Ordering hardwood without touching it first is a gamble. This rating is for woodworkers who want online hardwood lumber suppliers that pack boards well and answer the phone.
Selection was built from sellers that really ship boards across the United States, not from mills that only quote by truckload. What mattered: how many species sit in stock, whether wood is kiln dried and graded, how sizes are sold (board foot, exact dimensions, S4S), the cost and honesty of freight, packing quality, return windows, and whether a person picks the board or a robot pulls whatever is on top. Years in business counted too. A yard that has shipped since the 1990s knows how to crate walnut so it arrives straight.
Places here are decided by community votes, not by the editors and never by money. So read the cards, not just the order. Every card lists pros, cons and the details that bite later: shipping charges, minimum orders, short weekday hours. Reviews from other buyers tell the rest.
Arizona lumber seller working since 1978, with stores in Phoenix, Tempe and Tucson and a busy mail order side. Stock runs to roughly 100 species, from plain poplar to walnut, cherry, hard maple and exotics. Boards can be bought by the piece, in project packs, or cut to size before shipping. Orders leave Phoenix in 1 to 2 business days, tracked, and returns are open for 30 days. Local pickup is usually ready in 24 hours.
Good pick for hobby woodworkers who want small, tidy quantities and a real answer to a question about grain or thickness. The site explains grades and board foot math in plain words. Less good for anyone chasing the lowest price per board foot: a truckload from a regional mill still beats retail, and freight from Arizona to the East Coast adds up fast.
Phoenix, AZ, 1340 N 29th Dr
Family sawmill in Ishpeming, Michigan, selling online since 2001. Over 100 species in stock, and the name is built on figured northern maple: birdseye, curly, quilted. Own kilns, own milling, plus turning blanks, pen blanks, live edge boards and hardwood flooring. There is a hand pick page, so a buyer can choose the actual board from photos instead of trusting a bin. Custom milling for bulk orders is handled by phone.
Turners, cue makers and luthiers get the most out of this yard, because figured stock that thick is hard to find anywhere else. Anyone building shop cabinets from poplar will find the prices steep. Small staff means email replies come from named people, not a ticket robot, which is pleasant but slower on busy weeks.
Ishpeming, MI, 200 E. Hematite Dr.
Wisconsin seller in Viola, aimed squarely at small work. More than 30 species in stock, kiln dried, Select and Better or equal, and every board is sold at exact sizes chosen by the buyer, so no guessing after planing. Thin stock, hardwood plywood, blocks, pen blanks and cheap bags of seconds are all on the site. A 29 piece sample pack shows every species at 1/8 inch thick. A paper catalog still goes out free.
Scroll saw work, boxes, models, laser projects: this is the right shelf. Sizes are milled, so beginners do not need a planer or a jointer at home. Weak side is scale. Wide slabs, long stair parts and heavy construction stock are not the job here, and the company email sits on a free mail service, which looks odd for a business this old.
Viola, WI, 14860 County Hwy E
Conover, North Carolina yard with over four decades behind it, and one of the biggest importers of exotic hardwood in the country. The list runs long: bloodwood, cocobolo, katalox, padauk, plus domestic walnut, cherry and maple. Strong in turning squares, pen blanks, burls, live edge slabs and luthier tonewood. The warehouse is open to the public, and prices on rough kiln dried lumber drop when a buyer calls about quantity.
Good fit for turners and instrument makers who need odd sizes and rare species in one order. Also useful for shops that want exotic lumber without a broker. The website looks dated and stock photos rarely match the exact board, so a phone call before paying saves disappointment. Heavy species make freight pricey.
Conover, NC, 1405 Deborah Herman Rd SW
Oxford, Pennsylvania lumberyard with well over 100 species, logs, boules and slabs that other sellers simply do not carry. Sinker logs, reclaimed stock, book matched sets, guitar backs and sides, veneer and custom flooring all come from the same racks. A separate online store lists individual boards with prices. Visits are welcome, but the yard asks for 24 hours notice because some material is stored off the main floor.
