Large Scale Central

Northwest Precision Lumber

Modeling
#1

I’ve used NPL cedar lumber for a number of projects, and was planning on doing a lot more. So when a friend on the other forum asked me if there were alternatives, I became alarmed.

Sure enough; after inquiring via Ebay (their only outlet), I got this auto-response:

northwestprecisionlumber is out of the office until 04/02/2018 and may not be able to respond to your message.

Message from northwestprecisionlumber:
Hi to all my loyal customers,

It is with deep regret that I must close my business. You should know that your business was and always will be appreciated!

Best wishes,
Karin

Well THAT’s a bummer. It’s a 2-person operation I think, and I sure hope no one got injured.

Anyone know the story? Or know of an alternative? Several times over the months, I’ve searched for scale lumber / small strip wood in redwood. And now, I can’t find anything like that in cedar. NPL was great in supplying very accurate boards, clear and knotless.

Cliff

Source for scale lumber?
#2

BTW, I’ve been through Northeastern Scale Lumber’s catalog, but they do smaller scales, and not cedar (that I could find).

Kappler looks to be a good source, not sure about their pricing though,

http://www.kapplerusa.com/y2k/p-g-scale.htm

Oooh, this looks promising…

http://spjrr.com/~spjrrcom/sp/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=3&zenid=154527ad1b55bc7506a85c7cbc7d2ff7

What was that company that sells / sold wood building kits for garden layouts, like engine sheds, mines, stores, etc.? Can’t find it now.

#3

Well darn, Chris just told me about NW lumber, and now they are gone.

I have been using the excellent cedar scale lumber from “Michael’s Custom Woodworking” from Kansas, for several years. He used to come to Marty Cozad’s event, and also to ECLSTS in March in York, PA. And also makes very nice buildings as well.

However his web site is no longer. And I do not know if he is coming to ECLSTS any more, that is a long drive from Kansas! I had a feeling he does not ship his wood any more, not sure, just a guess.

Now Mike and Renee at Reindeer Pass used to stock his wood, perhaps they will jump in and comment.

Jerry

#4

Dammit!!!

Cliffy, SPJRR is closing up also.

#5

Crapola.

That leaves Kappler.

#6

Well, Micro Mark sells the little table saw. That and a few off cuts of ceder and you can make your own scale lumber.

#7

https://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/

They are closing for inventory and will be back on Jan 1 it sez… but they are active.

#8

I was thinking that a good / large band saw would work, but yeah, I get your point David.

Tough to get clear / knotless western red cedar out here though; and NPL was so cheap…

#9

John Caughey said:

https://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/

They are closing for inventory and will be back on Jan 1 it sez… but they are active.

Right, but they only do “Basswood, Mahogany and Cherry lumber,” and only up to 1/4" square sticks.

#10

A table saw will cut cleaner, I notice vertical lines when using my old band saw.

Sorry about the other, I saw ‘hardwoods’, will they do custom?

#11

Cliff,

If your serious about cutting your own wood, buy a mini table saw. I use mine for just about everything.

I wonder how much it would be to ship you a dozen or so 6’ long redwood from out here on the west coast.

#12

Craig Townsend said:

Cliff,

If your serious about cutting your own wood, buy a mini table saw. I use mine for just about everything.

I wonder how much it would be to ship you a dozen or so 6’ long redwood from out here on the west coast.

Hmmm that scales out to about;

#13

I’ve purchased cedar from Ozark Mini on several occasions.

All of my trestle, bridges and most of my buildings were built with NWPL cedar. Jim and Karin even dropped by once to see the layout.

#14

Im a saw my own guy…i am sure the savings has paid for all three (large, small and micro) saws i have many times over, not to mention all the other stuff i do with them.

#15

When I was building my passenger cars, the cost of stripwood was really starting to add up. I bought the saw on sale, mine is the Proxxon version, and some sheets of basswood and cut my own stripwood. I have been making my own scale lumber ever since. With a 0 clearance plate, and being real careful, I can make stripwood as small as 1/32 inch square.

Karen gave me some scrap ceder she got for free from a fence company. So scale ceder only costs me some time, and the occasional new blade.

#16

SPJRR’s retirement notice is here.

http://www.spjrr.com/retire.html

They say that they’ll continue to cut & process orders till stock runs out, which may take a year.

#17

Yes I also cut my own, but I have to say Michael’s cedar far surpassed the quality of the typical cedar fence boards I find locally and the harder clear cedar at the lumberyard is very expensive

And he cuts and planes to precision, so pays yer money and takes yer choice

Jerry

#18

Yes I also cut my own, but I have to say Michael’s cedar far surpassed the quality of the typical cedar fence boards I find locally and the harder clear cedar at the lumberyard is very expensive

And he cuts and planes to precision, so pays yer money and takes yer choice

Jerry

#19

Thanks for all the thoughts & ideas guys.

Should have put the mini table saw on my wish list!

I’d be curious to know though what kind of saw(s) NWPL and SPJRR use(d) to cut theirs. Might write them…

And yeah, the shipping. Craig, I’m wondering the same thing.

#20

My tertiary question got lost in all my own blather. I’ll ask again: What was that company that sells / sold wood building kits for garden layouts, like engine sheds, mines, stores, etc.? Can’t find it now.

They were really neat kits, all kinds of outdoor-purposed structures. I thought it was Garden Greenhouse, but after looking there, I guess not. Dang.

They say the gray cells go first…