cost of thicker hardwood boards

[joe milana]

Why do thicker hardwood boards ie. (5/4, 6/4. 8/4, etc) typically cost more per board foot than 4/4? I would assume you get just as many BF per log, fewer cuts have to be made, Less boards to stack, etc. Just curious...

[Mike Henderson]

It takes longer to dry them in the klin, which means greater cost.

Mike

[Paul Murphy]

One other reason I've been told is there is a greater rate of drying induced defect as thickness is increased.

[Scott T Smith]

Mike and Paul are both correct.

It typically takes 4 -5 weeks to dry a load of green 5/4 oak down to 6% in my DH kiln. A load of green 8/4 oak requires 2.5 months.

[glenn bradley]

Some sellers also tier their pricing by widths available.

[george wilson]

On really thick stuff,like oak 8"X8",you can't get it kiln dried at all.

I got some 4" oak about 18" wide several years ago. It had wide "caves" inside it where it dad been dried too quickly. These caves were up to 1/2" wide,but did not extend to the surfaces on either side of the oak. Curious.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Also a supply and demand factor (mostly supply). Thicker and wider boards (especially clear) are less available and when sawing a log, there is less to sell when cut thicker (6/4, 8/4+). Even though the board contains more bf, there is less sq ft available.

Atleast that's what I was told by one lumer mill I frequent. Though I'm sure it isn't the only reason, it sounded good to me.

[Steve Jenkins]

On really thick stuff,like oak 8"X8",you can't get it kiln dried at all.

I got some 4" oak about 18" wide several years ago. It had wide "caves" inside it where it dad been dried too quickly. These caves were up to 1/2" wide,but did not extend to the surfaces on either side of the oak. Curious.

That is called honeycomb and is found in 8/4 and thicker oak more often than most any other wood that I know of.