How to make shopping for wood at a home center less horrible.
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
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Beginning woodworkers usually spend a lot of time determining what tools they need to get started and learning how to use them. But I've heard from a lot of beginners that they are a little unprepared for their first trip to the lumber department of the blue or orange big box home center. So in this video, I want to arm you with confidence and knowledge to make the experience a little less overwhelming.
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#woodworking #lumber #homecenter - Jak na to + styl
My proudest moment was when I walked into my local lumber yard and announced "I'm new at this and don't know what I'm doing. Do you have an employee that can help me figure it out?" The guy laughed and spent the next 20 minutes walking me through the store explaining most of what you just said and helped me pick out the best boards for my project. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Better to announce your short comings and willingness to learn than to pretend you know what your talking about and make mistakes.
Lumber yards are great. A lot of family-owned businesses with employees who know their stuff and are helpful and hardworking. Most of the Big Box stores seem to employ dingbats who don't know a Philips driver from a doorknob and are just there phoning it in for a paycheck.
Absolutely not. Act like you know everything about timber and tools and scoff when someone offers help. It's what 'real men' do 😉.
Yeah, it's been my experience that woodworkers that are cashiers or store owners have always been more than willing to help.
Sadly, I've been known to help folks at Home Depot (I'm loyal to the orange) with their projects. I've answered questions about techniques, and shown them where items are located. Yes, I kind of got bored some times over the last two years. Lots of time on my hands......don't hate me.
2:40 spit my coffee, did not expect Steve to cuss 😂😂
So TRUE!!!!
Ass? 😂 is that cussing now?
he didn't cuss
Another tip for the big stores is to find their “cull wood” pile. It’s a dog’s breakfast of offcuts, warped and knotty boards, and stuff they just need to get rid of to make room for newer stock. Lots of it is garbage destined for the dump, but you can often find really good useable pieces at vastly reduced prices.
I usually make it my first stop when shopping the big stores for wood.
When I built my 24'x18' deck I hand-picked and examined EVERY board I used! Rented a U-Haul and spent a full day going in and out of Home Depot buying 2x4's, 2x6's, 6x6's, 5/4x6's, 2x10's. I was wearing an orange t-shirt by chance and people kept asking me for help - that turned a 8-hr job into a 12-hr job. We saw 3 different shifts of store staff come and go! LOL
Great video Steve. As a manager at Home Depot you make great points, I really like when you said be considerate and put the boards back when your done. Nothing drives me and my staff crazier then someone tearing apart a bay of wood and leaving a huge and dangerous mess. I am jealous that your store carries woods like cherry. Mine only carries oak and maple. Also really liked the way youe explained the carts and the uses. Nothing is worse then trying to put a board on a regular shopping cart.
As for the saw, sorry to hear you can't find someone to run it ever. We to have issues with them breaking, but a lot has to due to rough handling. All in all a great video!!
last time i got a 4x4 panel i wanted to get it cut to fit in my car (needed 3 16" wide pieces) originally planned to get 3 melamine boards or something (so didn't bring the roof rack or cordless saw) but they didn't have enough of the right size. and the panel saw was down. that was when i realized the maximum opening of my car's doors is about 47.25" so roof was the only option... thanks to their out of service equipment that store made another $4 off of me for a pair of ratchet straps!
Hey I'd be happy with a bit of cherry, we only get pine and meranti down under
I always replace the boards and if some are the wrong ones I put them back in the right place. :-)
It's worth mentioning that even Orange and Blue will usually give you at least one free cut on a large sheet of plywood, and even if they charge you for more than 1 it's cheaper to buy a 4x8 sheet and cut it into four 2x4ft panels than to buy four of that same size in the pre-cut panel section. Their big panel saws will always cut straighter than you can get with a circular saw in the parking lot, too. I'll also recommend getting some Carhartt silicone work gloves -- they're great protection, a lot more comfortable than leather, and the silicone is grippy enough to make a big difference when trying to manipulate those big sheets of plywood.
I usually have them cut my plywood into 3, 3, and 2 foot pieces. Gives me the biggest pieces that fit in my car trunk, and they've never charged me for those 2 cuts.
