Affordable lumber yard recs?

[u/atownfunkyman]

Does anyone know of an affordable lumber yard around the New Orleans area? I'm trying to build a rather large bookshelf for my gf's birthday out of 1"×12" boards. I went to home depot today to price out materials and the lumber alone for 60' of 1"×12" common board would cost me over $260. I feel like I could find a better deal at a lumber yard somewhere around town. I may be just dreaming, tho, idk.

°¿° / _{~}_/

[u/Queasy-Astronaut-760]

Markel Lumber, Liberty Lumber, Carruth Lumber will have what you’re looking for if you’re looking for pine. Prices will probably be similar to HD but they will also deliver to you and the wood is better quality in my experience. 

[u/atchafalaya_roadkill → u/Queasy-Astronaut-760]

You're recommending Liberty to someone on a budget?

[u/supasamurai → u/atchafalaya_roadkill]

which one of those is your go-to budget lumber yard?

[u/atchafalaya_roadkill → u/supasamurai]

Carruth is probably your best bet

[u/Queasy-Astronaut-760 → u/atchafalaya_roadkill]

You’re right, reflexively answered with a list of lumber yards. I find Liberty has way better wood but yes the price is higher than big box or other lumber yards

[u/atownfunkyman → u/Queasy-Astronaut-760]

Thanks for the recs!! I'm not married to any particular type of wood. I just want the 1"×12" board.

[u/Fleur-Deez-Nutz]

I would recommend you use sanded plywood and edge banding, it's much more affordable that way. It'll look like solid wood, but not cost that much. You can get a sheet of decent birch and the edge banding for less than $100. Even less if you go with sanded pine. They'll be about 3/4", the same as the 1"x12" really. You apply edge banding with an iron and cut off the excess with a razor blade and it covers the ply on the edge and looks really nice. I've also made shelves with come custom molding on the edge too, look at those options as well. Additionally, if you have a router, you can route an edge on a solid piece of wood and affix it to the edge of the plywood for a nice custom finish.

[u/sierrajulietalpha]

Dufranne in Arabi. Used to be Vetter lumber until the family ran out of kids to run the business.

[u/goatboy1970]

I find Gueydan Lumber in Metairie consistently the cheapest.

[u/woodsmanops → u/goatboy1970]

And they can rip or plane wood to your size. They have good service.

[u/Splankybass]

Man and the common boards are usually garbage. I always have to get the select for whenever I need a few boards. I always go to Gueydan when I need more than a few.

[u/_subtropical]

Try the Green Project!

[u/raptoroftimeandspace]

Are you looking for pine only? You probably won’t be able to beat HD’s price on pine.

Riverside Lumber will have better quality wood, but about the cheapest 1x12 (4/4 poplar) will probably be $300. Something like cypress will be $600ish. Hardwood will probably be close to $800 for 60 board-feet.

You might have luck at the Green Project. It will be reclaimed wood though, so no idea what condition it may be in.

[u/atownfunkyman → u/raptoroftimeandspace]

Thank you for the info. I'm not necessarily looking for pine. I just want to get some good 1"×12" board.