My second time ever visiting a lumberyard, but my first time purchasing wood
there for a project! I’m excited that I’ll be able to pick out some wood with my
wife 
for a project of our own
making 
We’ll figure out the species, quantity, and expenses of all the wood we pick
out, and then we’ll load it carefully in our vehicle to get it all home and
unloaded!
Starting Point
From the last article,
I’ve got a rough plan for the project. This, a measuring tape, and my wife
should be all I need (NOT in that order 
), and so off to the
lumberyard we go!
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| Console bookshelf plan for each of the three bookshelves |
The Lumberyard
Since I am based in Knoxville, TN, I decide to visit a local lumberyard called Jeffries Wood Works, and it is a great place! The staff is very helpful, and they have a great selection of domestic and exotic woods. I haven’t used any of their wood yet, but I’ve heard good things from other woodworkers at my local Woodcraft!
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| Jeffries Wood Works’ selection of live edge slabs |
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| Their selection of domestic woods |
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| Exotic woods and pen blanks |
Picking Out the Wood
I need at least a couple different types of wood for this project. I need a wood for the top of the bookshelves—where the TV and other things will rest—and I need a wood for the actual large structure of the bookshelves. I also need a wood for the backing of the bookshelves. As for the hidden box frame for the base, I’ll just use regular cheap construction lumber from Lowe’s, so no need to worry about that here at the lumberyard!
While we’re selecting wood, I’ll consult the plans I showed at the top of this article to see how much of each wood I need.
Walnut
First thing I want to know is how much the Walnut will cost, to see if Walnut is even an option. After all, I would ideally have this as the top surface of the console bookshelf. Let’s see… Walnut… Walnut… ah, there it is… This stuff looks nice!
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| Inspecting Jeffries Wood Works’ Figured Walnut |
Doing some quick math at $15.65/BF (board-foot), it would cost $600 for enough Walnut to use on top of all three bookshelves…
…
…
Yeah, that’s not happening… That’s almost the entire wood budget for this whole project! I’ll use Walnut for a different project that requires less of this good quality wood.
I’ll have to find a different wood for the top of the bookshelves. But that is
no problem! I happen to be in a pretty good place for solving that sort of thing
Spruce
I can use Spruce as the wood on top of the bookshelf and simply stain it the brown color we’re wanting.
Now THIS is a much better price for my application! $2.07/LF (linear-foot) means
around $150 for all three bookshelves’ worth, and even with a little extra
thrown in for “just in case”
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| 20’ (6.1m) long Spruce wood on the right, with dimensions and price shown |
Since it’s so cheap, I go ahead and get all three bookshelves’ worth of Spruce, even though I really only need enough for one right now. This will give me some extra practice pieces to work with!
It is a much softer wood than Walnut, but it’s not like this is a high-use tabletop that this is going on, so I’m willing to risk some denting over time. Besides, any denting it gets may look pretty nice!
Poplar
We walk a few times through each of the aisles, and after evaluating all the different wood at least once, we discover that Poplar has a good look to it, it’s a strong wood, and has a good price!
At $3.62/BF, it will end up costing around $400 for all three bookshelves’ worth. I’m only planning on making one bookshelf for now, but I’ll go ahead and get two bookshelves’ worth, just in case I mess up the one I’m working on, I won’t have to make another trip to the lumberyard.
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| Poplar being loaded onto the cart with the help of Jeffries’ friendly staff—in fact, I believe he is one of the owners |
I was thinking we’d end up getting something like Poplar, but I wasn’t sure if
it would be the right choice. Ironic, since I was so sure about Walnut, and that
was the wrong choice!
They also had some thinner pieces of Poplar that I could use for the backing of the bookshelves, so I went ahead and got all that they had of those since they only had two bookshelves’ worth. I’ll have to come back to Jeffries at some point anyway to finish building all three bookshelves, so I’ll pick up the rest then after they restock!
The Cost
As the co-owner begins the checkout process, now comes the part I am most nervous about: did I calculate these costs correctly?!