The ones I have come across at the box stores near me are broken 1/2 the time, or the blades are garbage and splinter much more than a portable saw with a good blade. So, what I do is allow for the extra 'waste' when figuring how much to buy.
I find when I show up with a detailed cut list and know exactly what I want, they generally seem to enjoy the challenge and the chat when it's not a super busy day - and I have yet to be charged for cuts :D
I had them make 3 cuts the other day they will cut it how ever you want
Omg the Carhartt gloved are a life saver. Have you tried the level 1 cut resistant insulated gloves? The rubber coating is very porous which grips so much better than the smooth texture on the non insulated gloves. The best feature is the insulation. For me the extra padding makes holding edges more comfortable and absorbs sweat so my hands don’t slip around inside. I feel like I have vice grips for hands when I wear them.
From personal experience, one of the most valuable pieces of advice in this vid is to make sure every piece of lumber you take to check out has a barcode on it! 😉
I usually take a picture of the price tag too, just in case. I’ve only ever had one cashier refuse to believe that I was showing her the proper tag-everyone else has so happy not to have to search for the UPC that they gladly scan my phone.
The home center close to my place has a different system. The personel gives you a piece of paper with the code of the lumber you want. You pay for it, then use the receipt to check out. You don't have to carry everything arround
I just want to point out that while home depot is convenient, I always try to go to a lumber yard whenever possible. I bought home depot pine for a long time before I decided to check out my local lumber place. They had furniture grade pine for around 1/2 the price of what home depot charged for much better quality and much wider boards. When it comes to hardwood it's even more of a difference.
I found this to be true some years ago, I bought small screen molding from my lumber yard at $0.25 per foot. I needed more, and had to go to home depot, and their price was $0.65 per foot. I was quite shocked to see the difference.
@@bierbarrel lumberyards are always far cheaper than big box stores and they have better quality wood and you can get it pre milled or rough cut
Or do what I did and buy a sawmill! 😁
At least in my area, it is difficult to find a lumberyard that will allow me to pick through the lumber to select the boards I want. At H.D. and Lowes I can pick the boards I want.
@@jackfrost8439 Yeah, that's the issues a lot of places. I know I am very lucky where I live (north georgia). I have a really good lumber yard around 90 minutes away or a very mediocre one 15 minutes away if I don'tfeel like driving, but both let me pick through as much as I want.
Maybe it's because I am in the friendly state of Texas but Home Depot guys are always right there to help me and answer questions. They have been great and always want to see pictures of what I am building.
The advice on confirming you have a barcode before rushing to the register is 1000% right.
No truer words have ever been spoken 👏
I feel like such a badass everytime I hang my measuring tape on my belt before going into the Big Box Store 😂
If you are starting out or just doing small projects, ask if the store has a selection of off-cuts and remainder pieces. They may have a cart like the one @8:08 and they will practically give away those pieces for a low price. Sometimes they have very nice hardwood in a size no one will want, and you can just grab it and save it for an inlay, or a little thing like building a handle, and you win on the price.
I love he said NO WILL BE THERE TO HELP YOU😂😂😂😂
Nice video, as usual, Steve. I work part-time at Home Depot about a month away from my 20th anniversary. I routinely spend lots of time with novice DIYers helping them better understand what they really need to complete their project. I wish more customers would watch your video. It would make their shopping experience much easier and more enjoyable. By the way, if you ask for help at your local HD, you might be surprised that some associates actually know what they're talking about.
"You're on your own." No truer words have been spoken. Especially after about 4pm
Having just started dabbling in woodworking 4-5 years ago, I still remember how intimidating my first trip to a home center was. Wish I would have had your help back then!
Exactly. Loved this video, but didn't learn much.... because it took me about 3000 times up and down the aisles to learn it.
Great video. I would also add bring pair of work gloves. they will help prevent from getting wood splinters on your hands and fingers
Looking forward to the lumber yard video
As a beginner wood worker my biggest challenge is always transporting the wood from the big box store back to my condo. The store nearest me is actually only a couple minutes away but my car isn't designed for transporting all that lumber.
