Last Updated on June 18, 2026 by Sam Wood Worker
Quick Answer
If you want the best woodworking store near you, look for a place with three things: real hardwood in stock (not just pine and plywood), staff who actually work with wood, and milling services like planing or resawing. In most major U.S. cities, the best picks are local hardwood specialists, not big box stores. Below, I cover the top woodworking stores in ten major cities, plus the national chains (Woodcraft and Rockler) you can fall back on if you don’t live near one of them.
Key Takeaways
- Local hardwood yards almost always beat big box stores for wood quality, board selection, and advice.
- National chains like Woodcraft and Rockler are a safe choice if there’s no specialty store near you.
- Always call ahead before you drive out. Stock changes fast, and not every yard is open to walk-in customers.
- Milling services (planing, resawing, jointing) save you money on tools you’d only use once in a while.
- A good store will let you handpick your own boards. If they won’t let you touch the wood, that’s a sign to look elsewhere.
Comparison Table: Top Woodworking Stores by City
| City | Top Picks | Known For |
| New York (Brooklyn) | Tools for Working Wood | Hand tools, sharpening, house-brand tools |
| Atlanta, GA | Highland Woodworking, The Wood Yard, Peach State Lumber, Atlanta Wood Foundation | Classes, exotics, live edge, urban-salvaged wood |
| Chicago, IL | Owl Hardwood Lumber, Heidler Hardwood, Rebuilding Exchange | Organized hardwood selection, rough-sawn, reclaimed lumber |
| Los Angeles, CA | Bohnhoff Lumber, House of Hardwood, Anderson Lumber | Hand-selected lumber, century-old family yards |
| Seattle, WA | Crosscut Hardwoods, Compton Lumber, Edensaw Woods | Exotic hardwoods, marine plywood, slabs |
| Dallas, TX | Hardwood Lumber Company, Dakota Premium Hardwoods, McKinney Hardwood Lumber | Walk-in selection, custom milling, moulding |
| Houston, TX | Houston Hardwoods, Brazos Forest Products, Dakota Premium Hardwoods | Moulding, marine plywood, cabinet-grade sheet goods |
| Portland, OR | Gilmer Wood Co., Goby Walnut, Crosscut Hardwoods | Rare exotics, big domestic slabs, luthier/turning stock |
| Denver, CO | Austin Hardwoods, Frank Paxton Lumber, Collector’s Specialty Woods (CS Woods) | Diverse inventory, custom moulding, live edge slabs |
| Boston, MA (Cambridge/Somerville area) | Anderson & McQuaid, Boulter Plywood, Goosebay Sawmill & Lumber | Custom moulding profiles, hardwood plywood, NH sawmill |
City-by-City Breakdown
New York City
Tools for Working Wood (Brooklyn)
If you live in NYC, real estate is small and so is most people’s workshop space. That’s why a store built around hand tools makes sense here. Tools for Working Wood, tucked into an industrial stretch of Brooklyn, is known worldwide among hand-tool woodworkers.
It’s not just a retail counter, either — the back of the shop is a working shop where the team builds many of its own house-brand tools, including holdfasts, drawknives, hand-cut rasps, and American-made shellac brushes, alongside finishing supplies like traditional milk paint.
Say you’re building a small jewelry box on your kitchen table because you don’t have room for a table saw. This is exactly the kind of store that fits that situation. They publish free educational articles too, which is a good sign of a shop that wants you to actually understand the tools you’re buying, not just sell you whatever’s on the shelf.
Atlanta, GA
What started in 1978 as an ordinary hardware store called Highland Hardware has grown into one of the most respected woodworking shops in the country, nicknamed “Hand Tool Heaven” by its regulars. Founders Chris and Sharon Bagby began running weekend woodworking seminars back in 1980, bringing in names like Tage Frid, Sam Maloof, and Roy Underhill to teach in the basement of the original store.
Decades later, the seminar program is still running, now featuring instructors like Christopher Schwarz and Megan Fitzpatrick. The shop is the exclusive U.S. home of the Wood Slicer resaw bandsaw blade, and it remains a family business — Chris and Sharon’s daughters Molly and Kelley still work there.
If you’re new to woodworking and live anywhere near Atlanta, this is the kind of store where you walk in with a question and walk out with an answer, not just a sale.
Run by a small team with a combined 45-plus years of woodworking experience, The Wood Yard caters to furniture and cabinet builders as much as weekend hobbyists.
It carries what it advertises as the largest selection of exotic hardwoods in the Southeast, along with one of the largest live-edge slab inventories in Georgia. Like the best yards, they’ll let you pick through the stock yourself, and they’ll also build a finished, sanded tabletop out of your chosen species if you don’t want to do that part yourself.
Peach State Lumber Products (Kennesaw)
Open since 1994, Peach State stocks more than 25 species of exotic hardwood sourced from Asia, Africa, and South America, alongside hardwood plywood and a range of veneer options. It’s a short drive north of the city but consistently recommended by local woodworkers for its selection and knowledgeable staff.