Spoiler alert: Nope 
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| The receipt from Jeffries Wood Works for the Poplar, Spruce, and some cheap practice wood from the scrap bin |
Before tax, I was expecting around $500, but it ended up being $617
An error of 20% is too high! I’ve definitely done something
wrong, but I’m not sure what! Thankfully, the receipt is very detailed, so I
start going through it to see if I can learn from this for next time
Ah! While the amount of all the wood is correct, I was expecting the Poplar to be $3.62/BF, not $5.29/BF like it says on the receipt. I inquire about this and he double-checks his terminal. Sure enough, it’s actually $5.29/BF. However, he tells me to wait there, and he goes to check what the price is on the shelf. He comes back and tells me, to his obvious chagrin, that the price on the shelf does say $3.62/BF!
I can tell he’s not happy about this, and while he doesn’t say it, I get the feeling that he’ll lose money on the Poplar at this price. Since it’s a local business, and they are very nice people, I offer to split the difference with him. He agrees and I get a refund of around $60. Now, everybody is happy!
He, of course, immediately leaves to go change the price on the shelf
Jeffries = Honest!
I appreciate his honesty to tell me the actual price on the shelf, and not stealthily change it to the higher price without me knowing, then coming back and reporting that I was “wrong”. Definitely very happy with my experience here, and I’ll be back for sure!
Loading the Wood
All the wood cannot fit in the vehicle, but a free service they offer is cutting
the wood down to a size that will fit in our vehicle! My wife and I
transport some of the wood over to their cutting area, and they cut it down to
size for us.
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| My wife and I transporting the Spruce over to the cutting area |
I just have them cut everything in half if it won’t fit in the vehicle since we can handle up to a 10’ (3m) length board.
And now that everything is on a single cart, I realize that loading all of this
into the vehicle may be a bit difficult! It’s a lot, and I’m unsure if it will
fit AND us not damage any part of our Tahoe
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| The cart with all of our wood, ready to be loaded into the vehicle |
Somehow, and I do mean SOMEHOW, we get all of this into the vehicle! It takes us
around 30-45 minutes since we’re also trying to not harm the vehicle, but my
wife and I get it all in there! #teamwork
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| The vehicle loaded with all of our wood |
Jeffries = Honest x 2!
While we are loading the wood into the vehicle, the co-owner comes out and tells us that he investigated the pricing issue further. Turns out, there was a problem with his terminal, and that he had two different prices for the same Poplar in his system. The lower one was actually the real one! He then gives us ANOTHER refund of $60 for a total of $120 refunded.
WOW! I would have never known this was the case, but he wanted to make it right
anyway. I’m very impressed with their honesty and integrity! I’ll definitely be
back to Jeffries for my future wood needs! 
Unloading the Wood
Another miracle! I didn’t swarp the vehicle on the way home, so it all arrived
safe and sound, with minimal shifting, and no damage to the vehicle! 
Swarp: It’s our Southern Word of the Day! It means to swerve or dodge suddenly or unexpectedly. Think about swerving quickly out of the way of something in the road, or changing lanes too aggressively. I didn’t realize this wasn’t a real word until just now! My writing software underlined it, and so now I feel like I’ve been lied to all of my life
The garage workshop is not currently climate controlled, and I’m unsure when I
will be working on this project since I’d like a few more tools before I get
started. This will put the wood at risk of warping due to changing humidity and
temperature in the garage. However, because I have the most amazing wife
in the world, she suggests that we store the wood in our office downstairs for
now 
She even helps me make this awesome GIF of the wood being unloaded into the
office! Does she know how much I love her?! #sheIsAppreciated 
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| Unloading the wood into the office, with the help of my wonderful wife —first the structural Poplar, then the top Spruce, then the thinner Poplar backing |
Next Time!
I’ll have some more tools in, specifically some safety-oriented ones like roller
stands to support the wood while they go through the jointer and planer. And
then, we’ll start processing all of this wood into usable wood for making the
bookshelves!
Until next time,
Pixel