Sourcing Timber

[joeythebean 10]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to have my first go at building some basic furniture - a work bench and a garden picnic bench to start with. I've looked for timber and for the lengths I need, basic planed square edge (PSE) is coming out at £120 for just the picnic bench materials. Am I doing my calculations wrong or is wood just really that expensive? I can buy a picnic bench for £80 on ebay! And can anyone suggest a good timber supply? Preferably recycled. Thanks

Joe

[aurora5772 10]

I'm interested in this too. I've read that there is a wood recycling place at Manor Lodge, but haven't checked it out. I think it's a council run thing, replacing the one formerly on Burton Road. The only tip I have for fellow scavengers is to look around industrial estates. My local one has a lot of pallets and other used wood on. Anything left within access of the pavements, near the bins is okay to take. I've checked this with traders and other scavengers, and apparently this is a generally understood rule.

 

[jane2008 15]

On 07/04/2021 at 18:52, joeythebean said:

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to have my first go at building some basic furniture - a work bench and a garden picnic bench to start with. I've looked for timber and for the lengths I need, basic planed square edge (PSE) is coming out at £120 for just the picnic bench materials. Am I doing my calculations wrong or is wood just really that expensive? I can buy a picnic bench for £80 on ebay! And can anyone suggest a good timber supply? Preferably recycled. Thanks

Joe

You need to be resourcing pallets.  Free from a lot of places as aurora says.  All my garden furniture, table, corner unit and even BBQ is made out of it.

[Hippogriff 10]

My experience during 2021 was that timber has gone up in price... significantly. For me I was talking about two things - one was fencing material from Howarth Timber - I bought it in two batches... the first time what I bought was £44... the next time, exact same order, about a month later - it was £69... I remember the prices clearly because the first was just under the contactless limit and the second... er... wasn't.

 

I also ordered some PSE beech online... and it was ruddy expensive. At one point it almost seemed cheaper to buy rough sawn and a frikkin' thicknesser to go with it (and the future). The fencing stuff was quite rough and I spent a long time sanding it all down to look its best... I could've run it through a thicknesser in about 15 minutes... a Triton TPT125 is less than £300 if you get it right.