If reclaimed or urban-salvaged wood is more your interest, this nonprofit sawmill and lumberyard mills locally salvaged trees into live-edge slabs, beams, kiln-dried lumber, and turning blanks. It also runs woodworking classes, making it a good stop for anyone who wants their material to have a story behind it.
Chicago, IL
Serving Chicagoland since 1981 with locations in Lombard, Des Plaines, and Oak Lawn, Owl stocks more than 40 domestic and imported hardwood species and is one of the few lumber companies in the area to carry S4S Red Oak, Poplar, Cherry, Maple, and Birch in lengths up to 16 feet.
Customers consistently mention how the inventory is organized by species and priced right on the wood, so there’s no guessing or haggling. Picture this: you need 20 board feet of cherry for a dresser top, and you don’t want to spend an hour digging through a messy pile. Owl is built for exactly that kind of trip.
Heidler Hardwood Lumber
A smaller, rough-sawn-focused yard on the city’s South Side that offers planing services once you buy enough material. It’s a favorite among Chicago woodworkers who want a quick, no-frills trip without driving out to the suburbs.
Los Angeles, CA
Founded in 1910 by German immigrant C.W. Bohnhoff, this is one of the oldest lumber yards in Los Angeles and is still run by the same family, now in its sixth generation.
The original yard burned down in a 1964 fire and was rebuilt at its current Vernon location within five days, with help from the local lumber community. Bohnhoff is one of the last yards in the area that lets you hand-select your own boards, and its in-house milling setup includes a 24-inch planer, 42-inch belt sander, 20-inch jointer, and a 30-inch bandsaw — useful if you don’t own that equipment yourself.
Family-owned since 1947 and now in its fourth generation, House of Hardwood carries a deep stock of domestic and exotic hardwoods plus a full milling shop that can joint, plane, sand, and glue up your boards on request. Most of its lumber is sourced from FSC-certified managed forests.
Woodworkers in the area often describe it as more “full service” than Bohnhoff, with a wide-belt sander and surfacing capability that make it a good stop if you want your lumber ready to use rather than fully rough.
Anderson Lumber Company (Culver City)
Known locally for its plywood selection and as a Festool dealer, Anderson is the go-to for woodworkers who need sheet goods cut to size on the spot, in addition to standard lumber needs.
Seattle, WA
Operating since 1991 and nicknamed “The Woodworkers’ Candy Store,” Crosscut stocks a full line of domestic, exotic, and figured hardwoods, along with marine plywood, butcher block material, and hardwood decking. It’s the kind of place where a non-woodworker can walk in on an errand and end up petting the lumber. Locals consistently point to it as the best source for exotics and hard-to-find figured stock in the Seattle area.
A bit of a drive from downtown Seattle — out on the Olympic Peninsula — but worth the trip for serious woodworkers and boatbuilders. Edensaw has stocked domestic and exotic species since 1980 and carries one of the broadest catalogs in the Pacific Northwest, including marine plywood, veneer, live-edge slabs, and full milling and CNC capability. If you’re building anything that needs to handle water, this is the regional specialist.
Dallas, TX
Hardwood Lumber Company of Dallas
In business since 1986, this shop supplies everything from traditional native species to tropical exotics, plus matching veneered plywood and an onsite production facility that can dimension lumber to your specifications. Customers consistently mention the staff’s willingness to walk through a project with you before you even buy anything, which matters if you’re not sure exactly what species or cut you need yet.
Founded in 2008 in Waco and now backed by the Würth Group, Dakota’s Dallas branch (opened 2014) has grown into the company’s largest location, distributing domestic hardwood species like white oak, hickory, cherry, and walnut, along with its own Black Label decking and cladding line. It’s more of a high-volume distributor than a boutique yard, but it’s a reliable stop for common domestic species at scale.
A smaller, locally known yard north of Dallas that’s a regular recommendation among members of the Dallas Makerspace community for sourcing hardwood outside the big chains.
Houston, TX
Founded in 1990 by Tim McCoy and Guy Pike, this shop has grown from a two-person operation into a 50,000-square-foot facility with around 20 employees, marking 35 years in business as of 2025.
It purchases more than 600,000 board feet of hardwood annually and is especially known for one of the largest moulding selections in Texas (over 3,000 profiles in its database), plus a marine plywood specialty that includes teak plywood and teak-and-holly boat decking. A good example: you’re remodeling a kitchen and need matching crown moulding plus cabinet-grade plywood from the same trip — this is a store built around exactly that kind of project.
With a Houston location alongside branches in Austin, Grand Prairie, and Denham Springs, LA, Brazos distributes hardwood lumber, plywood, and custom mouldings, with manufacturing capability to produce custom profiles to spec.
Dakota Premium Hardwoods (Houston)
Located off the Northwest Freeway, this branch carries the same broad domestic and exotic hardwood inventory as Dakota’s other Texas locations, with no appointment needed for walk-ins.
