Where to buy wood

[Mike Y]

Tried Arkowood (https://www.arkowood-lossburg.de/). Was looking for a high quality wood supplier in EU, who have at least pear, Castello boxwood and ebony. Looks like I found it!

 

Wood quality:

• Colour variation - very small, wood is finely selected.
• Thickness deviation: not more then 0.05mm!
• Finish: very smooth finish, feels like sanded with 300-400 grit.

Other: 

• Custom size milling: no problem with that, if you do not see the right size in their catalogue - just mail what sizes do you need. The price level for custom milled wood looks the same as for the standard cuts they have in catalogue
• Communication: excellent, I received a reply to my mails in a few hours!
• Wood cost - looks ok. Hard to compare, but looks on the same level as in US suppliers. However, you save some money on not paying VAT, customs, postage fees and extra shipping, that you are usually paying if ordering from US
• Payment methods: paypal is accepted.
• Delivery cost: quite moderate, regular postage price from Germany to other EU country. No feeling like you are getting overcharged for delivery.
• Processing time: they promised 1-2 weeks, I got the wood in 2 weeks. So quite fast, with correct estimations
• Packing quality: ok, no damages

 

The photo of what I received.

Left - swiss pear (steamed pear), center - castello boxwood, right - ebony:

Edited June 27, 2019 by Mike Y

[SteveM]

Excellent! Thank you for the detailed report.

[mtaylor]

Mike,

 

That's excellent news.  Were you able to find holly?

 

 

Steve,

 

Thanks for keeping the first post in this topic updated.   I'm sure we all appreciate it.

[Redshirt]

http://www.massiv-holz-werkstatt.de/

Best wood supplier i know of in germany. Good assortment of wood, high acurracy and good price.

[Burroak]

If any of you are in the Dallas, Texas area try Wood World.

 

www.woodworldtx.com

 

I do woodworking as a hobby and buy a lot of wood from them.

[pompey2]

I've been looking at / talking to a great German site you could try.

Put this in Google translate to see it in english

http://www.massiv-holz-werkstatt.de/

They have a huge range and the prices are very good.

It looks like they export to a lot of places also.

I expect to buy some Maple from them soon

 

Nick

[brunelrussell]

Brunelrussell update:  I looked over some of the German sources but my high school German wasn't good enough to decipher them.  I did manage to find what I wanted at, of all places, Model Expo; they had metric walnut.  I used Paypal once and had problems.  Anyhoo, alls well that ends...well?

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi brunelrussell

 

Have you tried http://www.massiv-holz-werkstatt.de/? They have a lot of different wood in all formats, but not sure if they deliver to the US!! As I am from Austria, I always buy my wood there.

 

Regards

Gerhard

[dougb]

Asked for some samples of wood (Pear and Cherry) from the thewoodrack in the UK. Decent sized samples arrived quickly so I bit the bullet and ordered some Cherry. I preferred the colour althought it was slightly harder to work than the Pear.

 

Anyway pleasant enough transaction and the wood arrived promptly (ordered Friday PM, arrived Tuesday AM) and the purchased wood matched the sample. 
 
Here is a picture

 

 

Genarally happy (apart from the cost) but I'll let you make your own mind up about the quality because it's the first time I have used non kit wood.

 

 

 

 

[davyboy]

Hello Zoltan,

 

Sorry, but I have not ordered from this supplier yet as I already have a good stock of Pearwood and some European boxwood. But I'll  likely order from there in the future. I only posted the info for the benefit of any members who might have been interested.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[pompey2]

I just received a bunch of Maple from them.

 http://www.massiv-holz-werkstatt.de/

The quality was very good, price was the most competitive I found (better than 30% of some quotes)

Delivery took a while.

This was to the UK.

 

 

 

Nick

Edited June 13, 2016 by pompey2

[mtaylor]

I'm adding one here...   http://www.keimlumber.com/exoticwoods   I found it in a buildlog and looks promising.

[vaddoc]

On 6/13/2016 at 2:09 PM, pompey2 said:

I just received a bunch of Maple from them.

 http://www.massiv-holz-werkstatt.de/

The quality was very good, price was the most competitive I found (better than 30% of some quotes)

Delivery took a while.

This was to the UK.

 

 

Nick

 

How did you order Nick, through email alone or did you have to call as well?

[Landlubber Mike]

I would highly recommend people giving Matt at Inlay Banding a look if you are looking for ebony, holly, or other woods:

 

http://inlaybanding.com

 

Matt was really great to work with, and did a custom order for me to exact specifications.  He was even able to get ebony sheets down to as little as 0.7mm.  Matt most does work for inlays and veneers, but I think he would make a great resource for ebony and other exotics (along with ebony, he does holly, maple, boxwood, satinwood, maple and others).  Now that Jeff is retired, I would highly recommend Matt is you are looking for ebony or other woods.

