Hi all. I am planning to make my girlfriend a small wooden jewellery box because. . . well, to be honest, I am bored at the moment. But I have hit a small snag. I have no idea where to buy the wood I have experience, access to tools and the motivation. But the last time I had to order wood was at school for a project, and they had a dedicated supplier. So the question I am asking is: Where can I buy cut-to-size birch plywood in reading? Thanks
Most larger shops that sell building materials should be able to help you out. Or maybe even Ikea. They have some products made from real wood as well (bench tops, shelf and the like)
What about mahogany? Polished up looks gorgeous, although can be fairly hard to work, dovetails do look great in it. Any decent hardware shop like B&Q, or even smaller local hardware shops will stock wood, just buy a plank of the right size and cut it to length yourself? Only other suggestion would be to check for any wholesalers like Sydenhams, rock up and see if they have any smaller offcuts.
Depends on where you live I guess, but the best place to buy wood from is usually a carpenter. And I wouldn't use plywood for a small box like this actually but hard and massive wood, like oak, birch or ash. Teak or mahogany are nice aswell, but more expensive ofc.
You could always veneer the box. Use a cheap wood like pine and cover/glue on thin strips of expensive wood to get the appearance of having only used the expensive wood But that's if you don't love your gf
get on ebay and buy some spalted beech, i bought a load of 10mm thick small boards, (12 actually) but there was enough to make a couple of jewellery boxes. and spalted beech looks amazing if you get some decent pattern to it. If you're really set on ply though, you could try any local cabinet makers/shop fitters, they always have plenty of of cuts.
Does cut to size really matter? I'm sure you can find other projects that need wood. If there are any schools or collages near you with a woodwork section in the design-tech area they should have some decent sized offcuts, mostly pine, fir and MDF, but occasionally students order something nice for their final projects. I like working with rosewoods or walnut, they look fantastic lacquered. A quick google also threw up a timber merchant in Reading. http://www.laver.co.uk/reading.asp
I think B&Q actually sell birch ply, although I'm not sure of the quality. Personally, though, I'd go for real wood - try a proper timber merchant, if they don't sell any I'm sure they'd point you in the right direction.
Man I'm really surprised this would be such a challenge. I built my girlfriend a box for her birthday last year and used mahogany, white oak and maple and got all the wood right around my house. I live in one of the smallest capitols in the USA and I can still just get in the car and drive 10 minutes to a lumber yard and buy nearly anything I want. If I want a harder to find hardwood like Beach, Teak, Lacewood or something exotic like that I can still drive 50 minutes to a hardwood specialist and get whatever I want. I can think of at least 7-8 lumber yards within a 60 mile radius of my house. Are things just very different in the UK?
The thing is that in smaller places shops tend to stock a wider supply of materials. In large cities there are more shops, but each shop specialize in a speciffic field.
Have a look at these maybe. Timber merchants are obviously the easiest places to find wood, but given the fact that you're not going to be after much (I'd imagine) see what the smallest quantity they do, and whether they have any off-cuts you can take off their hands for cheap.
