Share the sectrets to buying wood

[recom273]

I was wondering if anyone has any language tips or if someone can tell me if I'm asking too much.

 

I went to a couple of shops today, my first adventure into buying wood here. I had a plan in my head to build a simple chicken coup.

 

The owner of the first lumber yard refused to deal with us because he just couldn't understand what we wanted.

 

Not hard, 4 off 2x4 ripped into 2x2 .. the dimensions didn't need to be spot on, just straight and 10 off 3m 2x1 which seems to be a standard size for door frames.

 

The second shop understood better until the guy bought the 2x2 wood out and it was the roughest of rough sawn timber ever, the 2x1 was OK, so then we went down the route of as they made windows and doors, could they plane it, and again, would be better if it could be uniform shape and straight. They didnt quite understand but by the end of the process we understood that its called 'mai reed' like ironing the wood. 

 

I didn't want to upset the owners any further by checking it further on site, but when we got it home some there is a difference of 2cm in some of the planed timber and most is shaped like a banana.

 

When the wife was trying to relay that we understood, and really the wood needed to be bigger and planed down to get to the desired dimensions the woman started to get shirty, telling us if the wood wasn't good enough for us to go somewhere else. Is it that im in the wrong place? should I have bought the wood from one shop and found a carpenter to plane down into a usable piece.

 

Anyone?

[VocalNeal]

Maybe they want to sell you std. size wood and not cut or plane it?

 

I used to buy steel and some places would only sell 6m lengths. Which is difficult to take away in a pickup.

Some places were willing to cut it into 1m lengths and deliver it.

Edited December 20, 2021 by VocalNeal

[KhunLA]

Buying wood .... don't

 

Nothing but termite food.

[Kwasaki]

Get anything you want in a global house and just treat, we have had a wood chicken hut for 15 years no problem. 

A steel one would maybe work out cheaper nowadays.

[recom273]

44 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Get anything you want in a global house and just treat, we have had a wood chicken hut for 15 years no problem. 

A steel one would maybe work out cheaper nowadays.

Is it planed and ready to use from global? like you would buying in any western place, Home Depot for example?

 

I have never been to global, we never had a global in our old place but there is one about 30Km away, we dont have a pickup, so its a bit difficult.

 

I would usually do something in metal, I used to have a couple of great fabricators near me that did some amazing custom furniture and lighting, In the village, I have been really disappointed by the quality of work that I have seen. I just wanted to try something a bit different, I have a mitre and circular saw that needed using.

Edited December 20, 2021 by recom273

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

 

I went to a couple of shops today, my first adventure into buying wood here. I had a plan in my head to build a simple chicken coup.

 

The owner of the first lumber yard refused to deal with us because he just couldn't understand what we wanted.

 

Not hard, 4 off 2x4 ripped into 2x2 .. the dimensions didn't need to be spot on, just straight and 10 off 3m 2x1 which seems to be a standard size for door frames.

You need to find a timber yard. All the timber yards I have been to will allow me into the stacks. If the places you went to won’t then it’s not the correct place for you to buy wood.
 

You also need to explain in excruciating detail to you wife before you go into a shop exactly what you want. Use pictures, use videos, so she really knows exactly what you are asking for. Do not expect you wife to have any knowledge of the technical Thai needed, I can virtually guarantee she doesn’t. The first shop didn’t want the problems that you were bringing. 

 

Take a tape measure in with you so you can identify the exact pieces you want cut down. You should be able to pick through the stacks to identify the boards you want, I am able to do exactly that, banana boards and ones with very long splits or huge knots are easy to reject. Don’t expect the owner or worker to pick timber for you

 

Don't expect them to stock anything but rough sawn boards, the lengths are variable usually 5 metres some longer, you may get lucky and find some shorter.

 

Every yard I’ve been to has a thicknesser they will run your chosen boards through at a moderate cost per meter. None of them has a planer that I’ve ever seen. Expect to loose 6mm per face put through the thicknesser, if you have you own tools you may be able get them to skip thickness  Take a saw with you in case they don’t have a chop saw.

 

Just because a size is standard in door frames means nothing unless you visit a wood yard that makes them.

 

you ask for 2x4, it doesn’t really exist, a 2x4 in the west is 1.5 x 3.5 the rough stock may have been 2x4 but the planes take off ¼” per face.

