MacBeath Hardwood

This place has an amazing supply of burl slabs and large natural cuts of wood. The staff is very friendly and will help you find just what you’re looking for. Lumber prices are very reasonable. If you want to make a beautiful one of a kind table top, look no further.

great place to search through the racks of domestic and exotic woods. the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. they lack in accessories, but thats not why you’re there is it? try not to spend too much. make sure you have a project lined up or you’ll make her mad that you keep spending money on tree wood. HA!

They have what you need, but they will go out of their way to make getting it an unpleasant experience. I’m a woodworking professional, and I get smoke blown up my fundament and/​or attitude about every other time that I go here. Prices are high, and you get what you pay for. Get your hardware mail order or prepare to spend more than you should.
I will go to any other lumberyard before I go here, but this is always my last stop — they have it. Nothing sustainable, no bargains.

Ok, so i drool when i walk into MacBeath. I have been in the wood working business for roughly 35 years and i have been from Florida to California, to Minnesota and back and i have yet to find more than 2 maybe 3 building supply companies that match or beat MacBeath and that is saying a lot because i have been in stores in 5 different stores. I know there will be some of you out there that will dispute this but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This place is awesome. First time here and they have a great selection of sheet goods including Baltic birch plywood that I can’t find in my local lumber yard. Prices seem very good. The guys here were friendly and helpful and no problem getting one cut on the panel saw.

Great amazing hardwoods with unfinished edges and lots of character. They even made a couple extra cuts for me which they really didn’t have to do. Nice that it’s not corporate.

I love this place. My father started my off on wood working (hated it then, love it now). During a recent visit, I took him to MacBeath to just wander around. He loved looking at all the available woods.
I get my water resistant plywood here, and to boot, it is not all that pricey. They also carry a handful of good products like the General line of wood finishes. Bottom line, go here first for that special piece of wood you are looking for.

Great selection! Found the perfect piece of Walnut here for a shelf!

High priced and some employees have bad attitudes. Cornered their market, so deal with it.

Love going to this place. Amazing selection and helpful staff. They load my truck and seem very knowledgeable. Prices aren’t the lowest but products seem to be good quality

The guy working the cash register this morning was totally rude to me and makes assumptions that just happen to be wrong. In addition, these guys may be profiting from the cutting down of rain forests as the mahogany lumber they sell by the pallet loads comprises huge boards that seem to me could only have come from very old and large trees like found in rain forests. Oh, I now see from another post that they care not about the forests. I won’t be doing business with any of their locations! Go to Urban Ore and reuse old, better, lumber.

I have been doing business at MacBeath for the last 30 years, it is one of the best place in California which sell high quality wood, I never experienced a single negative attitude, they are pro .
my comment is also directed at a previous post by panzerdivision c. anyone with a nick name like that set them selves apart in society .
If you are looking at organic wood, you might want to consider Ikea and the particle board, but then don’t expect to have them 3 years from now …
AS far as exotic wood the importation of raw lumber is strictly limited by the US Custom, the world most famous American guitar manufacturer learned it the hard way.
If you are unhappy with a business the least you can do is post accurate comment without being insulting
Bottom line people treat you like you treat them.

Great place, weird reviews. I’m a newbie woodworker and found them to be really welcoming and happy to answer basic questions. Terrific supply of hardwoods and exotics.

Excellent store. Fast service. I went looking for an English Oak veneer to replace the water-​damaged veneer on an old coffee table and was in and out of the store in no more than 5 minutes (*that* is my kind of shopping!). The selection of veneer was beyond my wildest imaginations. It comes already packaged and boxed and I was offered contact cement (if I’d not been offered this, I’d have had to make a special trip to Home Depot) to for my project and given the low down on proper application. I couldn’t have asked for more (well, other than that I had to buy 3 times what I need and spent $ 100 … so if anyone out in Unilocalland needs some Oak veneer, let me know! LOL). Overall, a good experience.

Long ago I was madly in love with a woodworker, and he’d bring me to MacBeath’s where we would hand select boards of cherry, maple or walnut from their stacks, then bring them home and he’d turn them into furniture. Their wood selection was outstanding and inspiring. Quilted and birds eye maple, quarter-​sawn oak, all the best stuff. I hadn’t been back in the 17 years since I divorced that woodworker, but went in there this morning to purchase some obscure furniture hardware that they just happened to have in stock! It’s almost exactly as I remember. And the staff was super helpful. Love this place. It makes me want to take woodworking classes.

No deals here. But they have tons of rare and beautiful hard woods for any project you can think of, plus a helpful staff to answer any questions you may have.

Want to go somewhere where you will be treated like crap and practically thrown out the door on your ear, complete with a ‘Get off my lawn, you hippies!’ attitude? Go to MacBeath and ask about the sustainability of their lumber products. Doing so earned us a well-​rehearsed lecture on the (apparently singular) definition of the word organic (contains carbon), even though we never so much as mentioned the word. But having brought up the s-​word once was all it took.
And, as if that lecture weren’t reason enough never to return, there was the stock response of «It’s ALL sustainably grown and harvested,» which is a lie. Seriously. Exotic woods from most foreign lands are rarely harvested in a sustainable manner.
I understand that they get asked the question a lot, but they should be prepared to answer it truthfully and without irritation. But rather than using the question as an opportunity to educate the customer and point out specific products that are the most sustainable if that is a priority for that person, they instead mock and belittle. It’s nasty and it’s uncalled for, and we have since chosen to purchase our lumber elsewhere — where they are actually willing to engage in a dialogue about things that are important to us.
Bottom line: you shouldn’t have to risk being treated like crap and/​or lied to when you have questions about lumber — ANY questions. Looking elsewhere is highly recommended.

They helped me find flooring that I was told would be impossible to find in stock anywhere (Pacific Floors)! The people here were friendlier than Tulip Floors (who could special order the flooring for me but never got back to me) and they weren’t even going to make money off of me!
They really seemed to know their stuff and their wood selection seemed like what experts would want.
Thanks guys!

As a cabinet maker I have been to nearly all the Bay Area hardwood yards. Macbeath has the best service and fair prices. Also, you don’t need to a pro to shop here, the staff is very helpful.

To shop here, it’s best to have prior knowledge of your wood, how it’s priced, how they measure it for pricing, and especially how you must handle their stock if you want to pick your own, which I can’t imagine anybody NOT wanting to do. Most customers seem to be those who will ultimately work on the material themselves, whether they’re contractors or hobbyists.
There’s a reasonable degree of self-​serve to get in and out.
They have excellent selection. Quality of the wood is as good as it gets. There’s no other place nearby to get some of the species and/​or sizes. The more common species like maple and red oak are also competitively priced against the nearby Home Depot, which carries only small boards anyway.
However, this business establishment employs a number of mentally retarded individuals, some of which are hard of hearing. Beware! And so with any type of mental retardation, there’s often a lack of logical reasoning and clear communication. You just have to shout your most basic words, get your stuff, then get the hell out. This is no exaggeration. Occasionally the big boss walks out the back, and he seems knowledgeable. But you never know. They don’t have much time for you.
I don’t want to accuse them of anything vile or corrupt. I don’t wish them gone. This place is a good resource for woodworkers. They provide something that I want, that I need, and that I love.
And that’s why I keep coming back.
Now if only they had better CUSTOMER RELATIONS skills, this place would be a gem.
But for over 10 years that I’ve been an occasional customer, it’s always been a mix — there’s marvel, enthusiasm, temperament… and always some disappointment. Always I get home to convince myself that, yes, I should be glad that I have obtained my material. Don’t worry. Be happy.
Three solid stars. Never higher.