The problem with buying North American timber is that the boards will be kiln dried, square edged and put in a container before shipping over to Britain. In that process, it is quite probable that in the grading process will have mixed boards from different trees but of a similar quality together. So if for example you are making a cherrywood dining table and care about the matching of grain and figuring, it is important that similar coloured boards are selected. Now American cherry can vary from light yellow to light brown, so problems can occur if the boards aren't properly selected. Organisations like Atkins and Cripps are used to taking orders for large consignments ofhardwoods, putting them on a lorry and whizzing them off pretty efficiently.

However, I have found that if you approach them, tell then when you are coming, it is quite possible to get down and look around the stacks and pick out matching boards without much trouble. Here I think the secret is to tell them what you want , find out how large a stock they are keeping at your local depot and find out whether it would be worth your while going over. Don't expect a salesman at Atkins and Cripps to know whether they have a good log of maple or not. What they will know is whether they have 50 or 200 cubic metres of maple. Don't be put off by this and don't feel that the scale of the operation will deny you the opportunity to pick out those few boards that you need for that special job. Certainly the way American imported timber is processed makes it a very different material to use that home grown timber.

American timber is almost invariably provided with two straight edges (denoted in catalogues as 2SE). This is done to make the containerised shipping of timber across the Atlantic more efficient. The advantage to you the user is that much of the defects, knots, shakes etc. will have been sawn out at source, for it is not in the American~ s interest to ship over anything but first quality timber. However this inevitably means that the decision of where to rip this nice wide board will have been taken for you.

Next month I will talk about some of my favourite one man band timber yards, why I like using them and dealing with these awkward characters what to look for when you first visit a timber yard.

first published in The Woodworker Magazine by David Savage in the series CRAFT OF CABINETMAKING 26

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