 

So do you want a finished size of 2x4 in which case you probably need to go to 3x5 to get your final size, and that doesn’t address the point that even if you get a 2x4 it cannot give you 2 2x2 as the saw kerf is at least 3mm.

 

the nearest wood yard to you that am confident will have the items you need is in Kumphawapi.

 

EDIT) there may be places closer to you, there probably are, but I’ve gone to Kumphawapi and UdonThani. There is an excellent shop in KK for sheet goods. I haven’t found a wood yard there.

EDIT 2 ) if you want 21mm x 43mm that shop has bundles of 8 that are about 2.5M for a great price 

 

If you need more help and fancy a drive through the roadworks contact me by PM for more help

Edited December 20, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[Kwasaki]

25 minutes ago, recom273 said:

Is it planed and ready to use from global? like you would buying in any western place, Home Depot for example?

 

I have never been to global, we never had a global in our old place but there is one about 30Km away, we dont have a pickup, so its a bit difficult.

 

I would usually do something in metal, I used to have a couple of great fabricators near me that did some amazing custom furniture and lighting, In the village, I have been really disappointed by the quality of work that I have seen. I just wanted to try something a bit different, I have a mitre and circular saw that needed using.

Well it's worth the trip and for a small cost they will deliver you can get everything there to build a chicken hut in wood or steel and they will help you with people that can build it for you too if you can't do it yourself. 

[KhaoYai]

There's an area - somewhere on the outskirts of Bangkok where's there's a lot of wood-yards close to each other. I found someone pretty helpful there a couple of years back and found what I wanted with my broken Thai and their English.  All sorts of timber is available, even moulded skirtings and architraves.

 

I can't remember exacty where - seem to think its off the western outer ring road. Maybe somebody here knows it but I have a business card somethere, I'll try to find it.

[recom273]

50 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

You need to find a timber yard. All the timber yards I have been to will allow me into the stacks. If the places you went to won’t then it’s not the correct place for you to buy wood.
 

Take a tape measure in with you so you can identify the exact pieces you want cut down. You should be able to pick through the stacks to identify the boards you want, I am able to do exactly that, banana boards and ones with very long splits or huge knots are easy to reject. Don’t expect the owner or worker to pick timber for you

 

Don't expect them to stock anything but rough sawn boards, the lengths are variable usually 5 metres some longer, you may get lucky and find some shorter.

 

Every yard I’ve been to has a thicknesser they will run your chosen boards through at a moderate cost per meter. None of them has a planer that I’ve ever seen. Expect to loose 6mm per face put through the thicknesser, if you have you own tools you may be able get them to skip thickness  Take a saw with you in case they don’t have a chop saw.

 

Just because a size is standard in door frames means nothing unless you visit a wood yard that makes them.

 

you ask for 2x4, it doesn’t really exist, a 2x4 in the west is 1.5 x 3.5 the rough stock may have been 2x4 but the planes take off ¼” per face.

 

So do you want a finished size of 2x4 in which case you probably need to go to 3x5 to get your final size, and that doesn’t address the point that even if you get a 2x4 it cannot give you 2 2x2 as the saw kerf is at least 3mm.

 

the nearest wood yard to you that am confident will have the items you need is in Kumphawapi  

 

If you need more help and fancy a drive through the roadworks contact me by PM for more help

Thanks for the info .. yes, it was a thicknesses, not a planer, sorry.

 

I think the first sentence was the key, I wanted to get the thing started today, I needed the wood so I was at the mercy of the seller. They actually made window and door frames on site and I walked over and told them I wanted a finish like this, the wife understood, but the woman who ran the place looked totally confused "but that's a doorframe"

 

They didn't say no to going through the stacks, and I refused some of the the first lengths they turned up with, which didn't go down too well, which is why I asked them to level the 2x2, they just didn't understand that I was after some usable wood and the final dimensions weren't an issue, but its for the uprights, so if these are out then the whole thing will be on the <>.

Of course I expected wastage and I was open to (and would have welcomed) suggestions from the lumber yard. I have done other projects here and people have been great, gone out of their way to understand and made suggestions. Even my wife commented, if they were professional they would have said suggested as you did, "oh, you need a 3x5 which we will plane down for you to get something close to what you need" - because the wife understood, I understood what the wife asked them but they were lost.

