Where to buy timber for DIY project?

[Tkris]

HI, anybody that know where to buy "pretty" timber planks for a DIY project?

 

Preferably Teak, but can be other species. Need some with a natural edge.

 

North Phuket if there are more than one place.

 

I gave found a couple of timber yards, but they only sell mixed hardwoods and only cut rough to size.

 

Thank you in advance.

[madmax2]

Teak trees are a protected  species in Thailand and can no longer be harvested legally

There are some commercial plantations but they are to young to harvest yet

It is available in some parts of northern Thailand but mainly comes from other

countries where it is usually harvested illegally

Most of the wood available in Phuket is from harvested rubber trees

[Tkris]

1 hour ago, madmax2 said:

Teak trees are a protected  species in Thailand and can no longer be harvested legally

There are some commercial plantations but they are to young to harvest yet

It is available in some parts of northern Thailand but mainly comes from other

countries where it is usually harvested illegally

Most of the wood available in Phuket is from harvested rubber trees

Thank you.

 

I was aware that Teak is protected, but I thought still available in limited qty.

 

Sadly Rubberwood is not very attractive and not really suitable for my projects.

[DipStick]

2 hours ago, Tkris said:

Thank you.

 

I was aware that Teak is protected, but I thought still available in limited qty.

 

Sadly Rubberwood is not very attractive and not really suitable for my projects.

Last month I went to a furniture exhibition in Impact and totally furnished a 90sm condo with furniture from one supplier. The make up of the wood was 70% teak and 30 % Rubberwood. I am not an expert but all the furniture looked identical in make up except  the Teak was obviously a lot heavier and more expensive. Each piece of furniture was sold with a certificate describing the wood used. 

An interesting point is that this factory sell almost exclusively to Europe and what he had at the expo was basically end of runs. But teak is available 

[Grubster]

Wood is way too expensive to use here but they do have a lot of teak and other hardwoods available up here in the NE, but I needed one 12' long 2" by 12" board and the price was $50 US. No Thanks.

[Psimbo]

Plenty of shops selling wood along Thepkasattri Road- just a case of doing a 'Tebbit' and visiting them until you find close to what you want (or one of them being able to tell you where to try). Take a picture of what you are after- it eases the language barrier on occasion.

 

There is a farmed wood similar to Teak available but I can't remember its name.

 

Edit: Also worth stopping at the 'heavy furniture shops' along the same road- they may be able to help.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Psimbo

[melvinmelvin]

don'y know about Phuket,

but in general teak is available in substantial quantities, as salvaged 2nd hand, as imported and as Thai grown

not cheap though

 

other hardwoods widely available, mai daeng, mai teng and mai takiang, mai takiang being the cheapest I would think

 

a fairly nice and not expensive softwood is mai mayom

 

it all depends on what your are going to use the wood for, and where, indoors / outdoors etc

 

 

[wjdw]

On the road from Ikea, plenty of wood places - bought last year, was reasonable.

[DrDave]

11 hours ago, Grubster said:

Wood is way too expensive to use here but they do have a lot of teak and other hardwoods available up here in the NE, but I needed one 12' long 2" by 12" board and the price was $50 US. No Thanks.

That's about $2 US per board foot.

 

The average retail price for Teak in the US is well over $30 per board foot, and 10 years ago the wholesale price from the Central American plantations was over $4/bdft. (One board foot is 12" x 12" x 1").

 

I'd jump at the chance to buy a board of that size for $50!!!!

[Iolare]

I used a wood that I think is called "taken tang" for a rebuilding project.  I have a little house on my property that is used for extra accommodation when friends or family visit, that had become insect and termite infested.  It needed a total rebuild from cement piers up and I noticed during the demolition that there were a few pieces of wood that seemed resistant to the insects and I was told that they were "takien tang." 

 

 I found a wholesale supplier of this wood in the Kao Lak area and bought joists, studs and floor boards from them.  They have since opened up a satellite lumber yard in the Thalang area.  It is just north of town on the main highway a little past the Shell station on the same side.  They stock lumber in the rough cut state but will plain it for you. 

 

This wood is very hard and we used a pneumatic hail hammer gun on it, or in the case of nailing the joists, we pre-drilled for spikes.  I think it has a nice grain pattern, and I'll attach a few photos so you can see what it looks like.

[Grubster]

1 hour ago, DrDave said:

That's about $2 US per board foot.

 

The average retail price for Teak in the US is well over $30 per board foot, and 10 years ago the wholesale price from the Central American plantations was over $4/bdft. (One board foot is 12" x 12" x 1").

 

I'd jump at the chance to buy a board of that size for $50!!!!

Well I don't know what kind of wood that was but it was a very good and straight piece. I needed it for a concrete form. I ended up buying a tree for 500 baht and my workers sliced it up. Crap wood but ok for forms. 

