How to Write a Cutting List We Can Quote

Most enquiries we get end up as a cutting instruction rather than a pick from stock. That is how we prefer it: the boards are sawn to suit the job rather than the job being made to fit whatever happens to be on the shelf. But it means the quote is only as good as the list we are given.

Here is what makes a cutting list easy to quote, and what tends to cost a round of emails.

The five things we need

• Finished dimensions. Length, width and thickness of each piece as it will be in the finished work. Tell us if the numbers are finished or rough. If you do not say, we assume finished and add our own allowance.
• Quantity. How many of each size. Note if some pieces need to match each other.
• Grade. Premium, Standard or Economy, or the job the wood is for and we will suggest one. See how we grade for what the three mean.
• Form. Boards, slabs, or logs. Live edge, sawn edge, or one of each.
• Destination. Country and whether it is a business or private address. It affects shipping, paperwork and lead time.

Things worth adding

• Allowance. How much you want to remove yourself. A knife maker might want a few millimetres all round; a furniture maker who planes and joints everything might want more.
• Grain orientation. If the figure needs to run a certain way relative to the piece, say so. For turning, say whether you will turn between centres or on a faceplate.
• Matching. Bookmatched pairs, consecutive boards from one log, or a set that only needs to look similar. These are different requests and are priced differently.
• Moisture. If your work needs wood drier than the 13–15% we usually ship at, say so up front.
• Deadline. If you need it by a date, tell us. If you do not, tell us that too.

An example

A useful line looks like this:

6 pieces, 140 × 40 × 30 mm finished, Standard grade, figure visible on both wide faces, 3 mm allowance per side, to Germany, business address.

A less useful one looks like this:

Some curly birch for knife handles, nice figure, how much?

We will answer both, but the second one gets a list of questions back before it gets a quote.

What happens next

We look at what is in the yard and how it can be cut, and reply with a quote and photographs of the actual pieces or the boards they will come from. Every board is photographed on both faces plus an angled shot, because a single flat photo of figured wood shows almost nothing.

If a size you need sits at the edge of what curly birch grows, we will say so. Our boards run 10–25 cm wide and 15–50 mm thick, and we would rather tell you early that a piece needs a glue-up than send something that does not work.

Sizes are on products. When the list is ready, send it to us.