Goby Walnut Products, Inc., Portland OR

This is THE place to go in the Portland area for exotic hardwood and furniture grade wood stock. If you're into woodworking of any kind you must check this place out. Amazing selection, and really helpful staff.

I was working with my contractor on a basement remodel and wanted to design a distinctive and unique bar to finish off the space. He told me "you must go to Goby if your looking for a piece of wood for your bar". Can't believe I had never heard of this place before. The selection of beautiful, furniture quality wood slabs will blow you mind! The only bad thing I can say is they have so many types and sizes of wood in stock, it took a while to make a decision. Eventually found the perfect piece of maple for a bar top, and after few weeks of finishing work it's truly the centerpiece of the room. Can't wait to start another project.

I am rewriting a review of Goby Walnut previously submitted that was not favorable. I had put a lot of work into a couple projects and was at an impasse and had interpreted what an employee had said incorrectly. I felt as though my efforts had fallen through the cracks and it did not matter. I was contacted by Aaron and he made every effort to correct the issue and went the extra mile to correct my perception about his business. Aaron's offer to personally assist seeing me through, with such a positive attitude can not be overstated. I stand corrected on my first review and very much appreciate the opportunity to rebuild this business relationship. I have learned in my time that a fracture has potential to create a stronger bond, or it can remain untouched. I am taken by Aaron's efforts to really demonstrate that every customers is important to him, even if they choose not to return. I will definitely re-engage with Goby and hold a lot of appreciation for the efforts Aaron demonstrated. As stated before, I am a longtime supported of family businesses in my area. Aaron went the extra mile to let me know Goby Walnut is one of those businesses that has the values and professionalism lost in many chain stores.

Goby is my go to place to find amazingly figured wood for all sorts of projects. The shorts bin is so much fun to dig through, it's like panning for gold. If you need big slabs just head on back in the warehouse and you will find loads of beautiful options.
Completely worth the death defying turn off the highway and into the lumber yard!

This review is for two orders. Against my better judgement, I went back and ordered AGAIN from Goby. Below is a pasted version of my first order, with the addition of the second.

Purchase one: Fairly so-so experience with Goby. Ordered a couple of the figured Oregon black walnut blanks. Paid for the expedited shipping. There were delays, and the product didn't leave Goby for like 7 business days. I was about to call and ask about the status when I received an email stating it had been shipped. So, 10ish business days later the wood arrived.

I was disappointed with the quality of the wood. I'll find a use for it, but I doubt I'll order from Goby again. I'm attaching a picture of the "figured" wood. I wasn't necessarily expecting some magnificent burl type figure, but what I got was pretty pedestrian. Oh well. Maybe I'm the only one that had a very mediocre experience.

Purchase two: Purchased one of the tonewood acoustic guitar sets. No problems with the appearance of the wood this time, but when I actually laid together the two pieces of wood that are to be glued up and used as the front of the guitar, I noticed that they are BOTH crooked. Gahhhhh!

I bought this wood not anticipating having to edge joint the boards. I suppose the website didn't *explicitly* say that the boards would be ready for a glue-up, but still! I assumed since it was part of a set that it would be glue-up ready, or at least pretty close. If it was just generic edge clean-up work, that would be one thing, but there is going to have to be a decent amount of jointing for a glue up, and that means I'm going to lose material that I wasn't really planning on.

ALSO, there's a good deal of chatter on one of the boards. One might not think this is a big deal, and that I'm exaggerating the inconvenience of this. Well, I'm going to have to chamfer the edges of this (electric) guitar. That means the plain walnut substrate is likely going to show. That in and of itself isn't the end of the world, but the asymmetry of it is frustrating. If there's going to be a visible change of grain character & pattern, that's fine, but I'd rather not have it appear at the edge on one side and an inch in from the side on the other.

Fool me once, shame on me.all that stuff, etc.etc. I'd say I learned my lesson not to shop here, but it feels more like it was Goby that actively taught me to look elsewhere in the future.

I had a large oak tree that fell over and called multiple people. Goby was the only company to respond. They were easy to communicate with, came out and bought the log, were very professional, and left little mess. If you have a log to sell would recommend.

This a great place to find outstanding wood. They are very friendly and helpful, I ll need at least an hour to look at everything

Great experience with these guys.
International transaction couldn't have gone smoother. Great communications & great value, but most importantly - beautiful timber.

Great selection and great staff. I'm new to woodworking and the staff was very friendly and very helpful to get me started. I've since bought lots of great wood there.

Beautiful hardwoods of all kinds and sizes. Staff are great at helping find exactly what you want.

Too bad that I can't give Z E R O stars to these people.
No interest in service whatsoever and complete disregard towards international customers.
Don't waste your time with them.

We bought the slab for our counter here. It's beautiful and we love it. It did end up having bugs in it, but the damage was minimal. Be sure to check for that, and ask perhaps