Getting your lumber locally

I recently borrowed a 10' trailer from a friend, hooked it to my pick up and headed down highway 96 to Owego for a load of lumber. After a short jog east on 17, I took Day Hollow Road a few minutes north to Robinsons mill. It is here that i had the pleasure of buying 600 sq ' of V groove t-n-g pine boards -8s and 10s mostly, as well as a hefty pile of air dried 1x1o hemlock siding from a busy little country mill about 35 or 40 minutes south of Ithaca.

Delos Robinson, the mills' owner/operator knows his stuff and he's very easy to deal with. He is more than happy to cut anything you want, anyway you want it. He claims he can fill any order in about a week. I find it takes at least two, but he gets it done and done well, and it's worth it. True, I could have stayed in town and ordered my pine paneling from Wickes or one of the big box stores, but at Robinson's Mill I get real wood grown 'round here, cut by real guys who live around here. I get it at a fair price and I get to buy it from a hell of a nice guy who knows more about wood than I ever will.

But be prepared, the mill yard is a bit of a mess. Among other interesting things, there are dozens of randomly sized piles of lumber stacked absolutely everywhere (rush orders that folks have yet to pick up). But it all has a kind of functional beauty if not quirky order. It's the kind of place where if you have to wait 10-15 minutes to get helped, (you just might) you're grateful! In fact you might just savor the experience, because if you happen to like wood, and find large greasy machines interesting as I do, you couldn't do better if you were at a museum- Truly, you'd need a couple hours just to take it all in.
No offense, but the place doesn't show any signs of a woman's touch, and there's something comforting about that. I was there on a rainy day during lunch, the guys were in the office eating their lunches anywhere they could find a spot. - As I went over my order with Delos, the burly guy next to me ate his 6"frozen pizza, fresh from the microwave, with a plastic fork right off the box it came in. Together amidst the piles of papers and equipment catalogues, 6 or 7 half filled invoice books, empty mountain dew containers, etc. I stood there coolly and kept myself from blurting out...Hey guys, pretty nice beams overhead...what are they 8x14s... or perhaps...what about all that cool stuff out in the shop, is it okay if i go out and look at it...?
The place has absolutely nothing in common with the corporate Lowe's lumberyard experience- although I like that okay some days too- and because of that, it is a truly a refreshing experience and a nice place to buy lumber. And it's all local.

This past winter I framed part of house with lumber that had Slovakia stamped on it. Yes Slovakia as in Czechoslovakia. I like Slovakia I was fortunate to spend some time there when it was still part of Czechoslovakia, but I have to admit I didn't feel great using lumber that had to come that far to go into the Energy Star Eco friendly house house I was building. Not when I could have had it cut by Delos.

It often requires a bit more effort to buy local materials, but I have found that in many ways it is worth it. And by doing so you're not only doing your part to "be green" for the planet sake, you're helping to keep alive a piece of the past, a piece of the past that you get to go and visit from time to time. And if your lucky, when your there you'll have to wait to get help loading up your order and you'll have a chance to snoop around a bit and step out of our modern big box chain store world where Sting is playing on the Muzak as folks load Slovakian 2x4's in to their Japanese SUVs. Take the drive to Owego. See Delos. It's not that far and it's worth it.


rob