Hi,
Is it just me being unlucky, or is the quality of MDF, plywood and planed timber in the UK particularly rubbish?
I have yet to receive a 4’ x 8’ board without crushed corners or or marks on the faces, or lengths of planed timber that are straight.
Has anyone got a secret supplier of good quality products, because it isn’t Wickes!
Find a lumberyard which sells roughsawn lumber by the board foot.
Any job should be two-sided — first is a facing operation to plane off the stock you wish to work with and cut it off, then secure the cutoff stock and actually make the part you wish.
Since buying my table and track saw I’ve learned not to regard the factory edges as straight or square but to cut them myself, also to cut in a few mm to get a clean edge.
I would refuse the delivery of badly marked faces on MDF or proper birch plywood, anyone that does proper B / BB grade birch ply expects this too and takes some care with the goods.
I use S L Hardwood in Croydon, they are a proper timber merchant selling to people making things out of wood, unlike Wickes who are selling particle board and joists to builders primarily.
As for “straight” planed timber, hmm, S.L. Hardwoods are OK, because they actually care but Alsford, Wickes etc. I take a square with me and only pick stuff that’s actually square and straight enough along the length to be useful. Be aware that most of the timber from these suppliers has been fast dried in a kiln and then shipped and is likely much wetter than it’s final furniture state and has much warping left to do.
Here in the states there many building material suppliers. For consumers most prominent are Lowes, Home Depot and in some places Menards. We call these box box stores because they are just big boxes full of building materials, appliances and other assorted decor items. Most of the employees do not know thier elbow from a 2x4. The are low wage workers that don’t care if they are stocking feathers or pallets of plywood. They treat them with the same regard and just throw them around. Most of these places are self serve so I have to move several pieces of plywood to get any that are useable. They stock oak. Popular and pine and most of it is unusable because it makes s improperly stored.
So it is a sign of the times where workers don’t care and don’t know and thier management strive for medicrately.
It depends exactly where you are in the UK. I find the best option is to go into my local wood yard and self select the best grained/flattest wood that is nearest to the size you need If it is MDF or ply that you need B&Q has recently had so excellent quality ply, much better (and cheaper) that the sheets I had delivered from Jewson for my shed roof. I doubt if you are using full size sheets and the beauty with my B&Q is they will cut the ply/MDF, that you have chosen, to the size you need.
I was looking for some short (1m) lengths of oak to make some signs (shortly before deciding to buy a Shapeoko) and was a bit put out by the ‘timber merchant’ whipping out his calculator, resulting in a £40 quote for 4x 1m lengths of “off-cut, poorly planed” cladding board! I managed to get him to drop to £30, but still!
We do have a couple of timber yards in the area (North Wiltshire) but they seem to deal in pine, rather than anything glamorous, and you’re right about B&Q - they do cut it to size 
Wickes? Meh. The MDF I bought from there was fluffy in parts of the cut area, making me wonder about the quality. Also, TP is the only supplier I can find of MDF thicker than 18mm - i.e. 25mm - and that’s almost £60 with delivery, as I can’t get it in my car!
I’ll take a look around the merchants - taking the time to visit to get a feel for their support of ‘makers’!
Thanks
Well you’re in north Wilts then you’re not a million miles from where I get my timber. I am in Somerset and get most of my stock from Yandles in Martock. If you are going down the A303 it’s worth popping in. Their main timber is oak but they have lots of other hardwoods in the self selection store. They do on line as well but it’s not a patch on the shop stock. Prices are reasonable, but if you pay £15(?) and join their wood club you get an extra 15% off timber. If it is oak offcuts you need there is a massive stock of these, cut from the beams etc. that they produce from oak trunks, so much of it is still green.
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