Curly maple part 2 - "the blind date"

[John Keeton]

Well, I had all the anticipation one has in these situations, and it didn’t turn out all bad.

Couple days ago I posted a thread asking for comments on some curly maple that I was thinking of buying. As it turns out, the fellow was coming through town and agreed to meet me - no delivery fee, no sales tax. I still had not seen anything but the pics that were posted.

Well, the wood wasn’t as expected – or at least not all of it. There is 270’, and after looking through it, I told him that it was not as good as I had hoped. He offered to let me pick through it at $2.50, but said he would really rather not haul it back. We renegotiated, and I bought all of it for $500 - $1.85/ft.

The pics are of some of the better stuff and I would say that 35-40% of it looks like that. There is curl in all of it, but not as heavy, or consistent and not fully across the board on some of it. On piece is birdseye, almost a quilted look. Unfortunately, it is somewhere down in the stack and I couldn't get a pic.

He also had a bunch of walnut crown that we had discussed. Not sure what I will do with it, but 100 lineal feet of the 2.75”, and 60 of the 1.75” – all for $130.

I am a little disappointed, but all in all – I would go out with her again;)

[David DeCristoforo]

Comeon John... yer breakin' my heart here. Tell ya what... I'll take the lot of it off your hands for three bucks a foot. Nice tidy profit for you and I'm sure I can figure out some way to use that crap. Maybe make some pallets or something....

[Jay Jolliffe]

I think you made out pretty good:)

[David Keller NC]

Looking at the pics, I'd say you made out quite lucky - if the gentleman had understood anything about marketing something on the 'net, he could've gotten about twice that, even though it's not all as good as the pics you've posted.

One thought - it'd be very wise to stack and sticker that, and weight the top immediately. Maple's bad about wanting to move, cup, warp and twist at the slightest provocation - a change in relative humidity. Stickering it will minimize those distortions, though not eliminate it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

John, that "not as good" load of $1.85 lumber sure makes those two curly boards I saw at my supplier, at $10 something a bf, look really bad. I think you got a great deal. Heck, use it for drawer sides if it bugs you.

[Dave Verstraete]

Comeon John... yer breakin' my heart here. Tell ya what... I'll take the lot of it off your hands for three bucks a foot. Nice tidy profit for you and I'm sure I can figure out some way to use that crap. Maybe make some pallets or something....

David
How about we split this load. You need pallets and I need stickers for my woodpile

[Jim Becker]

John, even if some of the material isn't what you hoped, it's still good maple at a very attractive price. That means stock for so many good things, including drawers and secondary components where you want nice strength. A buck eighty five is below market for "common" low cost lumber for most of us!

[Adam Grills]

John,
For the price I am not quite sure what you are crying about :confused:
Adam

[John Keeton]

One thought - it'd be very wise to stack and sticker that, and weight the top immediately. Maple's bad about wanting to move, cup, warp and twist at the slightest provocation - a change in relative humidity. Stickering it will minimize those distortions, though not eliminate it.

David, I had planed on stacking, but not stickering, in the barn loft. My thought was that stickering may give it a chance to move more so than just having it stacked. It has been kiln dried and it will remain dry in the barn except for ambient changes. The only problem in the barn are the coyotes and coons that want to urinate and deficate on my wood!! So, I will probably put some luan on top, and then weight it good.

Thanks for the comments everyone. And Adam, I do realize it was a good deal, even though I was hoping for more of it having a consistent and tight curl. As has been stated, even the "not so good" boards will make good drawer stock. Four, I think, of the boards are 11" wide and have decent curl. One of the pics shows that. Most of the rest are 6 - 8".

David, you come visit, and I will be happy to share some of this with you. And Dave, what about an even trade for that big slab of bubinga?

[Jim Kountz]

John, I think you made out (stole) good on this deal. I wouldnt complain about paying the guy (ripping him off) $500 for that stack!! LOL

J/K

[Rob Cooper]

Your killing me. I cant get 4/4 bland maple for less than $4.00. Any curl and it is over $8.00.