           There seams to be some lumber stores up here in Sakon Nakon, I think the wood comes over the river from Laos, or at least they claim it does, Might be worth a trip up, I don't know. I'm going to town today I can check if you like. I'm sure they could deliver if big enough order.

            Oh I reread your post your looking for finished wood, not rough cut, I will look anyway. I ate at a restaurant here where they had stunning furniture and I asked about it and they said a local man makes it from logs that have been buried in the mud in the huge lake here that was formed a few hundred years ago by an earthquake I think. I know wood like that is worth a fortune in the US. That place is closed now and they were trying to sell that furniture, but I wasn't ready for it yet. Good luck and I will get back if I see finished Teak here today.

[DrDave]

6 minutes ago, Grubster said:

Well I don't know what kind of wood that was but it was a very good and straight piece. I needed it for a concrete form. I ended up buying a tree for 500 baht and my workers sliced it up. Crap wood but ok for forms. 

           There seams to be some lumber stores up here in Sakon Nakon, I think the wood comes over the river from Laos, or at least they claim it does, Might be worth a trip up, I don't know. I'm going to town today I can check if you like. I'm sure they could deliver if big enough order.

            Oh I reread your post your looking for finished wood, not rough cut, I will look anyway. I ate at a restaurant here where they had stunning furniture and I asked about it and they said a local man makes it from logs that have been buried in the mud in the huge lake here that was formed a few hundred years ago by an earthquake I think. I know wood like that is worth a fortune in the US. That place is closed now and they were trying to sell that furniture, but I wasn't ready for it yet. Good luck and I will get back if I see finished Teak here today.

Thanks Grubster, but my comments were mostly lamenting about the price of so-called exotic hardwoods in the US.

While I used to do quite a bit of furniture building as a hobbyist, I've given that up here in Thailand (lack of a decent workshop and tools). If and when we relocate back to the US, I'll probably pick it up again, all the while complaining about the price of wood relative to SE Asia! 

 

I agree that a lot of the teak sold here is probably of dubious origin, and any wood that has proper certification is becoming scarce and expensive. Still, a killing could be made exporting to the West *if* one had the proper certification of origin and permits. But therein lies the problem! Ten years ago, it was very easy to find good quality teak or rosewood furniture here in the south (Phuket) at reasonable prices. Not so much any more - prices have skyrocketed, and supply/selection has dwindled. Further back - maybe 15 years ago, I had custom furniture made from teak, rosewood and mahogany in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam at bargain prices. I shudder to think what that same furniture would cost today.

[Tkris]

2 hours ago, Iolare said:

I used a wood that I think is called "taken tang" for a rebuilding project.  I have a little house on my property that is used for extra accommodation when friends or family visit, that had become insect and termite infested.  It needed a total rebuild from cement piers up and I noticed during the demolition that there were a few pieces of wood that seemed resistant to the insects and I was told that they were "takien tang." 

 

 I found a wholesale supplier of this wood in the Kao Lak area and bought joists, studs and floor boards from them.  They have since opened up a satellite lumber yard in the Thalang area.  It is just north of town on the main highway a little past the Shell station on the same side.  They stock lumber in the rough cut state but will plain it for you. 

 

This wood is very hard and we used a pneumatic hail hammer gun on it, or in the case of nailing the joists, we pre-drilled for spikes.  I think it has a nice grain pattern, and I'll attach a few photos so you can see what it looks like.

 

 

 

Thank you very much. That looks good. What a view from your deck. I wish i had something like that. Perfect place for a cold beer.

 

The wood is all for indoor use. Rustic contemporary furniture. 

 

I have been to that yard on the way to the airport, but my lack of Thai just allowed me to buy construction timber. I will go again armed with the timber name you gave me. 

[Tkris]

15 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

don'y know about Phuket,

but in general teak is available in substantial quantities, as salvaged 2nd hand, as imported and as Thai grown

not cheap though

 

other hardwoods widely available, mai daeng, mai teng and mai takiang, mai takiang being the cheapest I would think

 

a fairly nice and not expensive softwood is mai mayom

 

it all depends on what your are going to use the wood for, and where, indoors / outdoors etc

 

 

Thank you for the answer.

 

I wish i could get my hands on some of that recycled Teak. That would be awesome.

 

Thank you for all the timber names. I will look them up. 

[DipStick]

Check out NARRA also

[Tkris]

3 minutes ago, DipStick said:

Check out NARRA also

that has very nice grain. 

 

I will look for that as well.

[Iolare]

I remembered that there was a fellow advertising "Takien Teak" for sale in Bang Tao.  I saw the ad awhile back in Baht&Sold.  I looked it up and it's still there.  From his photos, it looks like the same lumber as I used in my place.

[steve2112]

i usually go to a shop on the bypass road on the south bound side, about 1km south of ikea, its immediately before a big granite shop. they have a lot of furniture grade wood there, i use mai taberk which looks a lot like teak and seems to be termite free.