So I was away on travel to NC last week, and during the evening made it a point to visit some lumber stores in the Charlotte-Raleigh-Durham area. I tried to visit every store within a reasonable drive from I-85 that Woodfinder.com came up with.
Here we go:
Woodcraft - Matthews NC
Better than the average Woodcraft my VA-MD area, a better than average selection of 4/4 S2S exotics and the usual domestics. Nothing in 8/4. Interestingly, lots of yellowheart, probably 20 bf. Nice friendly crew in there, managed to pick up a nice 8-1/2" wide plank of Pau Ferro for acoustic guitar backs.
Klingspor's - Charlotte
Small store, small wood selection, almost all domestics and the selection was not very clear (lots of knots, incursions, etc), looked like some of it might have been reclaimed. Actually had some cross-cut sections from trees kicking around, like they'd been following the tree removal guys around. Like Woodcraft its a chain, there are a couple of others in Hickory and Winston-Salem that I didn't get inspired to visit.
Woodcraft - Greensboro NC
Pretty hard to find from I-85, tucked away in amongst a larger mall (Four Seasons Shopping Center or something like that). The usual domestics, a smaller selection of exotics than the Matthews location, but they had some 8/4 stock in the store. Lots of yellowheart there too. Helpful crew, one guy told me the Office Depot next door to them went under, so they're going to take over some of the space and expand their lumber selection in the next year. Apparently the Woodcraft central office is cutting back on their bulk lumber buying for the local franchises, leaving the local guys to be more free-agents in that area of the business.
Steve Wall Lumber Co. - Mayoden NC
THIS is the kind of place I was looking for....a bit off the beaten path, but worth the trip. ~20,000 sq ft warehouse half-filled with construction lumber, the other half full with good quantities of just about everything hardwood, in the rough at 12' lengths and pretty good prices. Good width and thickness (i.e. plenty of 8/4) in all their domestics, including walnut table slabs and a good amount of flame maple and figured ambrosia maple. A very nice selection of exotics, including several 13"+ wide 8/4 boards of mahogany. A good variety of rosewoods, except all their cocobolo was knife-scale sized. Big huge table-slabs of bubinga. Not a lot of ebony, some Gabon but no Macassar. Nice big wenge planks, both flatsawn and some perfectly quartered planks. Good stock of spanish cedar, I'll be looking them up when it comes time to build a classical. The usual ton of yellowheart (what's up with the yellowheart here?!?!) and lots of purpleheart as well. The guys there were very laid-back, it was a sunny day so they were all sitting out front in lawn chairs, but they were helpful when I told them I made guitars. I picked up a pair of kingwood boards for fretboards.
The Hardwood Store of NC - Gibsonville NC
A good-sized place, specializing more in cabinet and furniture lumber and wood flooring, so a good selection of the usual domestics in all sizes and thickness. Selection of exotics was OK, only mahogany and jatoba in 8/4, no rosewoods except for cocobolo, no ebony. What...no yellowheart???
Woodcraft - Raleigh NC
Owned by the same guys who run the Matthews franchise. Very similar selection...including the yellowheart.
I don't know if there's much further south from this part of NC, but for sure most of eastern NC and southern VA are a teenage wasteland when it comes to hardwood dealers.
That's it, hope you find it useful if you're passing through!
