Hardwood lumber prices

[Greg Book]

I'm curious what other people pay for hardwood in their part of the country. I live in central CT and I get the feeling prices here are quite high. One of the best places in the state to get hardwood is at the CT Wood Group in Enfield. Just a sampling of their prices (which are comparable to other local hardwood dealers):

Cherry 4/4 - $6.30
Mahogany 4/4 - $10.10
Red Oak 4/4 - $3.40
Walnut 4/4 - $6.75
Soft Maple 4/4 - $3.95

Maple and oak are the cheapest, but other stuff gets pricey.

What are other people paying?

[Paul Symchych]

Prices here run about the same or typically a bit higher.
I did scoop some nice lumber yesterday. Arizona Hardwoods in PHX has a large amount of lovely mesquite for only $8 if anyone in the area is interested. That was what I went to look at but wound up buying fiddleback maple for only $3. That was a mill run pile that I spotted in passing and picked through to pull out the fiddleback. Even as flat cut, $3 maple is cheap for here. Fiddleback usually sells for 4 or 5 times what I paid. An unplanned find.

[Russell Smallwood]

.... Even as flat cut, $3 maple is cheap for here. Fiddleback usually sells for 4 or 5 times what I paid. An unplanned find.

Drive by gloat! You suck :)

[Chris True]

Poplar about a dollar sixty
White Oak a bit over 2
Red Oak close to 3 dollars
Maple 3-4
Cherry 5 - 6
Walnut 6 - 7
I think the quarter sawn white oak was 6.95 as well the last time I bought it.

[David Weaver]

Red oak about $3
Hard Maple about $4
Cherry about $5

Don't know about the rest, have only bought maple and cherry lately.

[Jeff Duncan]

Those prices are a bit high so I'll assume your buying pretty small quantities?

Prices paid over the last year....

Cherry 4/4 rough $3.76
Mahogany (South American pattern grade) 8/4 rough $8.79
Walnut 8/4 rough $5.80
Soft Maple 4/4 rough $1.80
Hard Maple $2.40

These are small quantity prices about 2-3 hours North of you, and don't include specials I occasionally get buying in 500 bd. ft. lots. For instance I bought 500 bd ft. of brown maple last year for $1 bd. ft., cheaper than soft maple;)

If you can find a wholesaler who also offers retail, you should be able to trim those prices a bit.

good luck,
JeffD

[Greg Book]

Yeah, those prices were for <100 bdft, but the discounts above that are only $0.10 or $0.20 for >500 bdft. What wholesaler do you visit in the Boston area? It may be worth the drive since I have in-laws up in that area.

[Derek Gilmer]

Here in central Ar the prices vary quite a bit depending on if you are doing a store/lumber yard or finding a local sawyer. Here are what my sawmill buddies sell for in general. But it is only if they have it in stock and all rough off the rip saw. I do the finish milling myself.
Cherry 4/4 - $1.50 /bf (air dried)
QS Cherry 4/4 2-2.50/bf (green)
Walnut - $2 - 3 /bf - air dried
Red Oak 4/4 - .70 - $1 green
Soft Maple 5/4 $1.50 /bf air dried

Dealers and buying not from the good ole boy network most of the prices are close to David Weaver's prices from what I've seen.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Greg - I assume those prices are $/BF. Are those for rough lumber, or S2S or S4S?

[Jeff Duncan]

I use several suppliers but I'd recommend Downes & Reader. They're located in Stoughton, (south of me), have a retail setup, good prices, and pretty friendly to deal with. If your looking to really load up Holt & Bugby are a wholesale outfit farther north, but have slightly better prices. The others are even farther north and wholesale so I won't bother listing them.


good luck,
JeffD

[Victor Robinson]

San Francisco Bay Area:

4/4 s2s1e cherry: ~$4-5
4/4 s2s1e walnut: ~$6
4/4 s2s1e red oak: ~$3
4/4 s2s1e hard maple: ~$3.50
4/4 s2s1e af mahogany: ~$6
4/4 s2s1e sapele: ~$7.50

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I use several suppliers but I'd recommend Downes & Reader.

+1. They're pretty close to me, and I've been there quite a few times. Don't go totally by the prices you see on the website - often the actual prices are lower. I've had luck calling and asking price for a specific species or two, just to be sure. Good employees, great selection.

[Darin Kauffman]

I have got to find a better wood supplier than woodcraft.....

The last hardwood I bought was Sugar Rock Maple $7.10 per foot @ 8/4 x 8".

At least that is what I remember.... Could have been more.

[Mark Blatter]

When I was buying retail, I was paying much higher. I was really surprised by the differences once I started paying wholesale.

Wood Retail Wholesale
Cherry $6+ $2.80
Maple - Select $6+ $3+/-
Maple - Rustic ? $1.85
Walnut $6+ $2.90+/-
Alder $3.00 $1.90

All of these prices were based on 2S2, at a minimum. It would cost an additional $.10 - .15 to straight line one edge. We didn't pick up the wood, but have it delivered, so we couldn't hand select what we received, but we could also send back anything we didn't like for full credit. At the time, we were buying 300 - 500 bf at a time, normally 1 - 2 times per week.

I found that when I owned a cabinet shop the wood dealers would deal with me. Once th economy tanked, they brought their prices down pretty fast. Those that live in the same gographic areas should get together and form a buying co-op. They would likely get much better prices.

