Hi All. Wondering if anybody has recommendations of timber suppliers (or builders merchants with good selections of hardwoods) where I can have a look at timber before purchasing? Ideally in South London.
Looking for four or so medium size (1500x350x25) planks in an affordable hardwood, something like ash, but definitely want to have a look at what sort oif grain and texture they have before buying (ie. not online).
Thinking @woodtechs @dario might have some ideas? Thanks y’all!
Hi Clive,
SL Hardwoods is my go to recommendation. It’s a 20-30 minutes drive from the makerspace. I’ve also done it on public transport but I don’t really recommend it, it takes forever and the journey back is pretty painful if you buy a non trivial amount of wood.
They stock all the common hardwoods. You can go in person and the staff there is very friendly and generally happy for you to look around a bit. From my experience, for rough sawn boards they don’t let you buy just X meters, it has to be full length boards, which generally means you have to buy multiples of 3 meters. They are happy to cut it into more manageable sizes for you if you need it to fit in a car or van. They do also have an off cut section with all kinds of sizes. I’m not sure how the prices of the offcuts compare to the full length boards. You get a small discount if you tell them you come from SLMS.
They also offer already flattened and planed boards (PAR) where you give them the exact dimensions you want but I’ve never used that service.
If you want to look at different species before going there’s a box of samples in the woodshop, under the workbench that is closest to the table saw.
+1 for SL Hardwoods. If you are looking for live edges and are happy to travel: on ebay there are good boards around surrey/kent.
+1 for SL Hardwoods
amazing, thanks guys. recon ill go for SL hardwoods lol
I’m buying some plywood from SL hardwoods in the near future - if you’re looking to order soon we can split delivery
Don’t forget to mention being an SLMS member, you get 10% off!
Fulham timber in Brixton are also great. Limited selection (Oak, Sapele, etc) but good value and multiple sizes available.
Hey Sean - Ill be picking mine up so can grab yours!
Although actually thought the quotes were a bit high, so might look for something more affordable now i know what i want. But thank s for the rec, they were super friendly 
Oh perfect, which supplier? SL Hardwoods only had the (very expensive) super premium cabinetry ply, so I’m going to order from Fulham timber instead