The part where the employee is not found is spot on
It's truly amazing how similar the experience is everywhere there is a big box store. In Australia Bunnings is the name of our home depot but with the exception of the orange replaced by bunnings green (and metric) everything was identical.. right down to the disused panel saw.
Bunnings don’t have the variety of species in their wood board aisle. Pine, Tasmanian oak and Meranti are the choices for wood workers. Other than that there are decking boards in the builders section as well as an off cut bin for cheap bits and pieces. There’s no walnut, cherry or maple so have to make do with what you can get.
and the rubbish timber
@@cjlamber the choice of timber in Aus is absolutely rubbish.
The price of the timber in Australia seems on par, but having visited a home depot store in my travels, their power tools are so much cheaper than our in Australia.
This video gave me a lot of confidence to walk into the local hardware store and purchase some lumber for a workbench!
I was a contractor for about 15 years and I still watched this lol
I love this concept, as I've personally had to get over the difficulty of learning this without guidance. I'd like to see more on this subject, of sourcing and buying materials like plastics, metals, more "exotic" materials like those aluminum X channel bars. I know I shouldn't prejudge the help at some stores, but I have a lot of baggage asking for help from the comic/game shop as a kid (and I know that was probably weighted to me having only $5 allowance to spend in the early 90's) and half the time if I couldn't figure it out on my own, I just left the store and gave up on my project.
Can't wait for the trip to a real lumber yard
Well done Steve! I worked at home Depot for a couple years. So I can appreciate you .
I work in the lumber department at my local Home Depot. I wish our customers were considerate enough to put away all the lumber they make a mess of. When it comes to hardwoods, we only have red oak, maple, and poplar. I wish we had more options… Great video as always!
I worked in the lumber dept at an HD many years ago. So I understand the frustration of lumber strewn everywhere. But I have also been working on jobs/projects and had to find the two good pieces of wood in the stack of barely-fit-for-construction garbage.
@@jnielsen1956 9 times out of 10 it just goes back on the pile. Which is why so much crap can accumulate after it has been picked clean a few dozen times. We would pull the worst stuff(sometimes rotting and full of voids) and throw it out back behind the store for disposal. For anything valuable we had a culls/cutoffs bin that people could buy from. Usually its not worth the labor to piecemeal out the cheap dimensional lumber. I don't know enough about the supply chains or the quality control at the mills to say how it is for any given region. I assume there is some variation.
Sounds exactly like the lumberyard I work at.
When you're looking for 2 by 4s, start by looking at the ends. Big, wide, smiling grain lines, or lines that go straight across (the thin direction) are generally the best when it comes to not warping. Diagonal lines of the circular center of a tree are the worst, and can almost always be skipped in any further examination.
For plywood, the blue and orange stores near me will make two cuts in an 8'x4' sheet of plywood for free. I don't have a truck, so I usually look at my plans and see what cuts would make the most sense while allowing the boards to fit in the back of my car. Usually I have them take a 2'x4' panel off the end, and then split the rest into a pair of 3'x6' panels.
Just like you said, however, it's a real crap shoot on whether either of the stores will have both the sheet I want AND a working saw.
Words never ever heard in a Swiss DIY store...!!
'' You may be overwhelmed by the choice of timber on offer''
I used to work at "blue store" and WOW I wish every customer knew all this!! Fantastic!
I imagine lumber yard is like, ask for one 2x4 and the guy is like, "One pallet, coming up!"
No wait.
Popped into my local big orange store here in the UK today to get some MDF. Quarter sheets were 2x the price per sq.ft of full sheets so, as I knew my project could be made from quarter sheets (2ft X 4ft) I went over to the cutting area and pushed the "Press for help" button. 30 seconds later a member of staff spoke to me through the intercom. I told her I needed a 12mm full sheet, cut in quarters and she appeared in a matter of seconds. She helped me lift and carry a (checked for quality) sheet off the shelving over to the saw station. She set up the cut positions and we loaded the sheet. 2 minutes later I had 4x quarter boards of exactly the same size (which she confirmed they would be before she cut them). Perfect!! Up to 5 cuts are free of charge. Sharp blade. No burning or splinters. £32.47 (about $44.40) for a 12mm (1/2") 8' X 4' sheet of regular MDF.