[vaddoc]

Ok, I would like to share my experience buying wood from Massiveholz on line shop which is based in Germany.

All orders need to be made via email and I must say there is a massive variety available. All wood I received so far has been great quality.

I asked initially for some wood samples, 10 strips of various woods 2 x 10 x 1000 mm. Then I placed a large order, however I received more wood in most dimensions (it seems that round everything to multiples of 10!) and some other dimensions were less or missing. I emailed Frank and I received the missing wood but also some more strips I needed and asked to be added on, free of charge.

Packaging was very good and I received all orders within a few days. I would think prices are competitive .

Overall this is an excellent place to buy your wood if you are this side of the pond.

[sfotinos]

I'm looking for rough pear wood 8/4 in the US.  Don't seem to be having any luck what so ever.

 

Anyone one have suggestions that are not in this post?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Shawn

[Gregory]

When I Google " pear wood ", I see several US sources..

[Jaager]

For Pear: 

I found some short split pieces at a local supplier of wood to those who smoke meat.

Another possible source -  local tree removal companies.

 

Any species of Pear works well,  what is sold as Swiss Pear is actually Pyrus communis

that has been steamed to produce a uniform pink color.  It is  European Common Pear 

and is often used as root stock for fruit bearing varieties.  What you will likely find here

is Bradford or a similar ornamental or a fruit bearing variety.

[Chuck]

I mostly see Swiss pear and pear sold as slabs.  It isnt impossible to get 8/4 or even 12/4 stock but its not easy.

 

 Try calling Gilmer.  They have great stuff and if you dont see it on their site they probably still have more on the premises. 

 

https://www.gilmerwood.com/categories/38-boards-and-blanks/products?utf8=✓&filter=Pearwood&category=

 

Chuck

[sfotinos]

Thanks for the replies!

Shawn

[davec]

I'm still working off a pear slab that I got from righteous lumber (http://www.righteouswoods.com/) about 10 years ago.  They are still in business.  I bought 4/4, but they had 8/4 and thicker (can remember if it was 10/4 or 12/4)  as well.  When I purchased from them, I lived in MA and picked out my piece and drove home with it.  I think they ship.

 

I have also been very impressed with Gilmer wood.  I just bought a couple of pieces of boxwood from them.  If you order from them, call them and tell them what you are looking for.  I had planned to buy two pieces that looked good in the pictures on their website.  When I spoke with them and explained I was building model ships, they said the pieces I was interested in weren't good enough, and if I was OK waiting, they would contact me when they had better.  They emailed me about 8 weeks later.  What I ended up getting was really beautiful - great color, tight grained, very uniform.  I was really impressed with the service.

 

Dave

[ChrisLBren]

I recently purchased my Swiss Pear from Bob Putnam at this website - I am very happy with his service, pricing and the product !

 

http://www.rarewoodsusa.com/

[ymperivm]

 From Spain, they don´t have pear. But they are specialists in exotic woods for luthiers with certificates of good practices.
https://maderasbarber.com/tonewood/es/troncos/1015-tronco-boj.html?search_query=boj&results=2

[Mike Y]

Small correction: Arkowood changed the website to https://www.arkowood-lossburg.de/

To moderators: could you please edit the first post to adjust the URL? Thanks!  

[Captain Poison]

I found this site in USA with a selection of domestic and exotic wood (one store located in florida).

https://www.rockler.com/wood/domestic-lumber

 

[Trussben]

If anybody out there is still looking to buy Holly, try these guys in US.

 

https://www.domexhardwoods.com/

 

ben

[glbarlow]

I checked several of the sites listed but didn’t have much luck finding milled strips for ship building, specialty in millimeter sizes. This three is from 2013, anyone have more current suppliers for model grade exotic strip wood?

[VTHokiEE]

Since the above didn’t yield any results I won’t hold my breath, but I’m looking for some 5mm (or 1/4”) square stock that I can use for a bowsprit (also open to wood type suggestions). I don’t have a saw and my initial attempt at planing a dowel down didn’t work. I’m also open to using this as an excuse to buy a saw and go with sheets instead...

[Gregory]

I have been happy with the cherry from ModelExpo ..

 

They have some 1/4 square..

 

Of course, if you get a saw, cutting from sheets will be a better value..

[VTHokiEE]

Don’t tell my wife but I ordered a table saw 🤫... (just kidding she knows). I’m not certain if they’ll be too light but I picked up some Holly thins to try a go at the bowsprit.