I was trying to find a recent thread about the old mom and pop lumberyards dying off, and I could find it.
I had a sad and enlightening experience today at our local high quality, low overhead yard. The owner/operator is in his 70’s been on the yard since he was old enough to carry lumber. Him and his sister run it with a young nephew helping out. His younger brothers run a separate hardware store pro tool supply on the other side of town.
Temperature was in the low 60’s today and it was the first time I have seen him put a coat on above 20 degrees. Also he wanted to ride in my van back to the cedar shed, usually I cant keep up walking with him.
His father started the yard after WW2. His father was an indepent carpenter before the war who allegedly had two houses burned down by Union thugs. His father built a multiplicity of different types of crates for shipping things overseas, as well as shelving units for families living together back home.
I hope the yard lasts to the next generation, as my only choice after this is big box garbage.
Replies
Sad day when all those places are gone. Enjoy 'em while you can.
The best reward for a job well done is the opportunity to do another.
Ya gotta use em or loose em. Same with the old hardware stores. There are very few of them left now. They have stuff that you just can't get at the BIG BOXES. And they will order you up stuff for special jobs too.
And someone there knows more about most items than the SKU.
Yes they know the lumber business. Can you get 3X12 cedar at the SKU's for steps? You can at the old lumber yards. A special order 15 lite oak door for 350 bucks? I don't think so.... You ask a question at an SKU they can't answer they get mad at you for making them look stupid.
You are right but sort of missed what I was saying. The knowing the SKU was "stock keeping unit", meaning they only knew the part number, not anything about the product.
I fee like a traitor when I go by mt yard and go to Lowes. However our Lowes is pretty good and here in NC Lowes is local sort of since it started here.
My yard and I have an understaanding, if I can get from them in a reasonable time I will get it there, just like our True Value Hardware.
OK I follow you now. Its good you have a good Lowes there. I just hope it continues. There are enough headaches in business without having to contend with some we shouldn't have to deal with.
I use my local yard almost every day and love the place. Did some work for a Hollywood friend out in Malibu, great yard, but the property became just too valuable. CLOSED.
Yes we have a great old yard that we use for odds and ends. It's more grandma and grandpa than mom and pop. They stock only 20' 2x4's. Need a 12', they carry it over to their radial arm saw and make it for you.
Offer to buy the business from him.
Keep the tradition going.
Put the business online.
Have a special BT members discount.
Pick some distinctive colors for the company so when you get big you can kick the orange boxes ####.
My family was in the lumber business here, for 100+ years. Great grandfather started it, and it made it as far as my dad, and his brother.
The high interest rates and building slump of the early 80's, was the end.
The old timer carpenters in the area used to tell me how much they loved the material there. The practice was to only stock #1 framing material.
The operation was right in the middle of the downtown area. The lumber would come in on railcar. Then the car would get pulled down a siding,and unloaded by hand. Usually, it was a tangled mess, from the trip. Then it was put on a truck, and hand loaded into the bins, inside the warehouse. Labor intensive! The bins were perpendicular to the aisle in the warehouse, so a fork lift would have been inpractical.
I was in junior high school, when things started getting bad. Dad told me he was getting out, before I was old enough to work there. Much to his dismay, one of my first jobs, out of college, was a yard hand at another local yard.
I had the great fortune to watch the in house cabinet maker work , when I was young. This guy was old school, and worked for the family for about 50 years. Much of what I learned from him, I put into practice daily. His kitchens are still acclaimed, when a house is listed for sale. Like a badge of honor!
Personally, I do most of my business with my fathers biggest competitor. They've been around a long time, and are third generation owned. The best material, without having to hand pick. The service is great.
Brudoggie
Yeah and the big boxes give you a 5 hour window for deliveries. Local lumber yards can work you in when you need the lumber. Like, first thing in the morning. (7 AM) Its real cool to have your help standing around for 5-6 hours doing nothing.
Brudoggie,
i have a yard near me that stocks SYP #1 framing lumber. I use it for scaffold planks!#1 cedar shingles--un-obtainable anywhere else locally
Clear cedar siding
clear cedar 2x6--bought an 18 foot piece--not a knot in the stick--couldn't even count the growth rings per inch( was ashamed to cut it to tell the truth-made my wife come out and look at it before i cut it
redwood clapboards
quarter sawn white oakalso-- i don't know where they get it--but plywood that is flat,LOL
stephen
Stephen,I can still get clear cedar lap siding and shingles, and one of my millwork suppliers has some awesome appearance grade 2x cedar. Alot of clear and the rest is like #1 common. Their #3 and btr 1x cedar is mostly tight knot too.Similar pricing to the actual #3 garbage most of the other places here sell.I buy alot of rough sawn kd hardwood too, but have to go 100 miles away to get good stuff, without being raked over the coals.When I framed the roof of my shop, I had quite a bit of clear 2x10x24 doug fir, in the pile. Kind of a shame to make rafters out of that!Brudoggie
Brudogie,
i was talking to one of our employees yesterday.
I did, not know this but the man tells me we can take an empty burlap bag to that same yard and buy actual charcoal--( not prepackaged "kingsford")
says it is the only thing to grill with.
stephen
Stephen,
I bet thet still have coal bricks too!
As a side note, the town of Kingsford, where the bag stuff started, is a couple of blocks from my home. DW was born and raised there. I grew up in the adjacent town of Iron Mountain.
The Kingsford charcaol, was a byproduct of the Ford plant, that was here, way back in the day of the "woody". The bodies were produced there, and then WWII glider parts, during the war. E.G. Kingsford, was a good friend of Henry Ford. There is alot of great Michigan pioneering history here.
My family, was one of the early settlers here, most in the lumbering industry. There was some huge white pine around here back then.
Brudoggie
When I had my cabinet shop flat plywood was getting harder and harder to find. When I did find it I would stock up. Especially 1/2 inch.
I have had it good.
Had a local yard that was father and son owned for the last 25 years. Good lumber - a geat hardware - could/would special order or research for any product you wanted. If they couldn't get it for you, they would point you to where it was available.
They also refered a lot of work my way as they knew if it was at all possible, the materials were coming from them.
They closed up December of 1999.
I swithched to another family owned yard about 20 miles further away. They just celebrated thier 100 th year in business. The grandson of the man who started it is in his early 80's and works there every day. His kids, a son and daughter, are pretty much running the day to day business of it and will continue to long after he passes on.
The most remarkable part of it is they are within 25 miles of Lansing (Michigan) that is loaded with the big boxes and a couple of major lumberyards and still thriving.
I will gladly pay more for the ability to purchase from the mom and pop operations.
Terry
I know what ya mean. Hopefully someone will step up and take it over when he's no longer able. My favorite yard is the same type of place. I needed a couple hunded feet of VG fir flooring for a patch & we found some stored up in the rafters of the old shed, still bundled with cotton string from probably 50 years ago.
I started a thread last fall when my beloved local yard burned to the ground. Within a few days, they had all their inventory back & set up a temporary office. They just broke ground last week on a new yard, located in a bigger town, right off the interstate. With any luck, they will have the same great old service but in a brand-new facility.
Mike