Great video. Now when my wife picks on me for taking so long to pick up lumber for projects I can say you said it’s normal. Love your content.
been building with wood for 30+ years and this video is excellent ! LOL @ "fancy pants projects" ! thanks and take care Mr. Ramsey , jeff
If at all possible, avoid the big box stores on the weekends. I find shopping in the evenings much easier if you hope to be able to dig through the boards to find ones that aren't hockey sticks.
Yes especially holiday weekends in the morning!
This is a good tip. Home Depot is basically dead after 5PM on a week day. All the contractors are done, and you can take your time without feeling rushed.
Unless you're planning to make a hockey stick in which case the wood is already shaped for you.
Equally, I try to avoid going during the week day. It's filled with tradesmen who are already pissed off because they're half way through a job and don't have time to go to a lumber yard :D
Cordless circular saw is a must have tool imo. I have always struggled to borrow a truck or a trailer to get sheets home. With that circular saw, I can break down the sheet to rough dimension and use my mini van with 4 car seats permanently installed to get the plywood home
Totally agree. It's super convenient to be able to cut boards out in the driveway or even in the back yard without dragging a power cord around too.
Always love your stuff man!!
**ONE HUGE PRO TIP** (if I may sir..)
Bring a pair of basic working gloves (Utility makes a great choice, I actually get them at my Home Depot as three pairs for roughly 10 bucks)... when you're going back and forth from moving wood... all the 2x4 / 4x4 lumber and 4x8 sheets... checking which pieces are splintered or have knots or have dings... a simple pair of gloves will save your hands a ton of headache!! I keep a very basic pair in the glove compartment for just that
Steve you are the most approachable woodworker on CZcams. Valuable tips with humility.
My local HD is great! The staff are friendly and helpful, the inventory is almost always adequate, returns (when needed) are courteous and efficient. My nearest source for more interesting hardwoods is 90 miles away, and the local ACE often has better and lower-priced softwoods and sheet goods, and they'll deliver! I can check availability and prices for both HD and ACE on-line. Most of the time HD is my go-to, and I like it.
I’m working on a small bedside table for wife’s family member. I’m using all reclaimed or cutoff wood from previous projects. I tried to donate a wooden sleigh bed frame, they wouldn’t take it so I’ve been dismantling it and using the parts for various things. I’m making table legs out of the slats that were under the box spring. Glued them in pairs and cut them into table legs. Sanded them, I think they are red oak. They look really good. I find the Home Depot stair treads are really good too, better than the typical pine boards and cheap.
As a Home Depot cashier thank you for some of these. So many people miss the LF (which I admit is very small) and are shocked by prices). And the bar codes for many cashiers are completely unfamiliar with lumber and have no idea what it is. If there’s no bar code on the board you want, bring up another with the bar code and explain you only want the other one. Or take a picture of the shelf tag or write down the code.
About the missing bar code: I have gotten free lumber twice at the orange big box because there was no barcode/price on it. The cashier said it was too much trouble finding the price so just take it. Nice!
Brilliant video Steve! It’s exactly what all weekend woodworkers need to know.
In Australia, just substitute “timber” for “lumber”, “Bunnings” for “Home Depot“ and “pine” for “wide range of good-looking maple, cherry, walnut etc.”
And don't forget to watch out for those onions!
The stores have a panel cutter to cut your plywood down to dimensions you need and that will fit in your vehicle.
Good video. Those looking for plywood, do a little additional research on the various grades and types of that. Easy to grab a less-than-ideal one if you're new at this.
It's good to know how to navigate the lumber section at the local big box, it is often the most convenient place to go, but the ultimate tip is to learn where the nearest lumber yard is that will sell to retail customers. The big box is fine for 2x4s and a sheet of plywood and "mixed projects" where you need a bunch of other supplies in addition to lumber. But for anything other than construction lumber and lower grades of sheet goods, the pricing, selection, and quality are likely all to be much better at the lumber yard.
One more tip about the "common" boards discussed starting at 6:30ish. MAKE SURE to pay attention to whether they are pine or "whitewood." The "whitewood" boards are usually smoother and look like pine, but they are a BEAST to stain.
