Buying wood

I have 0 woodworking experience, but since I’ve attended the induction I thought I’d give it a go. So I would like to build a hardwood chopping board made of dark wood (probably walnut) and strip of softer wood in the middle (e.g. oak or maple).
How do I buy wood to do this? In what format? Where? I literally have 0 knowledge.

Cheers,

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Both of these places are good:
https://www.slhardwoods.co.uk
https://www.whittentimber.co.uk

They sell planks of different thicknesses and length so you’ll have to work out how much you’ll need for the size board you want. They may have offcuts that could be suitable so might be worth going in and asking.

You can search eBay for hardwood offcuts if it’s just small pieces you are after.

Or just wait and keep your eyes and ears open for old kitchen counter tops, unloved chopping boards, broken furniture etc

Wow, wood is expensive. The smallest size walnut board from slhardwoods is 2.4m x 115mm x 25mm and it’s £90…

If you go into Whittens in Peckham they have a few bins of offcuts that are much lower cost. Plenty of pieces that are chopping board sized for 5 or 10 pounds (some less, some more). Of course they may not have exactly what you want. I also find they knock money off pretty much at random and without you asking! Great service.


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E Roberts timber in Tottenham Hale is an old school timber merchant they sell at sensible prices I believe they do American walnut. Failing that British woodland timber in Surrey is great and a fraction of the cost of the other places you have been advised to visit. If you just want off cuts then whitens is ok. If you want to buy quantity E Roberts is literally a fraction of the price of the two places suggested by another member.
I would like to make a trip to British woodlands timber. If a few people got together it would be a very cheap way of sourcing excellent timber.