Lumber prices

[Thomas Marr]

I went to a local and lumber yard and I was impressed with the prices. However, I fully admit I'm a bit out of date as I haven't bought much in a while. Most of the lumber was not graded, but was just priced by size. How does this compare with your area?

Ash 8/4: $3.00
Cherry 8/4: $5.30
Walnut 8/4: $6.10
Poplar 8/4: $2.40
Hard Maple 8/4: $3.90

[Paul A. Clark]

We are about a $1 more BF here in Austin TX.

[Blaine Anders]

I just bought 8/4 red oak for 5.95 in Alaska

[Ryan Baker]

Those prices are waaayyy cheap compared to anything around here.

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, those prices sound very economical compared to many areas for 8/4 lumber, but without knowing the quality of the material relative to grain/figure, color, width, etc., it's hard to say if they are actually fair prices.

[Dave Aronson]

We are about a $1 more BF here in Austin TX.

I'm in Austin too. Where do you get your lumber? Austin Fine Lumber is more expensive .

[Paul A. Clark]

Checked last week, Fine had hard maple @ $4.96 BF. About to start bench build

[Curt Harms]

Holy Cow! A local saw mill had nice looking air dried Ash for $1.25, air dried flat sawn red & white oak for $1.75, kiln dried hard maple for $3.00. All 4/4.

[Jim Becker]

Curt, Heacock up the road from you with those prices?

[Curt Harms]

Curt, Heacock up the road from you with those prices?

Yup. They sold out of the ash pretty quick though. Imagine that . Do bear in mind these are all log run. It didn't sound like they'd have more ash or poplar reasonably dry until spring.

[Danny Hamsley]

I cut hardwood, air dry, and sell to woodworkers. I figure the 8/4 price at 1.5 times the 4/4 price. Takes a bigger and better log to make 8/4 since low grade in thick lumber is not desirable. Also, much heavier to handle, takes twice as long to dry, and is much harder to dry without defect, so the actual yield can be a lot lower. Those prices are right in line in my opinion.

[Jim Matthews]

Lumber yards can afford to charge higher prices for stock that they know will turn over quickly.

Sawmills operate on throughput. It maybe worthwhile to plug your ZipCode into the Woodfinder app:
http://www.woodfinder.com/

My favorite source is tree services. A few will take their "nicest" trees to the kiln.
Real bargains can be found, there.

[Steve Wurster]

Yup. They sold out of the ash pretty quick though. Imagine that . Do bear in mind these are all log run. It didn't sound like they'd have more ash or poplar reasonably dry until spring.

Does Heacock sell kiln dried, or only air dried? I've been going up to Wehrung's Specialty Woods to get lumber. Prices seem okay, but I think all of the stuff there is kiln dried. I don't have a moisture meter...

[Dustin Brown]

I went to a local and lumber yard and I was impressed with the prices. However, I fully admit I'm a bit out of date as I haven't bought much in a while. Most of the lumber was not graded, but was just priced by size. How does this compare with your area?

Ash 8/4: $3.00
Cherry 8/4: $5.30
Walnut 8/4: $6.10
Poplar 8/4: $2.40
Hard Maple 8/4: $3.90

Ash 8/4: $2.51
Cherry 8/4: $???
Walnut 8/4: $4.60
Poplar 8/4: $1.65
Hard Maple 8/4: $3.35

[Dell Littlefield]

Dustin, where in Houston? I will be visiting there next week and just may grab some of that.