 

On the whole, the majority wasn't so bad, I got a pack of 30m of 2x1 which I thought was fair for rough sawn wood. It's all about learning, I find Issan life a lot different to the deep south, I need to learn to walk away from places when i'm not getting the answers I need instead of forcing a solution. 

 

I will try at Global and failing that make the uprights from steel, that's usually true and level.

Edited December 20, 2021 by recom273

[recom273]

5 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

There's an area - somewhere on the outskirts of Bangkok where's there's a lot of wood-yards close to each other. I found someone pretty helpful there a couple of years back and found what I wanted with my broken Thai and their English.  All sorts of timber is available, even moulded skirtings and architraves.

 

I can't remember exacty where - seem to think its off the western outer ring road. Maybe somebody here knows it but I have a business card somethere, I'll try to find it.

I really do appreciate the help, but its a bit too far for my old Honda wave and sidecar. 

 

Finding places like you have are what makes living here. I usually do this shopping myself, babbling along with drawings and pictures on my phone and people are usually pretty helpful.

[recom273]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

There is an excellent shop in KK for sheet goods. I haven’t found a wood yard there.

 

EDIT 2 ) if you want 21mm x 43mm that shop has bundles of 8 that are about 2.5M for a great price 

 

Do you have a clue to where? is it at the x-roads for Lao Nadi Road. I need a sheet of 3/4 ply which they didnt sell at this place today.

 

Is it this place?

 

 

Also, you mentioned about 5m lengths, that wasn't an issue, 1, 1.5, and 3m were available.. in the first shop before we got thrown out .. I said I need 2x2 as Im going to cut 8x 130cm out of it, showed him my plan and cutting list .. how do you sell it? well, 75B/m .. I said, great, can I have 12m .. no have, no one has 12m - LOL, I didn't think anyone could think a stupid farang could be that stupid to demand a 12m length of wood.

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by recom273

[sometimewoodworker]

15 minutes ago, recom273 said:

if they were professional they would have said suggested as you did, "oh, you need a 3x5 which we will plane down for you to get something close to what you need" - because the wife understood, I understood what the wife asked them but they were lost.

You are misunderstanding the situation, no Thai that I have come into contact with would offer that suggestion.
 

It is completely your job to ask if they can do what you want. You will get a yes, often a no, but it is vanishingly rare to get offered a different way to get what you want.

 

as to the communication I can guarantee that though you thought your wife was asking for what you wanted and you thought it was the correct way to ask it wasn’t, this is where the knowledge of technical way of talking becomes vital. 

[Crossy]

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

A steel one would maybe work out cheaper nowadays.

 

For sheds etc. steel is the stuff. It's cheap and readily available, OK you need to buy a chop saw (ours came with a free angle-grinder) and a welder (and learn to use it) but it doesn't rot if properly primed and painted and termites really don't like it.

 

Our local steel shop will deliver free if you buy a reasonable amount (and they're often on site within an hour). Of course it might be the bananas / mangoes / jackfruit / eggs that they go away with that gets the special service

[recom273]

19 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

You are misunderstanding the situation, no Thai that I have come into contact with would offer that suggestion.
 

It is completely your job to ask if they can do what you want. You will get a yes, often a no, but it is vanishingly rare to get offered a different way to get what you want.

 

as to the communication I can guarantee that though you thought your wife was asking for what you wanted and you thought it was the correct way to ask it wasn’t, this is where the knowledge of technical way of talking becomes vital. 

Thats strange, I find that there most people who really want to help and will make those suggestions. Perhaps not in the lumber industry which I have no understanding.

 

I would generally do this kind go thing on my own with my knowledge of Thai, I ask questions, learn some new vocab, make new friends while getting decent results. Your experience may be different, and I respect that.

 

I will try tomorrow at the shop in the screenie, asking him if he can level some 3x5 to 2x2 and see what happens.

[sometimewoodworker]

26 minutes ago, recom273 said:

Do you have a clue to where?

Yes, but no it’s not that one it’s at

(16.4228053, 102.8349756)

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

For sheds etc. steel is the stuff. It's cheap and readily available, OK you need to buy a chop saw (ours came with a free angle-grinder) and a welder (and learn to use it) but it doesn't rot if properly primed and painted and termites really don't like it.

 

Our local steel shop will deliver free if you buy a reasonable amount (and they're often on site within an hour). Of course it might be the bananas / mangoes / jackfruit / eggs that they go away with that gets the special service

You don't need a welder you can use selfdrill screws to asemble a metal square rod steel assembly chicken shed.

