Thread: IL, WI, Where to get SYP: (Southern Yellow Pine)

After a lot of effort spent on this, I have been able to find some Doug-Fir!!! Turns out Lowe's in my area has it. However, they do not necessarily know they have it. In the larger widths only, they have dougfir mixed in with SPF in their 2x8 and 2x10 stock, and I was looking at 8' stock. The dougfir is therefore priced the same as SPF! ...And of course it's all kiln-dired. Just by good fortune, I spoke to a knowledgeable guy in...

Schwarz says you can use Douglas Fir. He provides a chart for e-value (strength of wood over a span). SYP has an e value of 1.93 Doug fir is 1.95. For reference, maple is 1.83. Hemlock is 1.20 and white pine is 1.24 Schawrz's comments on wet wood are to sticker it and wait for it to dry. If you can get doug fir I would. What I would do is go cull the driest pieces you can find, then wait for them to dry and make do with another bench...

Hem-fir will likely not look like select SYP, but is considered a structural wood. Another good choice which may be easy to find would be Douglas Fir. .

Quote: Originally Posted by tkarlmann Would any of you use green dougfir for a workbench? I cannot afford to wait a year for it to dry. Nope, you don't want to use green wood. The SYP I used was kiln dried, but it still had a fairly high water content. I was impatient and didn't wait for it to dry. I ended up with some movement.

I too read Chris Schwartz's workbench book indicting it could be had at the big box stores. I think that depends on where you live (I think he is near Cincinnati). I've checked Menards, Lowes and HD; none have SYP in dimensional lumber in the Chicago area. It's all HemFir. I had someone at Lowes tell me they could have it special ordered; however, I didn't pursue the up charge for that yet. I checked with the Hardwood...

I tried finding doug fir or SYP here in Milwaukee a few years ago when I built my bench. Could only find hem fir. Resorted to LVL. But I was recently at Menards and looked at their current LVL stock and it all had some sort of yellowish coating on the outside. Absolutely different looking from the previous stuff I sourced there. The yellow stuff had a tacky feel to it, I think it would absolutely interfere w/ paint (which is how I finished my...

Wall lumber could probably ship you what you want. If you are dead set on it. Http://www.walllumber.com/products.asp I have heard good things about them, but never used them. We have yellow pine t&g flooring avalible at the local HD, you would need to laminate the pieces for thickness but it would work if available in your area. I have used douglas fir for other projects and it isnt quite as hard or heavy as syp, but is should make a...

Chicago area is a painful area to acquire wood. It's either downright overpriced or being horded. Owl Hardwood is your best chance for commercially available SYP in Chicago area, but call first since their stock does rotate. A point though is that their prices are about two hundred yards that side of outrageous. They have locations is Lombard, Des Plaines, and Oak Lawn http://www.owlhardwood.com/ Kirkland Mill does stock it, but since...

Quote: Originally Posted by tkarlmann (Was going to modify & build John White's New-Fangled Workbench ---> Screws into end grain on the stretcher? John, really!) I built a NFWB and used Doug Fir with screws into the stretcher. Several years later, still tight from initial install. I got news for you- if you could get SYP, it'd be green and need to be rough sized and dried for a while before you use it on a bench....

We have SYP out the wazoo here. What I need, that we don't have, is some hardwood maple.