How to ship an 8 foot walnut slab?

[dirk martin]

I'm near Chicago, and I've got a guy in California that wants to purchase a walnut slab from me.
It's fully dry, about 8 feet long, 15 inches wide, and about 1.5 inches thick.
Natural edge, with bark still on. I doubt the bark will stay, during transit.

I've also got a smaller 4 foot slab, about 14" wide, and 2" thick....also dry, with bark on, as well as a finish applied.
The kicker is, this slab has a stand attached...that I guess I could remove.
How do I go about shipping big stuff like this?
Do I have to build a pallet, and figure out how to crate these things?

Or, are there places I can just drop them off at, and they'll do the crating / shipping?
Rough idea on cost? I don't have a clue....

[Bill Dufour]

You might try Amtrak or Grayhound? I would make a fitted box with plywood on the good face so it does not get scarred up. I met a young couple on Amtrak going from Chicago to Seattle with his and hers kayaks. Amtrak charged them $5.00 each for the oversize luggage.
Do college students still drive other peoples cars cross country for gas money?
Bill D.

[dirk martin]

I never even thought about Greyhound.....
And their website makes it look pretty easy to estimate different sizes.
Thanks a ton.

[Mike Cutler]

The long board will need to go overland freight. It's too long for FedEx or UPS. The smaller one is within the length of shipping for FedEx or UPS, but you would need to take the stand off. It would probably ship over size once it was in some type of a protective crate.
Make a crate for long one to protect it and wrap it in layers of material to protect the edges. You'll need to contact a shipping company to get a quote. They will ask you for approximate size, dimensions, and weight.
I've had flooring shipped to me in 8' lengths, and bought some lumber from folks here on the board that were shipped freight.

[Jon Endres]

Use U-Ship.

[Jamie Buxton]

The long board will need to go overland freight. It's too long for FedEx or UPS...

No, the UPS limits should allow it. UPS say the length must be less than 108 inches -- check. The length plus girth must be less than 165 inches -- check. And the package weight must be less than 75 pounds. I estimate that board to be 60 pounds, so if the packaging is less than 15 pounds it would be okay. Make the box from 1x3 edges and quarter inch plywood faces, and wrap the board in a few layers of bubble wrap.

UPS may not be the least expensive way to go, but it is quick and reliable, and it is little hassle at either end of the shipment.

[Prashun Patel]

You'll pay an arm and leg shipping it UPS. Even if you do that, how is the driver going to get it into his truck when you schedule pick up from your home? It's just asking for problems.

Every slab I've received has been shrink wrapped to a long pallet and shipped LTL. If you are concerned about the corners, you can corner the edges with cardboard.

I would pay to have someone palletize, shrink wrap, and handle the logistics for you.

[Ken Combs]

I used to ship a lot of stuff. Fedex was always better for me than UPS. Everyone makes mistakes, but Fedex always was better at handling claims than UPS.

I used a west coast ZIP(90210!), and a my local (OK) zip and your dimensions with an allowance for a package and with an estimated weight of 70 lbs at the Fedex web page. Looks like it would ship for around $100 with a Fedex account, more if you don't have one.

a frame of 1x2 lumber wrapped with cardboard stapled in place and wrapped with a lot of tape would work. Easy to do.

IME, LTL shipments are always more expensive door to door. And, in my case, terminal to terminal is not practical as the nearest is 40some miles away.