[Joe Chritz]

I'm starting to think the guy was off loading some hot merchandise.

He didn't offer to sell any laptops or hand held game systems did he?

Joe

[george wilson]

I paid $2.50 B.F. for yellow pine shelving. The reason it isn't so curly as you might like is that it is flat cut. Look at the Quartered edges. Hard to ever get quartered wood. They just slab through the logs,and a few near the center look nicer.

[John Keeton]

Here is the odd thing about this company. They make mouldings on a contract basis for companies that do special interior work like houseboats, etc. When they buy their wood, which is already kiln dried, it often has curly or figured pieces mixed in. The companies they sell to want only clear mouldings, so they CULL the figured woods!! It is of no use to them unless they get an order for figured moulding, which is rare. He told me this wood had been accumulated over several months of operation.

George, that would explain the flat sawn, since probably all or most of the wood they get is that way.

I think these are good folks to know:D

[David Keller NC]

"David, I had planed on stacking, but not stickering, in the barn loft. My thought was that stickering may give it a chance to move more so than just having it stacked. It has been kiln dried and it will remain dry in the barn except for ambient changes."

Just the opposite will occur. This is the point of stickering. It does three things for you - it allows air to move throughout the pile, greatly reducing the possibility of mildew; it allows all of the wood in the stack to have a very similar moisture content, and it allows freedom of expansion/contraction in the width while still applying pressure to control cupping.

I should note, though, that South is very hot an humid in the summer, and quite cold and dry in the winter, and I'd consider Kentucky definitely "in the South". And a barn loft will accentuate those extremes. I rather strongly suspect based on my own experiences of storing maple outside, tarped and stickered, that you're going to find that curly maple to be curly in more than just figure when you take it down to use it.

[Chris Konikowski]

Looks great to me! That is a great deal! I don't know if I would have been able to keep a straight face when I was lowballing him... :D

Care to send some down here to a broke firefighter? ;)

[Don Bullock]

Comeon John... yer breakin' my heart here. Tell ya what... I'll take the lot of it off your hands for three bucks a foot. Nice tidy profit for you and I'm sure I can figure out some way to use that crap. Maybe make some pallets or something....

David, the Right Coast Group has no idea what kind of prices and poor selection of wood that those of us on the Left Coast have to put up with especially when it comes to figured maple. :(

[Craig T. Smith]

John, I'm glad you're satisfied with your haul.I'm also glad to hear that you think they're good people to deal with since I'm planning on checking them out later. Good luck coming up with a project for it. Nice haul. Craig

[Dave Avery]

She was a very cheap date.....

[george wilson]

John, the furniture factorys in N.C.,where I lived in the last part of the 60's would give me curly maple. They couldn't machine it reliably without chipping.

[gary Zimmel]

Nice haul John.....

$1.85 a foot. I think it was a great date!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...has no idea what kind of prices and poor selection...when it comes to figured maple..."

I have been buying curly maple for many years. I use it almost exclusively for the light squares in my chessboards. I have ordered top quality wood from suppliers all over the country. So believe me when I say that that is damn nice looking curly maple at a very good price regardless of where you live. And the fact that it is surfaced to almost a full inch thick is a huge plus.

[Mark Smith, too]

Here is the odd thing about this company. They make mouldings on a contract basis for companies that do special interior work like houseboats, etc. When they buy their wood, which is already kiln dried, it often has curly or figured pieces mixed in. The companies they sell to want only clear mouldings, so they CULL the figured woods!! It is of no use to them unless they get an order for figured moulding, which is rare. He told me this wood had been accumulated over several months of operation.

George, that would explain the flat sawn, since probably all or most of the wood they get is that way.

I think these are good folks to know:D

Good people to know and willing to deal on price if it is useless to them. Great score. You can have some of the nicest secondary wood in the country at that price and the occasional beauty.