Great video, Steve. Also might be worth mentioning that a lot of these stores have a scrap bin that they will sell excess cutoffs at a discount.
Life hack. Play dumb and ask an employee how much it costs. If they're nice they'll give it to you for free.
@@verse101 Yep, it's more work for them to dispose of it rather than just let you have it.
Also check out the discounted lumber (the pile next to the saw). Sometimes there is good lumber there at a great price.
“You’re on your own at big box stores. Nobody is there to help you.”
Hey, hats off to the folks trying to do their best working at the big box stores. They’re undertrained and probably underpaid - they want to help you, even if they haven’t been given the tools to do so by management.
Yes, and on top of this both orange and blue notoriously understaff their stores. So even if there is a unicorn employee who knows what's what AND the panel saw is working that day, they're probably trying to help 4 customers at once while also trying to hit all the metrics spewed from the corporate overlords.
Yeah that was a pretty unfair blanket statement. That isn't the case at my local box stores. The HD nearest to my house is excellent. I say that from the perspective of a local contractor that visits the place nearly every day, and some days more than one visit over decades of patronage.
Excellent advice. A few other things I learned the hard way. For heavy sheet good on lower shelves, pull it out, stand it up on the 4’ end, line it up with that center section, and tip it onto the cart. For any board, check for edge knots, gouges, chips, and checking/splitting on the end. I sometimes bounce it on the concrete floor and listen for anything other than a solid sound.
I’ve found that taking a picture of the barcode on the shelf is helpful when not all the boards have a barcode. Then just show the picture to the cashier
Really looking forward to the wood mill video - I'm always so intimidated by those places!
Yes more videos like this!
Great video Steve. I would also mention don’t be tempted to order online and have the lumber delivered. They will just grab whatever is on top and it’s a crap shoot if it’s good or not.
Buy want you need not what you think you need. Best advice I’ve been given when I was starting out
Man I moved to Sweden and somethings are similar but some wood products are so different. They have these construction grade but usually really straight 2x2s, for example. Lots of interesting stuff
Just loved this video. I work in a DIY store in the U.K.But this was an eye opener. Very different to our stores and certainly not all to the good either.
Always watch. Always learn. Thanks.
I agree with what others have said and start to go to lumber yards if they are near you. Don’t be shy they need the business!
Hey Stev, I mean Steve , 😆 Thank You for an excellent channel giving great advice with a touch of humor. You have helped tremendously !
Good stuff.
Had to LOL at “really dull hand saw” to use.
I appreciate this video. I am a beginner and I found that my orange store is very helpful. The blue store sometimes has better quality but is not so helpful or organized. I am lucky that they are a quarter of a mile from each other, too. I did not know about furring strips when I bought the wood for my first real project - the California Side Table and I bought these and used them. It was a beginner project after all. I have been encouraged by all of your videos. When you say beginner you actually mean beginner unlike some of the other videos I have found.
Easy trick for checking out with boards or moulding that don't have a bar code sticker or end label. Snap a photo with your phone of the shelf label for that item. It has the item number on it, as well as the price. Show that to the cashier, & they can enter the item number manually. Also a good way to confirm the price matches what's in their system. I've done that a few times with cut-it-yourself moulding at Home Depot especially, if the piece I cut off didn't have a bar code sticker. I've never had a cashier have problems with doing that. Thanks for all the tips!
I use the metal ibeams in the isles of my store to check for straightness.
I don't know why but I was surprised to hear you say "pain in the a$$". It was refreshing! 😆
I wish you and your channel were available to give this advice when I was starting out but we didn’t have CZcams in those days. (The Romans were still here in England!) If you have a timber mill within reach, popping in there and striking up a relationship with them can pay dividends long term. Thanks Steve. As usual a great video!
In Germany, most stores offer pretty good cutting services. On the downside, you rarely get anything beyond pine, plywood, particle board and mdf.
Like, once I made a shelf with a flipdown lid for storing and changing diapers, and had all rectangular pieces cut to size at the store.
