Greetings and Salutations!  Could you perhaps advise me?

Michael, my husband, spent most of his career as a journeyman carpenter in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His main body of work focused on remodeling homes from the ground up to suit the requirement of increasingly affluent clientele. 

 At 35 he discovered that he was losing his vision.  Michael has a genetic mutant variety of macular degeneration that as yet is untreatable.  Michael transitioned to a more stable position with a prestigious industrial real estate rental firm doing maintenance and remodeling work in the companies buildings scattered throughout the Silicon Valley.

 At 48 we learned that Michael was legally blind.  Because he could no longer drive, he was forced to retire and move to a more fiscally friendly part of the country, coastal North Carolina  Now he is a full time father and husband.  We own almost 2 acres of depleted land that we are working into a permaculture.

We are also a home school family with 2 sons, ages 10 and 12.  We are planning to teach carpentry classes to interested members of our homeschool group "Agape Leadership Development".  We are planning 5 projects from "Box by Box" written by Jim Stack with 8 children per project.

PROBLEM:  Where the heck do I get the wood?  I've looked everywhere I can think of to look with no results.  I've emailed about 10 vendors, some are even in the resource section of Jim's book with no response over the course of a week.  Maybe I'm being impatient?

Project 1 requires 1/4" cherry
Project 2 requires 1/4" & 5/8" pine
Project 3 requires 1/8" & 3/8" red oak
Project 4 requires 1/4", 3/8", & 5/8" walnut
Project 5 requires 5/8" cherry, 1/2" curly maple, 1/4" plywood, and 1/8" maple.

I am sincerely grateful for any and all advice and guidance you can provide.

Jo, what widths and lengths do you need? 

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Ron Dudelston
Site Host


Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Hi Jo,

Do you have a link to the Box By Box information?

Rockler Woodworking is one source to purchase woods of these nominal thickness's and verious widths and lengths as well.

but a bit pricey to order.

 

NC should have wood shops around your general area where you can aquire these lumber materials

Google Lumber Yards NC

I was able to download the whole book so the following is a capture of the wood material needs directly from the book.  Bear in mind that we will need materials for up to 8 boxes.  I imagine that getting wood for this kind of project is a lot like getting yarn, you end of with a collection of this and that.  I don't have a problem with that.

Jo,

Here is a link to one of our member, Phil. He lives west of you but close enough he may be able to ship you some stuff-

http://www.thepatriotwoodworker.com/profile/PhilRasmussen

As Ron said, let us know the lengths and widths and I'm sure you'll get what you need. I have a bunch of Red Oak.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Well... THAT was a bust... it says there are to many characters... ::sigh::  I'll have to work on this.  I'll get back to you.

OH!  And, I have checked with local lumber yards without success.  I might not be asking the right questions.  I am sincerely ignorant and Mike isn't able to be helpful because while he can build the most exquisite buildings without plans or anything, small "craft" work is really a bit of a mystery to him.

ok... here goes nuthin'

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jor/Documents/CARPENTRY.doc

PROJECT 1  -  Clips n’ Things

QTY	PART	STOCK	THICKNESS	WIDTH	LENGTH
1	top	cherry	1/4	3 1/8	5 1/8
1	bottom	cherry	¼	2 ½	4 ½
1	lid keeper	cherry	¼	2 7/16	4 7/16
2	sides	cherry	¼	1 ¼	5
2	ends	cherry	1/4	1 ¼	2 ½

 

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jor/Documents/CARPENTRY.doc

 

PROJECT 2  -  Old Pine Box

QTY	PART	STOCK	THICKNESS	WIDTH	LENGTH
2	lid & bottom	pine	5/8	7	11
2	ends	pine	5/8	4	4 7/8
2	sides	pine	5/8	4	10 1/8
1	lid keeper	pine	¼	4 7/8	9 5/8
1	handle	pine	5/8	1 1/2	3 1/2

 

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jor/Documents/CARPENTRY.doc

PROJECT 3  -  What’s Cookin’?

