Getting oak in the UK

I’ve been having some success with a local supplier who I found and wanted to pass on a trick I used to find decent timbers in your area through eBay.

Do a search on eBay for ‘kiln dried oak board’, ‘oak board’, ‘oak beam’, or suchlike to start off with. The important next step is to order the search results based on ‘Distance: Nearest’. This will order the results so the ones closest to you will be at the top. Now look through the results within an acceptable driving distance and see what’s for sale. If the quantities are too large (someone selling a cubic meter of boards, for example), the price is too high, or you’re after another species or dimension, contact some sellers and ask if you can take a smaller quantity, a lower grade, or if they ever get any of the type of timber you’re after. Remember that you’re really looking for suppliers – not actual listings! If you want some walnut but can’t find any listings, search for oak instead and contact the sellers to see if they can get walnut. A lot of sellers won’t list everything they have, or have something you’re after in stock when you do your search, but will let you know they can get it if you contact them.

I’ve found two suppliers within a 30 minute drive this way. I’d never have found them through Google! Hopefully it’ll help someone else.

George.

@mexiquite I had a Record Power BS450 but have just replaced it with a Scheppach Basato 4. The RP one was great but too big for my shop so downsized from 18″ to 15″. I’ve only just got the Basato into my shop so haven’t had a chance to test it yet but I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

The key things to consider when getting a saw to resaw are max depth of cut and motor size. 10″ max depth of cut is generally more than enough, and 1.5HP is plenty. There are other aspects that are important but can’t really be measured, like whether or not the saw can properly tension the blade you’re using, the type of guides you prefer (personal choice, really), quality of dust extraction, etc. A lot of things like that you won’t learn until you get yourself a saw and start using it. We don’t get Grizzly saws over here so I can’t comment on that but if it’s a 17″ saw with a 2HP motor you shouldn’t have a problem resawing – I know Grizzly are very well regarded over in the US.

A lot of people will tell you you need the widest blade you can possibly get for resawing, like 1″ or so. I’ve found that to be complete overkill though. I use a 3TPI, 1/2″ wide blade and it cut like a champ on my old saw. I was resawing 6″ and 8″ wide oak no problem. Get a blade with hardened teeth and it’ll last considerably longer than a regular spring steel one – it’ll even go through the occasional nail when cutting down reclaimed wood (tested that!). This is the one I get but there are equivalents in the US: http://tuffsaws.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_4_18_45

Hope this helps. If you want to talk band saws some more, get a new thread going so others can post with their comments, too.

George.