At some point in your woodworking progression, you venture out of the territory of big box store lumber and wonder what you can build using good quality boards. The materials that you get at an orange or blue store are, for a lack of a better word…crap. But, we all start there because the material is easily accessible. Unfortunately, their hardwood is limited, way overpriced, and usually not straight. This happens when wood is rushed through the drying process in order to meet large scale demands.

For comparison sake, let’s look at the cost of an oak board at one of these stores compared to a hardwood dealer. At the time of this article, an eight foot long 1”x 8” (actual size 3/4” x 7-1/4”) oak board is $41.76. The cost of lumber differs from region to region, but it’s common for oak to cost about $4 a board foot at a hardwood dealer. Based on these same dimensions, that board will cost you less than $20. I can buy that board for $12 in my area.

Maybe you understand the math and quality, and now want to know how you find a good hardwood dealer. You like the convenience of running to the hardware store, and hardwood dealers are much less common. That’s where mail order lumber comes in. I have used multiple mail order lumber dealers over the years. It is not ideal to me since I’d rather pick out wood myself, but more and more retailers are giving you ways to get some really good quality hardwood sight unseen.

These stores let you specify the rough length and width of the boards you want, and many will mill the wood for you for an added cost. Each store differs on how they present their items. Some go as far as to take pictures of individual boards so you know exactly what you will receive. Others let you call or email them to talk about what you are building so they can do a better job of picking the boards that they think will be best for your project.

In terms of quality, I can say that I’ve been happy with about 90% of what I receive via mail order. Some may argue that this should be 100%, but let’s be reasonable. I don’t think I’ve ever been 100% happy with every aspect of lumber that I bought even when I picked it out. We are at the mercy of the lumber and its dimensions, defects, and our desires for a specific project. Lumber that is perfect for one project may not be the best choice for another. Taking this in account, and the fact that someone else picked out the wood on my behalf, I think 90% is pretty good!

So now, the elephant in the room. Shipping. Does shipping eat up all of that savings? Surprisingly, not really. Shipping usually costs me about $30-$40, and I tend to buy around 20 board feet of hardwood at a time. Let’s go back to our oak example. 20 board feet would be about four of those 1” x 8” boards and that would cost approximately $167 at the hardware store. Even with shipping, this would cost approximately $120 to have it shipped to my door. And there’s one other bonus, my time. I make commission furniture and my time is valuable, as it is with all of us. The cost of shipping could be the same as 1-2hrs of labor, and that’s how long it would take for me to go to the hardware store, pick out boards, and get back to the shop. So regardless, that “shipping” cost is being calculated into the bottom line.

I should add that I have no affiliation with hardwood dealers. I’m not paid by any of them. I’m not given free materials. But I do think that this is a good service that many woodworkers avoid because they feel it’s a gamble to buy wood online. I understand that fear. If you give mail order lumber a shot and you like what you receive, I urge you to build a report with your dealer. It will only help you to get good quality lumber in the future. There are multiple places that offer good lumber, but some that I’ve liked in the past are Woodworkers Source, Bell Forest Products, and Cook Woods.

If you’d like to see an unboxing of walnut that I ordered online, check out the video above. You will get to see how the material is packaged and the type of wood you may receive.