So I swing past the Lumber City on my way from Lansdowne Boards. Go past the counter, ask “may I browse” (this is a big warehouse place, not your typical hardware store). Guy (Neville) sez “sure”.
Find stuff on the shelves that look like what I need, make mental note of standard sizes. Past the counter again, “dowels?” — “behind you” — “thanks”. Pick up dowel of possibly correct size for fixing toy boat project (don’t ask).
Back to counter, start waving hands “I need 12 x 96 meranti, about 1.2 meters”
N: “Stock size is 1.8 meters”
Yours Truly: “Good, one of those and 12 x 144 pine, same length, and meranti, 10mm thick, about this wide” (show with fingers)
N: “that’s 44mm”
YT: “Lekker“.
YT: “And BTW I saw you have Etimo postform tops, but I need something redder”
N: “Would that be Mahogany?”
YT: “Sounds good”
N: (grabs catalogue) “600 wide, 3.6 meter length will be R949, but we’d have to order”
YT: “Sharp sharp, do you cut to size?”
N: “Certainly”.
Picked up a sample of the mahogany. I can work with these guys.
Finally you found someone. I had visions of myself trawling suppliers up here and shipping to Cape Town. Buy that guy a beer
Nah, not A beer. A CASE of beer! That level of service is extremely rare – and I hope you recommend that store (and Neville) to all your DIY pals!
Hello Peter works wonders too