DC area supplier?

Hi all: Wanted to toss this one back up in hopes of an answer or two?

-- Thanks!

That price is reasonable for around here.
I only know the places on the maryland side:

I live in gaithersburg, and go up to frederick to Hardwoods, Inc (http://www.hardwoodsincorporated.com/)
Great folks run it.
If you look at their plywood prices, you’ll see they are selling A-1 red-oak 3/4 plywood for 98.00.
There is also Exotic Lumber, Inc who does 3/4 red oak plywood for 85 bucks (It doesn’t list grade). They are usually cheaper and theoretically closer to me, but because of traffic and their location, not really in practice.

Either of these places can definitely give you S4S’d red oak in those dimensions. Note, however, that except for 1”, those are not typical dimensions. 4/4 oak surfaces to 3/4, 5/4 would surface to 1 inch. There is 6/4 and 8/4, but they surface to 1 3/8 and 1 7/8 respectively.
I bet whatever “dimensional” stuff you find online really corresponds to these dimensions, much like 2×4’s.

For red oak, the price difference usually doesn’t make up the freight shipping if you are shipping to a residence.

I only know of one lumber yard in NoVa (vienna hardwoods), but the two i listed above have more stock and are closer to me.

I know this may be a little overkill. and not worth the trouble for one or two panels…

First off Oak is pretty common. You can pick it up at most millwork supply or lumber yards. There are a number of places around the DC area that sell this type of stuff in the retail and contractor market. Be prepared to pay a premium at places that cater solely to retail such as Hardwood, Inc. Or Colonial Hardwoods. They have great selections and have been very helpful, I cannot recommend Colonial though. Millwork supply places, such as Smoots in Alexandria, VA have hardwood plywood, but in my experience they are pretty highly priced and can’t even tell you if its import or domestic, or much about it.

If your looking for a wide variety and top quality, you need to be looking for places that specialize in dealing with supplying cabinet, millwork and architectural panels to professional shops and often they sell both lumber and plywood. My experience is they can be flexible on prices with how much business you do with them and also how much you purchase at a time.

I know all these places that I have listed won’t be in the area, but you can get an idea of the type of supplier you need to be looking for. Another thing is that these type of places often have branches located across different states, usually by region, i.e. Southeast, North East etc. Some of them deal solely wholesale, but some all you need to do is setup a “cash and carry” account, pretty easy to do.

Wurth Wood Group
http://www.wurthwoodgroup.com/Locations.aspx
I’ve dealt with the Richmond group, willing to help you

Dixieply
http://www.dixieply.com/

Hood Distribution
http://www.hooddistribution.com/

A&M Supply Corp. (Springfield, VA)
http://www.awood.net/index.html

Curtis Lumber & Plywood Terminal (Springfield, VA)
http://www.clp-inc.com/

Another method is to search Lumber and Wood Associations Member Lists. To get an idea visit this page:
http://www.dixieply.com/industry-links.shtml

Another cool tip, is these types of places usually are dealing with larger quanities, units… so they sometimes have “shorts” that just take up room and usually price to get rid of them.

It never hurts to call and ask, you’d be surprised how helpful people can be. Hope this was helpful.

This is extremely helpful. A&M in particular looks promising (the online catalog is super-helpful). Thanks.

-- Thanks!

You might also want to look at Northland Forest Products (www.northlandforest.com), they have a retail outlet in Manassas, VA. In the past, I was told that they do a lot of business with Hardwood Artisans. The nice thing about their store, you can pick your own boards out of the stacks. Most of their boards are not surfaced; however, they usually have a stack of S4S boards, in different species, out in the middle of the floor. About the only plywood they have is the birch-faced plywood, and it’s dimensioned in millimeters (in thickness).

Another place I’ve used is Tart Lumber, up in Sterling. I just needed some maple plywood, and I forget how much the sheet cost me. However, they ripped & cut the whole sheet to the size I needed, and I don’t remember if they had a “per cut” fee.

Of course, I don’t know how far you’re willing to travel. I live in Centreville, and it’s 26 miles from home to the Potomac. So you’re probably looking at around 30 miles one way to either of the places I’ve mentioned.