now to $28 (normal pre-pandamic price)

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stairte...ilder-Grade-Red-Oak-Tread-BTROC1142/202185478

These are the legs, pretty sure you can turn one your self or make one from scratch...

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/capita-leg-stainless-steel-60263574/

 

[quadrcr87]

The stair tread is a good idea that I had not thought of. Looks like the pine one has a core and veneer instead of being solid. The oak may work if I like the color with the dark stain.

I am planning to make a monitor stand similar to this one from Grovemade for alot less that $220.

https://grovemade.com/product/wood-desk-shelf/?initial=342

 

[alinc100]

try this first. It should pull up some options when you input your zip code. You will be looking for s4s wood . Surfaced 4 sides https://www.woodfinder.com/

 

[dogdog]

The stair tread is a good idea that I had not thought of. Looks like the pine one has a core and veneer instead of being solid. The oak may work if I like the color with the dark stain.

I am planning to make a monitor stand similar to this one from Grovemade for alot less that $220.

https://grovemade.com/product/wood-desk-shelf/?initial=342

the pine, you won't notice it once you stain, poly and buff it, it is sand-able with 120 grit (at least that is what I used). and will be strong enough even if you stand on top of it.... It look just like the one in the pic you linked except the board is thicker. I mean color wise it looks shinny and like walnut, but wood grain and pattern it is not.. it is not bad visually at all..

all tools really used was a circular saw, straight edge, table saw if you don't like the round nose, and a sander, buffer. simple tools...

If you want cheaper pre-build... Amazon have a similar version the top is build with bamboo instead of walnut, otherwise it looked exactly like the groovemade one, that one was $79.99. I just like DIY better that is all even if it is more work and uglier.

I'll see if I can take some pic, lost my original build pics when phone died....

 

[dogdog]

this one is from amazon... if building is not your thing.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8NHR8N/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[MoonRise]

Good call on using a stair tread Dog. Also good find on the Office Oasis stand on Amazon.

Possible source of lumber:

https://www.walllumber.com/

Figure out WHAT wood you want to use and go from there.

Maple is fine. Walnut is fine. Oak is fine.

They are all different though. Different grain patterns.

Staining some pale maple with ebony stain? Sure you can do that.

But if you are just going to put a really dark stain on a piece of wood that you aren't really going to be looking at the grain of in the first place, why not use a less expensive softwood like maybe poplar? Pine is fine, but more expensive than poplar and can be rather blotchy to stain (you REALLY need to use pre-stain conditioner with pine to get a more even stain result).

Or use some 'furniture grade' plywood? Usually a little more stable than solid woods, you can dress up the exposed edge with veneer banding or solid banding if you want to. Actual Baltic birch plywood (note: thickness is dimensioned in metric and comes in 5'x5' sheets) is kind of nice for lots of projects and the pretty uniform core bands can often be left as-is.

Lots of choices. Softwood, hardwood, grass (bamboo ), plywood of various types and construction.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Indiana?
There should be lots of places near you where you can buy a piece of walnut, cherry, oak, etc.

 

[matt_i]

If you find a millworks (not sure exactly where near you) they can probably prepare a glued up piece to your specifications and surface it to size.

I recall going to one in MI and the brothers who ran it had waxed paper all over and glued up thick and thin panels at the end of the day. Presumably the glue cured overnight and they surfaced the panels the next day - wide belt sander.

There's a price to be paid for having the work done for you, but you did want a panel ready-to-go.

 

[dogdog]

This is how the stand looks from that pine stair tread after it was stained then poly 3 or 4 coat and then sand and buffed ....

The round bull-nose edge I saw off then used a round-over bit to curve it a little to resist damage better. even though it's sort of a laminate board it's not that bad, I don't even have to use edge banding on it.

Legs you can get from ikea or zoro or what not supply store... I just google for stainless steel legs.

 

[BigMike782]

Long ago I found a nice small table(telephone stand for those old enough to remember) with the top all chewed up. I made a top from a piece of baltic/russian/finnish birch plywood and iron on maple veneer. Top coated with water base poly and it looked terrific.
Other options are FB market place and find a guy with a band mill and a planer, real lumberyard, WoodCraft/Johnsons Work Bench/Rockler type store or a sheet good reseller.
Kapers Building Materials in Demotte.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Indiana?
There should be lots of places near you where you can buy a piece of walnut, cherry, oak, etc.

So when did IN replant trees ? All I ever see when driving through is CORN !

The northern part of MI is still pretty heavily forested. Some has not been logged in over 100 years. Most of it is softwood, but there is some maple and red oak mixed in.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If you find a millworks (not sure exactly where near you) they can probably prepare a glued up piece to your specifications and surface it to size.

I recall going to one in MI ...

Armstrong Millworks ? M59 a couple miles east of US23.

 

[quadrcr87]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I received some help when a GJ member named Mike reached out to me. He had a nice 8’ 1x10 piece of walnut that we ran through his planer tonight. Now I just need to finish up my plans and build the stand. I’ll document the build in my projects thread if you want to follow along.

 

[BigMike782]

If you have other woodworking plans let me know. I have a customer/friend that has a band mill, kiln and planer. He has enough lumber cut to last the most voracious woodworker a couple of lifetimes.
We are about an hour away from one another but I believe you would like Marks stash.

 

[dogdog]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I received some help when a GJ member named Mike reached out to me. He had a nice 8’ 1x10 piece of walnut that we ran through his planer tonight. Now I just need to finish up my plans and build the stand. I’ll document the build in my projects thread if you want to follow along.

post the link, would be interested

 

[matt_i]

Armstrong Millworks ? M59 a couple miles east of US23.

There it is!

 

[quadrcr87]

post the link, would be interested

The link to my project thread is in my signature. It may be a couple of weeks before I get to the monitor stand. I just ordered a no.5 jack plane tonight to finish cleaning up the edges.