Home Depot will cut your board?

[baseballer1100 5,000+ posts]

the guy at my home depot is very good at cutting mdf. his name is gary //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I wish i had a gary.

 

[Rawr-DQ 10+ year member]

last few times I got wood at home depot...

The first time I wasn't charged for the cuts, there was over two or so, and they weren't bad. The second time around I got a free sheet of MDF because the cashier didn't ring it up. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I haven't had a bad experience with them so far.

 

[baseballer1100 5,000+ posts]

last few times I got wood at home depot...
The first time I wasn't charged for the cuts, there was over two or so, and they weren't bad. The second time around I got a free sheet of MDF because the cashier didn't ring it up. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I haven't had a bad experience with them so far.

Sounds like a rather good experience...haha

 

[evan 10+ year member]

Give a moron a tool and you will get wasted material. There is no shortage of morons at my store. You just need to find out which associates actually have skills. The gauges on our saw are never accurate, but if you find the right guy he will get it done nicely.

 

[ajm 10+ year member]

I think quality varies store to store and who you have cut it. So far I have had no luck what so ever. About a year ago I tried to have home depot make some cuts for me. I got home to find out that they were about 1/4" off so I took the wood back and got my $ back and cut it myself. Last weekend I went to lowes and it was even worse. I got home to find out not only were cuts off by 1/4 - 1/2" depending on which cut it was but the measurements of the board would vary up to 3/4". For example one cut had to be 28.5 x 50. One end measured 28.25 and the other measured 27.50. Once again I took it back and cut it myself.

 

[Tempe 10+ year member]

I have worked at HD for 7+ years. Nearly all of my boxes were cut on the panel saw. I do my cuts for two reasons. 1) The lumber people are usually too busy and have more important things to do than to spend a half hour to get perfect cuts on a $22 sale. 2) I want them to be perfect. Yeah I usually spend almost an hour. Here's why.

Those tape measures that the manufacturer attatches to the saw are somewhat accurate. Sometimes they are pretty ****ed close. Well pretty ****ed close isn't good enough for me. I will break out the tape measure and mark my wood exactly where the cut needs to be. I will do a line at the mark and one 1/8' from the mark. I pull the vacuum hose off the saw and sight up the blade on my lines. If the ends of the blades cover BOTH lines then it's going to be a perfect cut. No I'm not done there.

I turn on the saw. I run the blade until I barely hear the teeth cut into the wood. I pull the saw back and make sure that it cut exactly where I wanted it to. If not I tap the blade over (or tap the wood over - depends on horizonatal or vertical cut) until it is perfect. I do another lovetap cut and make sure it's perfect. Once I know it's perfect I do the rest of the cut. Yeah it takes time. However it's a hell of a lot faster than a circular saw. Also when you live in an apartment complex you might just get kicked out for using a circular saw.

Nowadays HD hires a diverse mix of people. I mean with the wages they start people off at you are a complete ignorant moron to expect that person to be an expert wood cutter, know everything on how to fix the fungus problem on your exotic plant, or how to fix a leaky faucet. When you call some kind of customer service that person on the other end of the phone knows as much as what the computer screen says.

On the same token the HD associate knows as much as what he/she learned through training. When I started in 1998 we had product knowledge classes all the freaking time. You woke for classes 6am-8am once a month on a Sunday morning. Now nearly everything you learn is from a stupid computer-based class. Of course you learn a lot from on the job experience. I knew nothing when I started, but I have learned a whole shyte-load of stuff since working there. The longer the person works there the more he/she knows. Again, back to the wage issue, most people use HD as a part time job (2nd job, moms, or college students), use it as a stepping-stone onto a brighter future, or you get the occasional professional who has not job and cannot find anything better.

If you graduate high school and aspire to make a career of working at HD then yes I can see how you might expect people to know a lot there. On the other hand if you are some successful professional making $$$$ and would never stoop down to the level of working at HD, it baffles me if you expect that person making a few bucks more than minimum wage to know it all.

OK I'm totally off topic and I'm just ranting away. Ignore me. Do read the part about how I cut the MDF //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Tempe

 

[coolahan 10+ year member]

i went to lowes to have my mdf sheet cut.. i had it cut.. the kid took his time... and tried to do it perfect.. well i wanted to tip him but i couldnt because all i had was big bills.. well i went to ring up and i broke one of my bills and i went to go throw him a tip.. well he had left just a minute before i walked down there to go home because his shift was over.. so i said **** it and went on with my life.. i got home to find out that 1 of his cuts was an inch short... so i was ****ed on trying to get my box started... went through like 30 minutes of phone calls to make sure i wasn't about to get charged for me coming up there and them cutting me a new piece.. well i got up there and the manager had left.. i basically raised hell and got me a new piece.. finally got the right length and i got home and the piece on the bottom was warped and the cut was crooked...

point of the story is i will never ever... ever.. get another piece of MDF and have them cut it.

 

[Big Dee 10+ year member]

point of the story is i will never ever... ever.. get another piece of MDF and have them cut it.

That is similar to my experience at Lowes. There was maybe 2 pieces out of all of them that were usable. Some were off by a half inch. I ended up trimming every piece with a circular saw.

That was my first and last time having them cut my wood.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

The only time I let them cut precise peices, one was short by about 1/4". I had to recut the wood on my own and failed twice trying to use a jigsaw. After that, I started doing the cuts myself after buying a circular saw. Now, I borrow my friend's table saw and it's beautiful. The only time I let them cut the wood is to get it to fit in my vehicle. Splitting the wood in half usually works for me unless I lay the enclosure out differently.

 

[AlpineUser 10+ year member]

i had all of my pieces cut at lowes today for my 4.3 @ 32 Hz build and they were perfect i tried givin the guy 5 bucks but he said he wouldnt take it and then i said im in no hurry and the guy took his time and every piece was cut perfect so i had a good experience so far with lowes cutting my wood

 

[Blazemaster83 10+ year member]

i have had my wood cut at HD 5 times now, and everytime has been perfect. the one time i went in and thought it would be fuct, was when some 17 year old chick cut it...but to my surprise it was probly the best of them all. now i know this is probably not true with every HD, but i guess the saw they have is a good one lol. i have never payed for cuts...although it does take like 30 mins to get someone to help you...

 

[geowick07 10+ year member]

iceteebone: where are you a in mich? i am near detroit, and i was curious where your HD was located. if its close, i will see if i can find a "gary"!

 

[Exploder 97 10+ year member]

Ive had 3 boxes cut from home depot. Just today i got the 3rd cuts for my box. The one guy was acting unsure when i said, are you sure you know how to measure, and he was like well, no cuts are precise. and i asked if someone else could come cut them. the manager came and cut them for me. didnt charge me for the cuts, went home, measured, everything was perfect. so, i think it just varies from store to store. and i wasnt charged for the cuts. 28.95 for wood for a 5 cube box @ 32 hz... thats a ****en steal.

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

my guy that cut it yesterday was awesome, he subtracted the 1/8" everywhere, took his time, measured twice. cuts were PERFECT so i gave him a lil tip