Where to shop in Houston

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There is also a Rockler at 3265 Southwest Freeway, (713) 622-6567, and about 8 Harbor Freight stores.
How long will you be in Houston? I'm a few miles south of Hobby Airport in Pearland if you have time for a visit.
 
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Woodcraft has their entire Wall Street II line at 20% off this month. The SW Houston store (11707 West Sam Houston Parkway South) has bargain tubs of local mesquite & pecan wood at $2.00 per pound. They had a "Free Material" tub yesterday, but I gobbled up all the good stuff. They have a great selection of wood and always something on sale.

I've never been to the Woodcraft store in north Houston, so I can't say what special offers they might have. I have been to the Rockler store a few times (bought my lathe there when they were running a nice sale) and they always have something on sale and usually some kind of pen blank bargain bin.

Ed
 
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lot of good/fine shopping in Houston, wood working items not so much, pretty common things at average prices

if you have friends/family with you, head to kemah boardwalk for some fun

lots of great eating places..avoid the big chains

House of Blues

Moody Gardens in Galveston

I avoid Houston as much as possible. The Zoo and Museums are about the only things I'm still interested in attending.

lots of woodworkers and surprising not many unique suppliers
 
Donnie Kennedy said:
Not sure where in Houston you're in, but Wood Craft has 2 places...

Wood Craft of Houston
(281)-880-0045

Wood Craft of SW Houston
(281) 988-9449
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at the north store, ask for Don

at the south store, ask for Randy

both of them are turners and can steer you in the right direction. The rest of the guys in the stores turn some, but not as much as Don and Randy.

TellicoTurning said:
Don't know if it's still open, but there's a WoodWrite store in Old Town Spring, north of Houston about 20 miles... really nice place with lots of pen stuff. It's just off I45 in OTS.
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been closed for years. I still have a few penblanks in their packaging.

Akula said:
lot of good/fine shopping in Houston, wood working items not so much, pretty common things at average prices

if you have friends/family with you, head to kemah boardwalk for some fun

lots of great eating places..avoid the big chains

House of Blues

Moody Gardens in Galveston

I avoid Houston as much as possible. The Zoo and Museums are about the only things I'm still interested in attending.

lots of woodworkers and surprising not many unique suppliers
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sad, isn't it?

Justturnin said:
If you are around the Heights, just north of Downtown, check out Clarks Hardwood. Good prices. They have a table full of turning blocks. Been a while since I have been there but I am sure it is the same.

Clark's Hardwood Lumber Co.
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last time I was there (April/May) - I was told they were getting "out" of selling turning materials, most of the stuff on that table was discounted but still expensive.

For a much better selection of turning blocks/rounds - try Houston Hardwoods at 4910 W. 34th Street. In that same area, I would recommend stopping by BC Woodwork at 4426 Pinemont.

Neither of above really has much in the way of pen blanks...Rockler and Woodcraft have the best selection. Both of them carry blanks from Amalgamutt and rsjimenez, and other interesting stuff - besides the standard wood and acrylic blanks.
 
Thanks for all the help. It worked out that Woodcraft, Rockler and Clark Hardwoods were within a 5 minute radius of where I am staying so I visited them all this afternoon. You Houston guys have a lot of choices not available to people who live in the backwoods like me.

The Woodcraft store was HUGE, I liked it the best.

The Rockler store was pleasant and about like most of the Rockler stores I have been in.

Clark Hardwoods was really an interesting place. A lot of wood, mainly geared to furniture makers. It would take a lot of study to figure out how to make use of this place as a woodturner. The fact that none of the wood had prices on it made it difficult to choose anything. They were really friendly and looked like very nice people to work with.
 
Clark's is nice but their wood is a little high priced. There are a few other places that charge less per board foot if you're after wood.
 
larrystephens said:
Thanks for all the help. It worked out that Woodcraft, Rockler and Clark Hardwoods were within a 5 minute radius of where I am staying so I visited them all this afternoon. You Houston guys have a lot of choices not available to people who live in the backwoods like me.

The Woodcraft store was HUGE, I liked it the best.

The Rockler store was pleasant and about like most of the Rockler stores I have been in.

Clark Hardwoods was really an interesting place. A lot of wood, mainly geared to furniture makers. It would take a lot of study to figure out how to make use of this place as a woodturner. The fact that none of the wood had prices on it made it difficult to choose anything. They were really friendly and looked like very nice people to work with.
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I wonder if they are operating on the premiss that "if you have to ask, you can't afford it?

As for you living in the backwoods and not having any of those places... I live 20 minutes outside of our capital city and I'm in the same boat as you are. Thank God (and Al Gore) for the internet.
 
Clark's is kinda strange - they have 1 building that is air-conditioned (the office). That's where they write up your tickets and take your money.

then there are 4 or 5 other buildings where the lumber is. exotics are mostly in one building, 16/4 domestics in another, clearance bins in another. it's kinda scattered.

all the prices are in the office, I don't remember if they are posted, but they do have a notebook. So, if you say "I need poplar" they ask what you need (dimensional, spindles, etc) - then tell you the price and tell you where to go find it. you find the board you want, then they'll cut off what you want, as long as it leaves them a minimum length of that board in the bin.
 
TellicoTurning said:
Don't know if it's still open, but there's a WoodWrite store in Old Town Spring, north of Houston about 20 miles... really nice place with lots of pen stuff. It's just off I45 in OTS.
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been closed for years. I still have a few penblanks in their packaging.


That's sad... was a great place to poke around... I haven't been back to Houston since I left in 2005, but I think I still have a couple of their blanks around too.
 
I go to Houston Hardwoods every chance I get. I've gotten some pretty good deals there... especially from the scrap bins as that material is often a good source for pen blank material.
 
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