Local Merchants Can Be a Great Resource
Roberts Plywood
I had the opportunity to go to Roberts Plywood a few days ago with fellow
member Steve Costello. Steve was interested in buying some furniture-grade
plywood for several projects. Well, let me say we were attended to courteously
and promptly. In trying to select the best material for the project we
had in mind, we were helped right along with good suggestions. They even
went out to the warehouse and showed us some slightly damaged goods that
might suit Steve's needs. After Steve made his selections, we took the
ticket to the yard man, who picked and carried the sheet stock to our
truck and helped load the goods.
Not only was the selection of plywood well beyond our needs, but we were
advised of the various grades of that plywood, in case a lesser grade
at a lower price would serve our purpose. All this and a 10 percent club
discount. Please note, that a discount is not available on the purchase
of damaged goods. It was a worthwhile trip because they have a phenomenal
assortment of fine architectural plywood, taking in all the common and
exotic wood veneered plywoods that have cuts such as rotary, quarter slicing,
rift-cut, plain slice and half round. The best thing about the trip was
that we were treated like any regular customer.
Roberts Plywood is located in the Heartland Industrial park in Brentwood.
The telephone number is 631-586-4944, and the address is 150 Rodeo Drive.
Sweetwater
Don't you like that name? Next time I go there I'll have to ask them
how they how came to use it. Sweetwater is a Cabinet and Millwork Company
that is run by two men, Michael and William. I had the occasion to go
to Sweetwater with Al Werner, another club member, because he needed the
workbench he's making surfaced. Sweetwater has a 21-inch wide jointer,
and they had told Al that they would flatten the surface of his 90-inch
plus long bench top. Well, it was no easy job getting the top out of his
basement shop and to Sweetwater, since this hard Maple top was heavy.
I write about Sweetwater and the two owners because they have a production
shop, and time is money. Yet they found the time to help Al with his bench
top.
This is not the first time I've been to Sweetwater. On another occasion
they surface-planed some stock for Steve Costello. After they got done
with Al's top, they said they would be willing to prepare stock prior
to a club member’s starting a project if he/she didn’t have the capability
or equipment. They have a large surface sander, sometimes known as a time-saver,
and jointers. Sweetwater’s primary business is making cabinet doors to
your specifications and fabricating stock doors. Their prices are reasonable,
and it's worth the time and trouble you save, especially on the large
projects such as table tops or stock wider than 12 inches.
Sweetwater (631-588-9663) is located on 38-1 Raynor Ave. Ronkonkoma,
NY in an industrial park just opposite the Garret Aviation Hanger in Islip
Airport. Your best bet is to take the LIE to exit 60 and take a right
on Ronkonkoma Ave. Over the bridge and less than a quarter mile and you’re
almost there. The service is efficient and friendly.
Their parting words to us as we left were, "You’ve got to love it," meaning,
don't expect to make a million dollars woodworking, soon. "You’ve got
to love it."
--Gabe Jaen