Portland, OR
A destination for rare and exotic species — bubinga, African blackwood, cocobolo, and more — that’s earned loyalty from woodworkers, instrument makers, and turners for decades (one Yelp reviewer mentions 40 years of buying from them). It has no minimum order requirement, which makes it friendly to hobbyists who just want a single turning blank or a small offcut of something unusual, not just full boards.
Just down the street from Gilmer on NW St. Helens Road, Goby specializes in big domestic slabs — walnut, white oak, cherry, madrone, Pacific myrtle, and big leaf maple — and is known for stocking genuinely large, wide pieces good for conference tables. Its client list reportedly includes major guitar makers, which says something about the quality of figure and consistency in its stock.
Crosscut Hardwoods (Portland location)
The same regional chain found in Seattle also has a Portland branch, giving local woodworkers a second reliable option for exotic and figured hardwood without the trip out to St. Helens Road.
Denver, CO
Stocks what it describes as the most diverse inventory of hardwood lumber, plywood, sheet stock, and moulding profiles in Colorado, alongside a showroom of woodworking tools, accessories, and finishes — useful if you want to handle lumber and browse tool options in the same trip.
Collector’s Specialty Woods (CS Woods)
If big, dramatic live-edge slabs are what you’re after, CS Woods focuses specifically on kiln-dried slabs and bespoke solid wood surfaces — conference tables, dining tables, and similar large pieces — sourced from a network of sawyers and collectors, with a focus on American hardwoods, including reclaimed material. It’s open to the public and worth a visit just to see the slab selection even if you’re not buying that day.
Boston, MA (Cambridge / Somerville / Medford area)
Anderson & McQuaid Company (Cambridge)
Established in 1946 and still family-run, Anderson & McQuaid is best known for moulding — it stocks more than 200 standard profiles and can custom-run virtually any profile you bring in, a capability that’s gotten it featured on PBS’s This Old House. If you’re restoring an older New England home and need trim or casing that matches what’s already there, this is the first call to make.
In business since 1924 and now located in Medford (previously Somerville), Boulter is a specialty source for plywood from around the world, including marine-grade and exotic veneered sheets, alongside a full line of hardwood lumber. It’s particularly well regarded for boatbuilding-grade material like mahogany and teak, and the shop will cut partial sheets for you rather than forcing a full-sheet purchase.
Technically across the New Hampshire border in Chichester (about an hour from Boston), Goosebay is a family-run sawmill that’s been operating for more than 45 years. It mills its own kiln-dried domestic and exotic hardwoods, stocks live-edge slabs, burls, and turning stock, and offers custom milling services including resawing and straight-line ripping — worth the drive if you’re doing a larger project and want material straight from the source.
What If There’s No Specialty Store Near You ?
Not everyone lives near a big city, and that’s fine. Woodcraft and Rockler Woodworking and Hardware are two national chains with stores spread across the country. They won’t have the same deep hardwood selection as a dedicated lumber yard, but they carry tools, finishes, hardware, and often beginner classes, all in one place. If you’re just starting out and want one stop for tools and small project wood, either chain is a safe choice.
How I Decide If a Store Is Worth the Drive
Over the years working on projects in my own shop, I’ve picked up a simple way to judge a new store before I even walk in. I call ahead and ask two questions: do they let customers handpick boards, and do they offer milling services like planing or resawing. If the answer to both is yes, it’s almost always worth the trip. A store that lets you touch and pick your own wood respects that every board is different, and that matters more than people realize until they’ve been handed a warped or twisted piece by someone who grabbed it without looking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best woodworking store in the U.S.?
There’s no single best store for everyone, it depends on your city and your project. For hand tools, Tools for Working Wood in Brooklyn and Highland Woodworking in Atlanta stand out. For hardwood selection, Owl Hardwood Lumber in Chicago and Bohnhoff Lumber in Los Angeles are strong picks. For rare exotics, Gilmer Wood Company in Portland is hard to beat.
Is it cheaper to buy wood from a big box store or a specialty lumber yard?
Big box stores are usually cheaper for basic pine, plywood, and 2x4s. Specialty lumber yards cost more per board foot but offer better grain, wider boards, and species you can’t find at a big box store.
Do woodworking stores let you pick your own lumber?
Many specialty hardwood yards do, but not all. Always call ahead and ask before you drive out, since some yards only sell pre-selected bundles or operate primarily as wholesalers.
Can I get wood milled to size at these stores?
Most of the lumber yards listed here offer some level of milling, like planing, jointing, resawing, or custom moulding profiles. This is worth asking about if you don’t have that equipment at home.
Are Woodcraft and Rockler good for beginners?
Yes. Both chains are beginner friendly, with staff used to answering basic questions, plus they often run beginner classes and carry a wide range of starter tools.
Final Recommendation
If you’re lucky enough to live near one of the cities above, start with the local specialty stores. You’ll get better wood, better advice, and often a better price once you account for quality. If you’re not near a big city, Woodcraft or Rockler will cover most of what you need to get started. Either way, the best move before any trip is a quick phone call: ask what’s in stock, ask if they mill, and ask if you can pick your own boards. That one call saves you a wasted trip more often than you’d think.
