Those of you have regularly read my insightful, brilliantly written and outrageously useful reviews know that I don't often give one star reviews. But, in this case, I feel it's completely necessary and justified.
Now, in all fairness, the service I received was very good. But, the pricing is so unbelievably high - it's highway robbery.
TL;DR - Do NOT buy hardwood here. Their prices are HYPER inflated! (Price sheet photos attached).
So, here is the story:
I just started woodworking and, like most novices, I find buying the materials to be a little intimidating. I mean, we don't know what wood to use for what project. We don't know how much to buy. We don't know how much it should cost, or where to get it. Hell, we don't even understand the terminology (what the heck is a board foot?!).
The answer is to find a reputable hardwood supplier and go there. I'm currently traveling on business and have time on my hands, so I decided to look in San Antonio and see what I could find.
After a quick internet search, I settled on Alamo Hardwood and made the drive downtown to check it out.
When I walked in, a young man approached me and asked if he could help me. After finding I was a novice, he took me around the store and showed me the various types of wood, how they're surfaced, etc. He was friendly, answered my questions and allowed me to take pictures of the price sheets.
I was pretty discouraged at how much my projects were going to cost because wood is so freakin' expensive. I asked if they had any plywood or veneers and he sent me to a competitor about a block away.
Later that night, I was watching YouTube videos and some random woodworker's video started to play. The title of his video was "I almost got scammed buying hardwood!", and that caught my attention. He proceeded to explain exactly what my experience had been that day, even to the point of having the Alamo Hardwood employee referring him to the same competitor a block away.
So, he said to go to Dakota Hardwood in San Antonio and check out their prices. So, I did that.
Every single quote from Dakota was a fraction of what was at Alamo. And the guy there gave me a full tour, etc.
As an example - Alamo's price for 4/4 Hard Maple is $17.25 per board foot.
Dakota? .... $3.99 per board foot. And I got to handle the maple - absolutely beautiful quality.
Avoid Alamo Hardwood. The prices are dishonest and unreasonable. read more