Buying wood online (woodworking with nicer woods)

Have not, but if you are not picky. Even at Rockler, I have a hard time deciding on individual pieces for my small projects

Never have bought it on-line, but I'm fortunate to live in N.O. and there is Riverside Lumber in N.O. East that has a huge selection of beautiful hardwoods. Of course, none of it is cheap, but it is quality stuff and you can pick through it to get what you want.

Also Gueydan Lumber on Airline Hwy. in Metairie has some hardwoods, but nowhere near what Riverside has.

I have bought some from Rockler in the past and was satisfied with it....they are higher priced but they have a reputation in the woodworking community where it wouldn't pay to send you crap too often. That may not be the case with a sawmill that has local customers, especially contractors, and is only selling online as another source of revenue.

I bought a bunch of quarter sawn white pine online from a place in North Carolina one time....I can't remember the name but it was a pretty small mill...and that was by far the best hardwood lumber I ever bought anywhere....and it was very reasonably priced, even with shipping. This was a mom and pop mill and they did a bunch of reclaimed timber....stuff that was being cleared for construction projects etc, so they only had the cost of milling it because most of it was given to them for the price of hauling it off. This stuff had about 8-9% moisture after being shipped to north Georgia and laying in my shop a couple of weeks....and was straight and true before I did anything to it...very impressed. Quarter sawn oak has a tendency, in my experience, to be more stable (true and straight) than flat sawn oak, and white oak either way is slightly more stable than red oak sawn either way and doesn't check nearly as bad, generally speaking...but this stuff was almost like a man made product it was so flat, square, true and stable....

Any places around shreveport /Bossier that have decent hardwood or exotic wood?

I had no clue that there was a Deano's in Shreveport.. This is NOT good!

I used to go to the one in Lafayette all the time when I lived there

If you live in the BR area, there is a Brazos at Magnolia Beach. You can handpick lumber of all species there. Most of it is rough sewn and you would need to mill it. That’s my go to for all my projects. Currently building an Arts and Crafts style desk out of mahogany that I purchased there.

Not sure what you are in the market for, but I took a trip up last year just outside of Kickapoo. I found a guy on FB Marketplace selling local hardwood slabs and grabbed a truckload of great stuff. Some was drier than others, but he was in the process of installing a kiln. I got 2"+ slabs of Black Walnut, cedar, sweet gum and spalted pecan for an amazing price.

I can’t afford to look at those pictures too long

I need a project for it first. The next few projects require treated pine. Lol

wow I didnt look at the link.. yeah... I would be afraid to make the first cut for sure