Small angle grinder and battery drill job done.

[recom273]

4 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

You don't need a welder you can use selfdrill screws to asemble a metal square rod steel assembly chicken shed.

Small angle grinder and battery drill job done.

You are probably right, but over the past years it’s much easier and cost effective to design something in sketchup and take it to one of my local metal work shops and let them cut it and weld it up. I really miss the my old contacts. 

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

You don't need a welder you can use selfdrill screws to asemble a metal square rod steel assembly chicken shed.

Small angle grinder and battery drill job done.

I love my welder and angle grinder.

I make everything of box steel or steel bar, and welding is fun.

I'd forget wood, here everything is done with steel.

[Saanim]

4 hours ago, recom273 said:

Is it planed and ready to use from global? like you would buying in any western place, Home Depot for example?

 

I have never been to global, we never had a global in our old place but there is one about 30Km away, we dont have a pickup, so its a bit difficult.

Few pictures from GH (not this year):

[recom273]

10 minutes ago, Saanim said:

Few pictures from GH (not this year):

Great - thanks, am off there tomorrow 

[bbudd]

Just pick the lumber you need a little oversized and use a planer to smooth it to your satisfaction (electric planes are CHEAP here)

2x2's are actual dimension here ,so lots of room for processing

" Mai dang " is inexpensive and lasts, but you want all red-    not the white heartwood

If its outdoor use be sure to treat for termites or it'll be done for in a year or less

[dlclark97]

14 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

There's an area - somewhere on the outskirts of Bangkok where's there's a lot of wood-yards close to each other. I found someone pretty helpful there a couple of years back and found what I wanted with my broken Thai and their English.  All sorts of timber is available, even moulded skirtings and architraves.

 

I can't remember exacty where - seem to think its off the western outer ring road. Maybe somebody here knows it but I have a business card somethere, I'll try to find it.

I think the area you are looking for in Bangkok is known as the Golden Mountain.  Never been there but I understand it is the place to buy quality wood and woodworking equipment.

[snowgard]

Why you not buy used pallet wood? Have a lot of places what sell it and build furnitere with it.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

23 minutes ago, snowgard said:

Why you not buy used pallet wood? Have a lot of places what sell it and build furnitere with it.

 

I can’t answer for the OP, but for me the saving on cost isn’t worth the danger to my tools. That doesn’t address the fact that the reason wood is used for making pallets is that it isn’t that great.

[1FinickyOne]

18 hours ago, recom273 said:

he just couldn't understand what we wanted.

 

Not hard, 4 off 2x4 ripped into 2x2 .. the dimensions didn't need to be spot on, just straight and 10 off 3m 2x1

If it sounds to him like Eyth Drght buytfh @3$%^jn - -- then it is going to be pretty hard to find what he thinks you might want... probably pretty annoying for him too... 

[snowgard]

Good wood is difficult to find in thailand and very expensive.

[recom273]

40 minutes ago, snowgard said:

Why you not buy used pallet wood? Have a lot of places what sell it and build furnitere with it.

 

Thanks, good to know that it’s recycled - I will actually need pallet wood to cover part of next doors nasty boundary wall, but for this instance pallet wood isn’t fit for purpose. 

[snowgard]

58 minutes ago, recom273 said:

Thanks, good to know that it’s recycled - I will actually need pallet wood to cover part of next doors nasty boundary wall, but for this instance pallet wood isn’t fit for purpose. 

Some sellers cut & plain it, too. Just make a plan and show it or give them the size you need.
Also some places have pallet wood 2-6m long but not easy to find. 

In the pattaya area you can find many, many shops next to highway 7 around 10-15km out of pattaya on the way to bkk & back to pattaya.

https://goo.gl/maps/ucDXc42tLDU8Mr2b9

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by snowgard

[Stevemercer]

Global House, Home Pro, Thai Wasudi or any of these big home improvement centres will have all the cut timber you could ever want. There is normally a huge back section (behind the store) where they store, sell and load all the contruction materials. Home delivery is usually pretty cheap.

[mikecha]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:38 AM, KhunLA said:

Buying wood .... don't

 

Nothing but termite food.

Rubbish   buy teak  not expensive  i live in phrae can get all i need planed on size door frames windows to the measurment easy and nice work