How Many BF of Lumber??

[Tom LaRussa]

This is sort of a weird request but...

Can anybody give me an educated guess as to how many board feet of lumber is in the stack in these pictures? Unfortunately, I have no other info to go by.

TIA,

augie

[Joe Scarfo]

If there was a ruler or tape in the picture so we could get a feel for scale, a rough estimate is absolutely possible.

Do know the size of the stack? From there .... it's a mathematical calculation.


Joe in Tpa.

[Jim DeLaney]

We'd need some more info to 'guesstimate.' How long, wide, and high is the stack?

The way to figure it is to take the average length (in feet) times the width (in feet) times the height (in feet) and multiply that result by twelve to get board feet.

Example: 8' long X 3' wide X 2' high = 48. 48 X 12 = 576 board feet.

The result will be a bit over the actual, since it doesn't account for gaps in the stacking, etc., but it will be pretty close - certainly no more than 10% off.

[Tom LaRussa]

Do know the size of the stack? From there .... it's a mathematical calculation.

Joe,

Unfortunately, all I know is that it's 4/4. (Sorry, I forgot to put that in the original post.)

Going by that, it looks to me to be somewhere between 16 and 20 inches high at the highest point, i.e., along the right edge as we look at it, something like 24 to 30 inches wide and about 10 to 12 feet long. Which gives me a range of about 320 to 600 b.f.

I guess I was just hoping there was a lumber wizard or two out there who could do better than that. ;)

[Dennis Peacock]

I guess I was just hoping there was a lumber wizard or two out there who could do better than that. ;)

Augustus,

Unfortunately, pictures can be and most times ARE very deceiving. Now, if you knew the dimensions of each stack of wood, then you wouldn't be asking your question at all would ya? ;) You must be bidding or at least thinking about bidding on some lumber out there aye? :)

[Michael Cody]

This is sort of a weird request but...
Can anybody give me an educated guess as to how many board feet of lumber is in the stack in these pictures? Unfortunately, I have no other info to go by.
augie

Not to second guess the guys -- more info would be nice, but you can get a lot of it by just looking at the pic's...

Sheet Steel like that in the photo has those ridges every 16" I think, (or is it 12") .. anyway... you can count back the number of ridges since there is a board at the front of the stack on the floor that comes out from a ridge so you have an obvious starting point. I make is 12' myself, could be more but my guess is 12'. (if the ridges are 12" that would make it 10') -- Would have been simple if the original pick was at right angles to pile with the wall in the background.

Now given it's 4/4 stock, we can get a guesstimate of height by counting boards stacked -- I make it about 18" high ... maybe 20" but I will use 18" as a low end ... The hardest to estimate is the width. Since we have nothing to scale off of. However since there is mixed pile with narrow & wider pieces I am guessing the grade is #1 or #2 common so I will estimate that 60% of the boards are between 4 & 6" wide a few wider, some shorter. The rest are the smaller stuff which is also mostly 8' material. I make it about 24-26" wide. So for a calc:

(18" * 144" * 24")/144 = 432bf (360bf if the ridges are 12" on center) -- which is right in the middle of the guesstimate. While your mileage may vary ... if I am right on the 12' that is a ballpark number I would use for valuation. It looks like soft maple so around here you would be looking at 1-1.50$ a bf or so ... say 550$ max if you bought it at a normal yard here in Michigan. If it's not been cared for right or not kiln dried by someone who knew what they were doing, then I would think more like 350$... anything less is a deal (at least in my neck of the woods) unless there are some hidden defects we can't see in the pic's. Remember if it's 4/4 and there is a lot of twist or checking, you are going to have trouble getting 3/4" material out of it after planing... same if there is a lot of wane or surface checking, knots, etc... you have to factor that into the price. The pic's don't show that kind of info.

If the material is all clear and higher grade that it could be a real deal for the right prices -- say 350$ or less. If I were bidding on it w/o inspecting & better measuring the stack, then my top end would 250$ maybe less depending on circumstances(ie the auction, it's origin, etc.) While more would be still be a good price, it's not worth the risk, it's not that good of a deal to take a chance on. So how's that for a range 550$ down to 250$ ... nothing like pinning it down to specifics eh?

Then I could be all wet but no one ever said I was not opinionated... so my opinions are worth what you paid for them and I hope you score a great deal. Nothing is a as sweet as making something out material that you got a great deal on... or as us turners say - the best wood to turn is free wood!

[Daniel Yourdon]

As for the deminsions of the lumber. the close up of the end shows the yellow danding in relation to the board. as well as well as the thickness of the top boards in relation to there width. by this the top board at the front is a 2x4
followed by a 2x6, followed by a 2x8 and it looks like it could be a 2x16 under that. can't quite tell if that is two boards tight together. many of these boards look to be 2x8 by that measurment.
the bottom pow appears to be mostly 6's and 8's making the stack roughly 4 feet wide.
the corrugated metal can be either 16 or 12. but the steel beam would be 8 inches. to hard to tell from the photo just haw the beam alignes withthe sheeting though.
using the width of four feet the side can be measured some what and I get it to be 10 feet. 6 feet between stickers, and four feet hanging over. since it is all 4/4 it is simply a matter of counting the layers to get the depth. which is 18 layers times two is 36 inches or 3 feet. now deminsioned lumber does not come out true to those measurments and not all the boards are 10 feet long so some fudging must be done. I am simply hacking off a foot in lengthe to fill in for voids. short boards etc. giving
9x4x3x12= 1296 board feet.

[Jim Ketron]

My guess would be around 600 bf
Jim

[Michael Cody]

Augustus,

You know -- now with all this guessing and discussion, ya gotta' buy the pile just so we can know the actual amount .... no choice here, you started this -- now you got to finish it!! :D

[Daniel Yourdon]

Augustus,

You know -- now with all this guessing and discussion, ya gotta' buy the pile just so we can know the actual amount .... no choice here, you started this -- now you got to finish it!! :D
And the one closest without going over wins it????

[David Klink]

A million billion gazillion!

or...

More than I have at the moment. You better share!

or...

900-950?

:)

[Todd Woodward]

I am guessing a little over 400 bd ft

[larry merlau]

hey neighbor, just where would you suggest getttin some good cherry? 4gtr. i was told that there was a place in kazoo. but havnt got any more info than that, would be most thankful for any assistance from the richlands. larry from the poor yankee springs :)