[Craig D Peltier]

From what I saw on two post here Mahogany is very edxpensive on the east coast. Heres its under 6 retail. Also red oak is cheaper than OP and soft maple because alot of sawyers and homeowners have it in there yards.Cherry and Walnut the same.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Yeah, well - Try this on for size:

I've got ~200 BF of white oak inbound from eastern PA. 45% is 4/4, 45% is 5/4, 10% is 8/4. Excluding the freight charge [~ $1.50/bf], the average I am paying for the wood is right at $21.40 / BF.

That's not a typo.

The punch line: It is QSWO from old growth logs, #1 veneer-quality, bookmatched. Ain't nothing like it, anywhere - not even close. I've used it before for high-end A+C stuff.

This is only for the "show surfaces" on a DR table, a library table, 4 side-table type things, and a window bench. Also, the arms on the DR arm chairs. I showed the client various grades of QSWO, and ended with her sitting in a chair in my LR, looking at a pair of matching bookcases made from the serious stuff - told her the price difference - :eek: - explained that in 5 years she would [probably] have forgotten the price, but she would be looking at that astonishing grain every day.

Everything else [non-show surfaces, or where the grain wouldn't be worth the price] is from local QSWO - at a lumber store [Peach State] and from a small one-man operation [fellow Creeker]. All of that stuff ran from $6.50 for 4/4 to $8.50 for 8/4 for lumber store kiln-dried, and $5.00 for 4/4 to $7.50 for 8/4 air-dried.

Oh - poplar 4/4 & 8/4 is about 2 bucks. That stuff is for set-up and prototypes - ain't risking the QSWO on the "error factor". :D

[Bobby O'Neal]

Those are pretty comparable to my neck of the woods, at S3S

[bill schmoott]

Yikes, I looked at some of these prices and wonder how y'all afford to make anything. Here in KY, I have a couple of sawmills with air dried 2 yrs +, rough cut

Cherry 4/4 - $2.00 -2.50

Red Oak 4/4 - $1.50
Walnut 4/4 - $1.50
Soft Maple 4/4 - $1.5-2.00

If they dont have any, there are always guys with portable mills that will let you know who has some at a good deal. You can pay higher prices, but I have never had too. I have a line on some quarter sawn post oak, has anyone ever seen it? 2.75/ft if you get 500

There is a local guy that owns a kiln. He will buy from these guys, put it in the kiln for a couple of days, sticks his nose in the air and calls it conditioned/kiln dried wood. Upcharges about a buck a board foot.

now make fun of us for not wearing shoes

[Rich Konopka]

Look on Craigslist. I just finished picking up a couple hundred board feet of walnut and cherry for $250. It was right in GBURY my back yard. I split a big pile with 2 other fellow woodworkers.

[Mike Cutler]

Greg

What is the grade of the wood?, and widths? If it's all FAS, than the prices are close to what I can but them for locally. They are slightly higher than what I pay though
I'm about 40 minutes east of you.

I can't work with Mahagony, so I don't know his price.( It's the only wood I have an allergic reaction to. It makes the whole front of my face numb. Weird, and frustrating because I really like mahagony)

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Here's a link of a place on the southside of Atlanta I like to visit whenever I make a trip up there. Very good prices and great specials! http://www.thewoodyard.com/pages/display/

[John Hollaway]

Sorry fellas, but most of you guys are killin' me. I can't stand it any more. Pay attention to these two words: PUBLIC SALE. Last summer I bought about 1000 bf of stacked and stickered air dried walnut in south-central PA for $380.00. Sure, its log run, but some of the most beautiful walnut I've ever seen. Some boards to 15" wide, some slabs to 10/4, and very little sapwood. I've just recently begun using some of it and I couldn't be more thrilled. This sale was for a deceased farmer and it was all cut from the woods on his farm. I often see sales advertised with similar stacks of lumber. Do a little homework and you too can easily find these kind of deals. Good hunting!!!

[Kent A Bathurst]

Here's a link of a place on the southside of Atlanta I like to visit whenever I make a trip up there. Very good prices and great specials! http://www.thewoodyard.com/pages/display/


Randy - thanks. Hadn't heard of them before. Looks like it's worth a cruise south to rummage around.

Regards;

Kent

[Danny Hamsley]

Kent,

It definitely is. The guy who runs The Woodyard is a good fellow.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Kent,

It definitely is. The guy who runs The Woodyard is a good fellow.

Hey, there Danny - 'Sup? Doin' OK?

Creekers - if you are within cruising distance to Perry, GA [~30 min south of Macon via I-75] Danny's got a nice selection of air-dried lumber. That's where I got some big slabs of 4/4 + 8/4 QSWO, but he's got other stuff as well. I can't remember all of them...............

Coupla out-of-shape ever-so-slightly-overweight guys humping 8/4 x 26" x 10' plus QSWO - >200 lb each. Coulda sold tickets to that one :D

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Randy - thanks. Hadn't heard of them before. Looks like it's worth a cruise south to rummage around.

Regards;

Kent

Yep, they're great! As a matter of fact, I need to make another "lumber run" up there sometime soon! I'm getting the itch to replenish my walnut and cherry stockpile:)

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Kent,

It definitely is. The guy who runs The Woodyard is a good fellow.

Danny,

The next time I make a trip to see my brother in Macon, I'd like to stop by your place also and take a look at what you got. I'm interested primarily in Walnut, Cherry and maple. Please send me a PM on your inventory/prices and the best time you are sawing these species, so I can set up an account with the CFO of my household:) Thanks.