New product: Radom wood grip reproductions

[Olle]

Originally Posted by John Sabato

Another suggestion I can make for wood grip source material is hardwood flooring. Places like Lumber Liquidators often run sales of short lots that are too small to do a whole house, and in some cases even too small to do an 8x10 room. I installed hardwood flooring in the bedrooms of our home about 10 years ago. I managed to find lots small enough to do each bedroom in a different hardwood. I used Canadian Maple, Engineered Bamboo, Amber Oak, and American Walnut for the rooms. That is what we call the rooms now... by their flooring type.

You can often find this type of flooring in varying widths and lengths... It is about 3/4 inch thick and often with great grain showing. Just plane it to your required thickness. I think we paid about a dollar or less per square foot because the lots we bought were discontinued. If you want a sample of my remnants to see what it is like, let me know. I will send some to you for the postage.

Hardwood flooring is usually grooved on the back, but I believe it only runs about 1/3" of the thickness so I should be able to get the 3/8" I need. I actually visited a hardwood floor place last week, but they said that they didn't stock anything more exotic than oak and hickory. There's not many stores like that around here, so I probably need to call a few installers and see if they have leftovers.

I appreciate your offer and walnut flooring might be something I can use, but I'm afraid the postage would be pretty high. I can get ripped and sanded walnut for about $3.00-$3.50/foot, so it's probably not worth it. I just found out that our local cabinet shop has some interesting leftovers at the bottom of their piles, and they have promised to take inventory next time they're moving lumber in their warehouse. I'm crossing my fingers, hoping that there will be some good birch and beech.