This is the place for a one piece dining table top or a species nobody local has heard of. Serious money follows: wide figured slabs run into thousands, and freight for a ten foot board is its own bill. Browsing the site takes patience, and the appointment rule can annoy anyone who just wanted to drop by on a Saturday.
Oxford, PA, 200 Whiteside Drive
Missouri seller founded in 2013 in St. Louis, shipping from a 25,000 square foot warehouse on Macklind Avenue. Catalog covers both exotic and domestic hardwood: purpleheart, padauk, zebrawood, wenge, along with walnut, maple and white oak. Boards are milled to listed dimensions and kiln dried, so what the page says is what arrives. Luthier sets, blanks, cutting board stock and cutoff deals fill most of the store.
Handy for small orders of pricey species, since sizes are small and clear and checkout is normal e-commerce, no quotes by email. Not the right source for long, wide construction lumber or a hundred board feet of one species. Some listings show a sample photo rather than the board on the shelf, so color and figure can differ from the picture.
St. Louis, MO, 1701 Macklind Ave, Suite 400
Klamath Falls, Oregon company in business since 2000, working out of a shop over 15,000 square feet. The specialty is rare and figured wood: burl caps and blanks, book matched sets, mantles, timbers, live edge table tops, instrument wood, plus ordinary domestic lumber. Much of the stock is one of a kind, photographed piece by piece and sold until gone. There is also a long running eBay store and an A+ rating with the BBB.
Turners and carvers looking for buckeye burl or a chunk of figured myrtle will do well here. Prices match the rarity, and nothing is restocked, so a favorite board never comes back. The team is small: phone hours are weekdays only, shipping oversized slabs from Oregon costs real money, and popular items sell within days of posting.
Klamath Falls, OR, 1650 E Main St
Ohio sawmill and millwork shop in Canfield, selling finished hardwood products straight from the yard. S4S lumber, mouldings, interior doors, handrails and stair parts, flooring and paneling in oak, maple, cherry, poplar and more. Everything is machined in house, so an order can include matching trim, treads and boards in one species. Site quotes freight by ZIP code before checkout, which is rarer than it should be.
Best suited to remodelers and homeowners who need ready to install parts rather than rough boards to mill themselves. Anyone hunting exotic species or raw slabs should look elsewhere: the list sticks to American hardwood. Hours are short, weekdays until 4pm and Saturday morning, and long mouldings ship on freight pallets with the cost that brings.
Canfield, OH, 7060 Crory Rd
Sarasota, Florida supplier running since 1992, with its own mills in Brazil and more than 70 species of domestic and exotic hardwood lumber. Best known for ipe, cumaru, garapa and tigerwood decking, plus prefinished flooring, siding and custom dimensioned boards. Large orders travel on company trucks across the US and Canada, and every decking order is documented for Lacey Act compliance. Free shipping shows up on qualifying orders.
Deck builders and contractors are the core customers, and the ordering desk is used to long species lists and tight delivery windows. Hobby woodworkers buying two boards will feel out of place, since this yard thinks in packs and pallets. Reviews mention slow updates on shipping status during busy season, so it pays to ask for tracking rather than wait.
Sarasota, FL, 7524 Commerce Place
Upland, California supplier working since 1991, selling hardwood lumber, hardwood plywood, mouldings and flooring, with custom milling on site. Domestic species sit next to anigre, bubinga, purpleheart, wenge and zebrawood. The web store sells dimensional S4S boards, four pack bundles and turning stock, and shipping goes anywhere in the US. Parallel shops on eBay and Amazon make small orders simple for laser and scroll saw crowds.
A practical choice for Southern California cabinet shops and for anyone who wants cut to size boards without a planer. Plywood sheets are sold retail and by the unit. The catalog online is narrower than what the warehouse holds, so a call or an email often beats the cart. Counter hours end at 4pm on weekdays and the place is shut on weekends.
Upland, CA, 1390 E Arrow Hwy