Where the hell do you buy wood that isn't bowed
If it's super important, I usually pick through until I find the straightest wood I can. Some places will have pre-picked over lumber where you can pay a little extra to get mostly straight wood without having to sift through the whole pile.
Lumber yard.
>>1001441
This.
Also, I am pretty sure if you go to a proper lumberyard, instead of Home Depot, you can find wood of higher grade (ie select structural or grade 1 instead of stud quality)
I'm not positive that those would be less likely to be bowed, but certainly they wouldn't be any worse. They'll definitely have fewer knots and other imperfections though.
>>1001439
Not home depot, or anywhere else you can't drive up to the Lumber pile.
Warping is due to where in the log the wood is cut from. Cuts from the centre of the log will warp the least, laminated beams won't warp much either, but these will be more expensive.
>>1001465
Wood isn't magically better because you can drive up close to the wood. I have better luck at Menards than most places, and they keep the nicer stuff indoors.
>>1001513
>Menards
Good lord, I miss Menards. I used to go there with my dad all the time when we didn't really have Lowe's or Home Depot anywhere nearby.
KILN DRIED
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>>1001439
I don't know where you found that trash in that pic, but in my amature experience, you can typically pick through the pile of 2x4s at any hardware store, and find 2-3 that are "straight enough". But I'm pretty sure not even Ace Hardware would sell lumber as warped as OP's pic.
>>1001439
It's hard to find suppliers that will consistently supply straight lumber your best bet is a saw mill.
The problem is moisture. I bet that if you look, lighter weight boards will be bent & the heavy weight boards will be more straight.
Bought a bunch of boards, nice heavy ones that were mostly straight, in about a week they dried out and bowed beyond use. to the point that they couldn't even be milled straight.
Kiln dried is what you need if you want them straight
>>1001599
Ace hardware is notorious for delivering shit like that in my region.
>>1001613
Leaving them in the sun doesn't help either
Had mine in a cool basement in the winter months and out of the sunlight.
Being in the sun will speed the drying up, but it will still bend out of direct sunlight too.
>>1001439
Rough lumber isnt straight
You buy a jointer and a planer, or you pay 5x the price for preplaned and sanded wood.
>>1001439
It's often better to buy 2x8's or 2x10's and cut them down to 2x4, the wood in the 2x8 or 2x10 is often better grade and almost always straighter too.
Kent Building Supplies
>>1001439
Somewhere that isn't Home Depot or Lowes.
a real lumberyard not homedepot
>>1001441
One does not simply 'buy' straight lumber.
>>1001521
Same. Then I moved to Florida :-(
The best way to do it is going from rough. A jointer-planer makes a WORLD of difference but I know they're pricey, its just much easier taking a board that's already been thoroughly dried, working it down to final size, assembling and finishing in one place. Pre-finished have a nasty tendency to not be exactly square when you buy them anyway, but also be aware that if you crosscut them you've exposed unfinished endgrains and an environment change will effect that board overnight.
Back in the day they would let wood season before it was milled. If you can use reclaimed wood from some older (50yrs +) building demo you'll see how much straighter it is.
I grabbed a bunch of 2xs from a demo job we were doing and brought them to a carpenter friend building a 40ft bar for our clubhouse. He had never seen boards so straight in his life.
>>1001466
ust to add to this. wood that is quartersawn won't bow or warp too much either, but that only gets done usually to higher quality wood. Cheap garbage form home despot or similar places just care about getting the most usable board feet from a log rather than quality.
>>1001439
You buy oversized (but thoroughly dry) lumber, then have it planed to the desired thickness … and pray it doesn't warp again. This is an expensive solution.
The alternative is to buy your lumber from a truss plant, because they usually have to get a better grade, to solve/prevent this exact problem.
>>1003225
So, going by your pic,
rift>quater>plain
sacrificing volume for quality?
>>1001513
>Wood isn't magically better because you can drive up close to the wood.
>...and they keep the nicer stuff indoors.
>>>/wsg/1114100
So Menards has good wood indoors? Well then you can't drive up close to it, can you?!
>>1001513
They also stand it on edge and lean it back which doesn't help trying to prevent bowing.
>>1001439
>go into home depot
>go to wood section
>find skids with pine plank bundles
>throw off all lumber on sides and on top
>harvest the laser straight timber from the meaty inside
>?
>profit
also, by pressure treated
>>1003309
Read that again, m8.
what's the best planer / joiner out there?
>somewhat thread related
>>1001439
At any timber yard? Didn't you pick through the stack to get the good stuff?
And it's a living product, you are going to have to accept that when you buy cheap timber, you get bent timber.
>>1003631
The one you can afford
>2k11+5
>Not using LVL or Glulam for everything.
U fags need to git gud.
>>1003631
Stanley #4
>>1001439
Go to your local lumber provider and get quarter cut white oak. I build all my furniture out of it and haven't had any problems.
>>1001521
Same, but we only have a Menards and Lowes here, and Lowes doesn't really sell any lumber other than 2x4s. Sucks hard.
>>1001439
Legend has it that Out West, you can get lumber straight and fair. Those of us living in the Old East have to put up with crap like OP's pic.
I think OP would be surprised to find may small mills within reasonable driving distance of his home. Look them up.
Instead of creating a new thread... Does anyone know what causes this sort of darkness on red maple? (I know for sure its red maple) its not stained because I used steel wool or something. Its mostly along the outter rings. Maybe the bark is staining it? It was harvested in the early spring. But the darkness was already there when harvested. Most of the red maple trees in the area have an issue with those dumb beetles that bore into the wood and create those deep brown streaks. Could it be related?
It's just luck of the draw most of the time.
climb to the back of the lumber rack and you might have better luck.
I bought some boards today for a deck and holy shit most of them were so pisspoor they still had the bark and wane on every edge.
That being said, it's really not worth making a new thread, but I'm making a workbench.
Something of a scandanavian / roubo hybrid.
For material choice would you prefer clear SPF or slightly knotty yellow pine?
Just want something to look half decent and work well. Not spending a ton.
>>1005318
Maple is ring porous, meaning it has more vessels in the spring. That causes colored rings in the wood.
>>1005332
I'd do spf, as white as you can find, makes work easier to see
Steam it and then straighten.
+1 lumberyard, I have one not far away, for most of the shop-tier shit I make big chain slop will do the job after some flexing and planing, but you can't compromise if you are making finer pieces. Most of the big chains around here only stock oak and pine anyway, which is pretty limiting as well.
>>1003225
> riftsawn
Never heard of it, neat. Looks crazy hard to process. I need to poke my local timber guy about it.
>>1003329
Well, in my experience, he's right but for the wrong reason. I go for the bottom of the stack simply because they tend to be straighter. I guess being packed in tight as they settle from being cut during shipping/stocking etc helps resist bows and such.
>>1001439
any place not named home depot