The home depot in new Albany indiana has great employees! I always have my wood cut down to fit in my vehicle. There are certain times a day u may have a wait but they seem genuinely happy to help.
always shop local, always picked out my pieces. I always restacked afterwards
This was a great video. You touched on just about everything, especially those subtle items that many folks won’t understand early on. For instance, understanding the difference between lumber that is sold by the piece versus that sold by the linear foot will help avoid embarrassing moments at checkout.
My day job had me sitting in front of a computer most of the day. I have a little bit of carpal tunnel, but no calluses. Therefore, I usually take a pair of gloves with me to protect against splinters and cuts from the sharp edges on plywood. The gloves I like are the stretchy ones where the palms and fingers are coated in rubbery nitrile.
I also carry a small, pocket-size tape measure so I don't have to wander around the store looking for one. I really like the Stanley 10-ft tape with a scale on the back for directly measuring the outside diameters (OD) of metal tubing, PVC pipe, etc. (Some woodworking projects use materials other than wood now and then.)
My preferred tape measure is a Stanley model 33-115. (I have a cheap engraver that I use to carve my name on the side so I won’t get suspected of shoplifting.) This is the one mentioned above with the OD scale on the back side of the tape.
Thank you for the excellent tutorial. I am looking forward to the one about shopping at an actual lumber yard. I haven’t done much of that yet, so I’m sure it will be enlightening.
@Steve Ramsey So, have you ever been to a Menards? They compete with Home Depot and Lowes, but their lumber section is typically more like a traditional lumber yard, in that it's largely outside in sheds, and what lumber is in the main store is farther away from the front. Perhaps the biggest difference from Home Depot (don't know about Lowes, haven't been to one) is that Menards stacks the lumber flat, rather than on end, which I prefer.
I carried lots of lumber and plywood on my Corolla. Roll down the windows and run rope through and over the car. Get in and out dukes of Hazzard style. Easier than with an extended cab truck with a tiny bed.
If I’m buying something other then wood I’ll put a hand held basket in a regular shopping cart and then transfer the basket onto the lumber cart as I head for checkout. Also, if you have a green store near you I greatly prefer they’re lumber layout.
Omg thank you. This is going to sound so stupid but I’ve been twice and just got totally overwhelmed and felt really out of my depth and left with nothing! This is exactly what I needed…rolling bed table, here I come! 🙏 thanks
God Bless you Steve Ramsey
I was shocked when I saw you in a previous video at Home Depot, and your location had hardwoods for sale. The closest two HD's near me in South TX do not sell any hardwoods, whatsoever. The nearest to me is a Lowe's that carries some Red Oak and Poplar. For all other hardwoods (domestic & exotic) I have to order them online.
Great video! Two more tips I learned the hard way:
1. Bring work gloves. Handling lumber with bare hands is less comfortable and invites splinters. It will be easier to manage, especially if you are putting wood back and forth because it's crooked, etc.
2. Bring a tape measure. You know you have one. I realize that Steve mentioned grabbing one from the appropriate department, but 1) that's a pain every time, and 2) ew handing something that 20 people have previously handled because they also forgot to bring their own tape measure, especially in these times.
Your second point is pretty stupid. When you actually need to buy a tape measure, what do you do? Wear gloves and bring disinfectant?
@@PJBonoVox You don't need to say it's stupid to disagree with it. But anyways, he meant that if you have a tape measure it's more convenient to bring it with you (rather than walking to that aisle and back). If you don't have one you need to buy one first obviously.
Those employees just love returning all the tape measures from all over the store back to the shelf when thoughtless and "too cheap to buy one" customers feel they can just pick up tools off the shelf and use them anywhere they want.
You are a germ
I like your new truck Steve!
I really like the tips and saying that showed up at the bottom!
I can't tell you how many embarrassing trips I've made to home depot(my ONLY wood source here) this video would have helped me Immensely. Though I do learned better with experience. Haha. I get a lot of value out of these videos. Thanks.
At the store where I usually shop for sheets of plywood, they will cut down a 4'x8' sheet to whatever you like (For me usually a 4x4) at no cost. However you do have to buy the whole sheet. It's an alternative to buying the hobby boards as they are usually 2'x4'. Just make sure that if you need a piece that is a true 4x4 that the cut off piece will be undersize due to the saw kerf.
