What price per board foot to ask for roughcut?

[Tony Zona]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this, so if it is not, please set me straight.

I am trying to set a price for about 320 cubic feet of roughcut oak and maple I have setting in my barn. Most of it is red oak. What waste percentage should I use when I advertise this for sale in my local paper?

That cubic footage would convert easily to board feet, but now the real question.

This stuff has been outside for three years under cover on the south side of the barn. My moisture meter shows less than 7 percent. (That's a puzzle to me.)

What would be a fair price per board foot to offer this stuff in Western Pennsylvania? I search Google, but have been unlucky so far.

I ended up with a bunch of pine two-bys, too, and will try to get that out of here next.

[Nate Carey]

...one board foot is 144 cubic inches...

...un-graded, rough, air-dried red oak...somewhere between $.75 and $1.50 per board foot...maple about the same...too many variables to narrow the range

...I would also question a 7% mc reading for air-dried red oak or maple...should be more like 12%

[Dennis Peacock]

Yup....what Nate said. :D

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Ditto on Nate & Dennis.

[Frank Drew]

Tony,

A lot will depend on the condition of the lumber (is it flat and straight, largely knot- and check-free?), and the widths/thicknesses -- you can charge a premium for wide and thick stock, ditto for special figure. In other words, FAS is worth more than #2 common, curly maple more than plain.

[Nate Carey]

Frank, what does a thousand board feet of rough 8/4 red oak - KD, FAS, 10" and wider, 12' and longer, cost in Virginia these days...thanks, Nate

[Tony Zona]

Thanks, people. I appreciate the information.

[Curt Harms]

I'm paying $1.75/bd. ft. for red or white oak air dried. Not sure how it would grade--an occasional knot but most knots are small & tight. IMO any lumber that's been out of the kiln for more than a couple months in this part of the world and not in a conditioned space (heated or dehumidified) is going to run 10%-12% Moisture in the summer. In Jan.-Feb. my stock kept in the basement will run 6%. The wild card in your case might be storage on the south side of a building. If it has a lot of sun exposure, that might lower the moisture some.

Curt

[Kevin Barnett]

I think your glossing over an important point - a cubic foot is not, in most cases, 12 bft. For example, if you had a 12 inch by 12 inch by 8 foot cant, you could start out with 96 bft. If you were to take it to a circle mill and cut it down to 4/4, you'd have approximately 64 bft (assuming 1&1/8 finished thickness and 0.25" kerf). That'd give you 2800 bft -if you extrapolated. More if you used a bandsaw.

Around here, I can get air dried (12%) red oak clear or one knot for about $0.85-1.00/bft almost every day (especially in a down market). I can get kiln dried, planed oak for $2.25-$2.50 FAS.

I think in the best case scenario...
1) it's already 1&1/8" thick
2) it looks decent
3) you can prove no bugs

Then you'd get 320x12x$1.00=$3,840

In the worst case scenario (assuming no bugs and FAS grade)
1) you'd use a circle saw to cut 12" cants or logs.
2) you'd have heart centers to work with
3) You discount for a bulk buy.
Then you could have something worth quite a bit less. Maybe something like 2800bftX$0.75/bftX80%useable wood = $1675

Pallet grade oak around here (2b and 3a) goes for $0.25/bft.

[Frank Drew]

Maybe I misunderstood Tony's original description, but I thought he meant that the wood had already been sawn into boards and he was using cubic footage measure the way the Brits do.

If the wood is actually logs that have merely been slabbed into cants, then all bets are off, particularly anything to do with moisture content.

Nate,

I wish I could tell you, but it's been years since I've bought any red oak, and can't tell you what it's selling for these days. I'll call around and post if and when I get some prices.

[Tony Zona]

The wood is already cut into boards from 4x4 (just a couple) to 1x10. I just estimated the cubic volume to make it easy because I forgot to count every board as I stacked it.

It has been drying as boards, properly stickered.