Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Hi guys,

I was wondering if there is a place where I could buy some pine wood or palo china to serve as my scratch wood for projects. I saw a good hefty 4x4 last Bosch seminar but forgot to ask the Golden where they bought it.

It would be better if I could get the clean ones as most I see are dirty pieces from banged-up pallets.

If there are also some cheap woods that I could consider, please don't hesitate to suggest. Thanks!

BTW: Does anyone here have any idea what are the available cuts (e.g. 1x1, 2x2, 2x4) that could be bought from the hardware stores?

Wilcon carries armourwood from Australia, they are very nice clean and squred, but they are also expensive since these are virgin materials. I use to have a local source in Mandaluyoung near san rafael and boni, but they have closed already. there are actually lots of second hand or reclaimed pine around, but most are rough and from crates and pallets. sa pier, they are sold by the bundle. try to check them out...

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

These threads might help:
From pinoyhandyman forums -- Palochina Sources
From PHBYC forums -- Pinewood sources in MetroManila

A good one is probably the one on Ortigas Ave. Ext. in Rosario, Pasig. They advertise on sulit under the name 'timberport'. In addition to wood from crates, they have had clean/unused wood before and/or unusual sizes like posts or long pieces or thick plywood, but unfortunately not often or predictably.

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Yes, that is where I've been getting mine lately. Comes out to about P40/brd-ft, not so inexpensive actually, sun dried S2S white lauan is only P45/brd-ft (IIRC). Mid last year, they had these 2x8x16' pieces. I wanted to get all of them but someone beat me to them so I settled for the 2x8x8 pieces.

You have to be careful with these scrap crate wood pieces. I've chipped my blades on unnoticed nails in them. I always check them very carefully before feeding them through my thicknesser.

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Thank you guys for the info. So timberport is in Ortigas Ext. then. There used to be a small seller of palo chinas near Columbian in Plaza Dilao but they're gone already.

Will try to check these places some time.

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

You have to be careful with these scrap crate wood pieces. I've chipped my blades on unnoticed nails in them. I always check them very carefully before feeding them through my thicknesser.

Is there any kind of reasonable cost device to do this check quickly and reliably, instead of inspecting by eye? For example, a stud detector? some kind of metal/conduit/wire/nail detector?

Recently, they had some large and long pieces, but not as nice as the 2 x {6,8} x {16,18} or 5 x 5 x 9 or some other sizes last year, but still P40/bft.

7 x 6 x 16+

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

4 x 8 and 7 x 7

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Hey those look nice ... but I don't have a bandsaw to resaw them :(. If anyone is interested better go and get what you need. I expect those would be gone pretty soon.

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Lumber Wizard (video) and its smaller version seems to be what the US woodworking stores are selling.

Also sounds promising -- Zircon metal detector.

According to this vendor, the Garrett handheld metal detectors used for security checks work well for wood.

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

You can also check Pier area i used to buy my palo china there and much affordable and for a metal detector i used garrett i2.5k is the price in LYS always used it when ever i plane them, Hopes this will help

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Maybe Panda has it. I suspect Panda supplies to LYS too. Panda could be cheaper

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

nice looking Pine wood Guad, where did you get them? can I buy them from you if you hsve no use fot it?

Those are palochina from Timberport, Ortigas Ext., Rosario, Pasig City. The 5 x 5 x 9 that appeared in 2009, mentioned in post #6. Sorry, the pieces that I got before they all disappeared are all spoken for. The ones shown are supposed to be the legs of a long overdue workbench!

Had I appreciated that these unusual sizes like 5 x 5 x 9 and 2 x 8 x 16+ are really one-time, unpredictable, years or never to re-appear, I would have gotten much more.

In 2010, they had another one-time load but of larger pieces as pictured in posts #6-7. With a bandsaw they could be resawed, but they were much heavier. Truck needed.

If anyone drops by Timberport (or elsewhere) and sees any nice, unusual sizes, please post here or in Bargain Alerts. Usual is:
1 x
2 x 2
2 x 4 x {less than 4 ft} and oversized 2 x 4 x {less than 4 ft}
1-1/8 plywood
small MDF pieces.

Anything else is unusual. Please report!

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

thanks Guad for the info, will try to locate some...

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

I would like to suggest kaya lang an expressway away from Manila. Laguna area has a steady supply of used palo-china mainly due to the industrial complexes that are the main source of palletes, wood crates. etc. Matiyaga ka lang and you can find different sizes. Average price is about 20/kilo...yes per kilo not bdft! Cheaper if you will buy it by palletes (ikaw na magkakalas) However it seems konti lang ang difference compared to a 25/bdft of mahogany or gmelina :confused:. How much does PC cost in manila anyway?

Re: Where to buy good Palo China?

Any rule against cartopping lumber on SLEX, NLEX, or SCTEX? Especially long pieces with overhang, or plywood sheets? OK as long as you have top load permit, or is it case-to-case subjective even with top load permit?