Great video.
One addition,mid not already mentioned: try to bring a piece of scrap or something to use as a wheel chock when unloading the cart. Huge PITA when trying to unload a cart when solo, and having the cart keep rolling away into the parking lot
"A less horrible experience" about says it all. I learned I could always count on getting the least convenient parking, the poorest service, a minimalist selection, wasted time in line, and not enough employees working when you needed them most. Home Despot.
If you have one in your area, check out the green store. They tend to have a better selection of decent stuff than orange or blue - for wood, anyway - and more variety.
In addition to the 3/4” (1x) pine boards, the big box stores in my area have pine boards that are a full inch (4 quarter) thick.
Get everything you need in one trip. That's a pipe dream.
Recently I was doing a big project that required 7 sheets of plywood (and siding). In advance of this I made your plywood lifting cleat and brought it with me into the store. This made the trip way easier, my wife was able to help stabilize the cart rather than help me move the wood (and likely hurt herself). There's nothing wrong with bringing your own stuff into the store.
I love your tip on the tape measure. I always mean to bring one and forget it at home or in the car 90% of the time.
Good advice. I feel strongly that I do much better by going to the local lumber mill and get boards where they were cut, but I still need plywood from the big box stores. There is no question that the quality of pine board from the local mill are a higher quality for less money than the big box stores. I was once told that the boards they think are not good enough to sell are sold to a big box store!
Good tutorial on navigating a big box home center. Your point on bringing your own circular saw to the store is a good one. I bring a 4 ft t-square as well. Lowes and Home Depot both have sheet cutting saws in their stores, but they are often not working, operated by untrained personnel and/or make terrible splintery cuts.
Very good video. I remember being so freakin intimidated buying a lot of lumber at Home Depot on my first big project. It shouldn't have been but it was really overwhelming and a little stressful, for me. I hope the beginning woodworker watches this and learns a little bit from it.
The big orange store has really improved their customer service focus. I have had outstanding experiences with them cutting sheet goods on the panel saw and in loading all the lumber for me in the covered area of the store. I've also had great luck in buying online then picking up. They usually pick the best boards because they don't want to have to restock if you don't like what they picked. It's a time saver.
Carl,
I agree with you. I don't have a truck so I have to have any sheet goods broken down to a width that will fit into my trunk. I have never had a problem in getting an employee to break down a full sheet into thirds for me.
So practical! Thank you! As if I had my big brother with me to help me buy wood. ❤
I'm so jealous you guys get to find mahogany boards or maple plywood in Home Depot, the best we get here is rough-saw oak planks which are typically only good for shelves, the rest is sheet goods that doesn't even say what it's made of. Even the solid wood is usually just labelled as "soft wood" while the hard wood stuff is laminated bit of leftover something... also for us the sheet-goods department is always at the far-end of the store, nowhere near the checkouts so it's always fun to drag your 2x4s around the store. Luckily we can get sheet goods cut to our own specs by an employee though not all stores offer that but it's really convenient when they can ('cos my car is not big enough for a full sheet of plywood, and neither is my workshop for that matter)
For my more serious projects, I'll use either an actual lumber yard, that is local, or my go-to online source.
I recently built stands for a friend's 10" bandsaw and benchtop drill press and spent a frustrating hour at the blue store looking for decent 2x4s.
All good advices. I liked the one comment not being able to find someone to cut things for you....I wish I d seen a station where you could cut it yourself...never saw one at any of the home depots I usually shop at
Looking forward to your guide for a plumber yard as well.
Nice job Steve! You continue to be one of the most empathetic and helpful woodworking channels.
At Lowe’s I get my plywood cut no problem every time. 😇 There used to be a button to push for help that said “Assistance needed in the board cutting area”, but that’s gone 😂 But you can always flag somebody down.
Yeah, my Lowes is great. When I walk through the big door and someone says welcome to Lowes I say thanks send someone to the saw I'll be there in a few. They're so good there that they send a someone to help me sort the the plywood sheets. It's awesome. I arrive after ten in the morning when it has slowed down.