Alwright... I dropped the hammer on a new build

How do you get 16' and 20' lumber home with a 6.5' pickup bed?

Thus:




You don't go on the highway... You don't go under low bridges... you do go slow and keep an eye on it. You have to bleed a little on it too.

 

This is what I got...

5 16' DF 2x10s with some semblance of vertical or rift sawn grain and few enough knots to provide some decently clear, decently long sections. There is one I need to cut in strips to get the vertical aspect but any of the others would provide enough to do the keelson for the boat... with perhaps a scarf or two. It took me 2+ hours and a few splinters, not to mention an aching back to sort through about 20 stacks of lumber from 2x6x12 up to 2x12x20 to get these. I also got a nice piece of Spruce with minimal knots and decent grain... perhaps for a mast. It is a 20' 2x6". All 6 pieces came in at $97 and change with tax plus a rebate of 11% or $10 off next purchase. Of course the DF was at the bottom of the stack of about 30 others but they stood out because of the color. In the shed they looked way darker than the Hem/Fir and SPF and really red. Not so much in the daylight though.

 

I do this regularly enough, the guys at the local big box know me by name and will point out the pallets with the pretty stuff, if they just unloaded it. You can really save some bucks if you know what to look for and are willing to search (neatly, if you want them to like you) and sort through a few hundred pieces.