QTY	PART	STOCK	THICKNESS	WIDTH	LENGTH
1	top & bottom	red oak	3/8	6 1/8	8
2	sides	red oak	3/8	3 ¼	8
2	ends	red oak	3/8	3 ¼	5 3/8
2	side liners	red oak	1/8	3 1/8	7 ¼
2	end liners	red oak	1/8	3 1/8	5 1/8

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jor/Documents/CARPENTRY.doc

PROJECT 4  -  Box in a Box

QTY	PART	STOCK	THICKNESS	WIDTH	LENGTH
2	sides	walnut	5/8	4	8 ½
2	ends	walnut	5/8	4	5
1	bottom	walnut	3/8	5 ¼	7 ¼
1	lid	walnut	5/8	6 ½	9
2	small sides	walnut	¼	1 ½	4 15/16
2	small ends	walnut	¼	1 ½	2 ½
1	small bottom	walnut	¼	2 ½	4 7/16
2	runners	walnut	3/8	3/8	6 3/4

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jor/Documents/CARPENTRY.doc

PROJECT 5  -  Flipper

QTY	PART	STOCK	THICKNESS	WIDTH	LENGTH
2	sides	cherry	5/8	3 ½	11 ¾
2	ends	cherry	5/8	3 ½	9
1	lid	curly maple	1/2	8 ¾	10 3/8
1	bottom	plywood	¼	8 ½	11 ¼
4	keys	maple	1/8	5/8	3 ½

I agree Arlin

and yes what type of tools do you have at your disposal?

 

and we can go from there... because I've got all these woods listed the only problem you would need to be able to plane it down to thickness

 

I'll take on Project #4 if others want to take on the other to supply the wood....

The only cost to you would be shipping?

 

LMK and I'll get the wood ready for you over this weekend...

 

But the catch is... We all want to see photo's of the progress of your classes
 
Arlin Eastman said:

First of all, I think it would be best to see what Power tools and Hand tools you have.

If you have a bandsaw you can cut all the thin wood you want.  So if you see what I mean it would greatly help us by telling us what you have to work with.

 

Russ - Rockler is way to high a price to buy select thin wood from them.

 

Arlin

Hope my little tables are legible and provide all the needed information.  Thanks for the advice and the offer to send materials!  I have made numerous exchanges with folks on "Homegrown Goodness".  A bit different because we are working with seed, but the same idea.

As for power tools... we have a band saw but I don't know if it works.  We DO have a table saw, assorted chain saws, drills and an electric planer.

Does that tell you what you need to know?

I  have #3 (oak) if no one else has it

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Just let me know- yes or no!!

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

 Way to Go Lew!!!!!! 

 

 
Lewis Kauffman said:

I  have #3 (oak) if no one else has it

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

hmmm...  I THOUGHT I posted a list of tool, but it disappeared!  Oh well, nuthin' like a do over ta keep da pingers in shape! 

electric planer

electric sander

belt sander

table saw

skill saw

sawz all

3/8" 2 speed drill

chop saw

non-operational band saw, needs blade

non-operational shop planter, need to fix motor

Mike can fix the broken things, just needs that ever so elusive thing called time... 

As for photos, well, I'm a dude but I'll make sure one of the class mommies will cover that duty!  THANKS!!!

Jo,

Dude or not...

I'm still in for Project #4 and since your planer is broken at the moment I'll even size the thickness for that project before I ship....

 

You'll notice this is a great group of folks around here and we love to see photo's of others work...and I'm up for helping the Kids out...
 
Jo R. said:

hmmm...  I THOUGHT I posted a list of tool, but it disappeared!  Oh well, nuthin' like a do over ta keep da pingers in shape! 

electric planer

electric sander

belt sander

table saw

skill saw

sawz all

3/8" 2 speed drill

chop saw

non-operational band saw, needs blade

non-operational shop planter, need to fix motor

Mike can fix the broken things, just needs that ever so elusive thing called time... 

As for photos, well, I'm a dude but I'll make sure one of the class mommies will cover that duty!  THANKS!!!

you need to find a friend with a Planer

Go here and make nice:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/

http://www.woodturnersguild.com/sites/wgnc/

http://www.charlottewoodworkers.org/

http://www.trianglewoodworkers.com/about-twa/

Would you like the oak pieces the exact length and width or slightly larger?

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!