Price of green wood v.s. kiln dried

[Donald Hofmann]

How much cheaper should rough, green wood be than kiln dried from, let's say Austin Hardwoods.

For example, in July I bought 164 bd ft of ash from Austin hardwoods for $2.08 per bd ft.

What should i pay for rough green lumber?

[Donald Hofmann]

bump to the top..............:)

[Richard Wolf]

I don't know about Austin Hardwoods, but are you sure they carry green wood? Most hardwood dealers don't. You can usually find green wood at a saw mills. Unless you have a need for green wood why would you want it and at $2.00 a bd ft for kiln dired I wouldn't think you could find green wood cheap enough to bother.

Richard

[Michael Cody]

Actually I paid 0.60$ a bf for 5/4 cherry & 0.40$ a bf for 6/4 & 8/4 oak from a local sawmill. The cherry looks to be mostly FAS and some #1, the oak is all #1 or better. Plus I got some QSWO for 0.90$ a bf (about 300bf). I bought this all a year or so ago and put it in an old garage at my grand parents farm, to air dry. Been turning it every 60 days or so, seems to be drying nicely. Should be mostly ready this summer.. If you've got time to Air-Dry, doing it right (ie min waste) and are in no big hurry -- plus no place to cut your own, it's not a bad way to accumulate wood. Just takes planning. If I ever get time to work w/wood more than a little turning, this stuff is supposed to become new kitchen cabinets and mission furniture for my living room.. someday! Sure would be nice not to have to work for a living but such is life eh?

[Donald Hofmann]

I don't know about Austin Hardwoods, but are you sure they carry green wood? Most hardwood dealers don't. You can usually find green wood at a saw mills. Unless you have a need for green wood why would you want it and at $2.00 a bd ft for kiln dired I wouldn't think you could find green wood cheap enough to bother.

Richard


Austin Hardwoods carries kiln dried, I was trying to see how much cheaper I could buy it green for.

[Donald Hofmann]

Actually I paid 0.60$ a bf for 5/4 cherry & 0.40$ a bf for 6/4 & 8/4 oak from a local sawmill. The cherry looks to be mostly FAS and some #1, the oak is all #1 or better. Plus I got some QSWO for 0.90$ a bf (about 300bf). I bought this all a year or so ago and put it in an old garage at my grand parents farm, to air dry. Been turning it every 60 days or so, seems to be drying nicely. Should be mostly ready this summer.. If you've got time to Air-Dry, doing it right (ie min waste) and are in no big hurry -- plus no place to cut your own, it's not a bad way to accumulate wood. Just takes planning. If I ever get time to work w/wood more than a little turning, this stuff is supposed to become new kitchen cabinets and mission furniture for my living room.. someday! Sure would be nice not to have to work for a living but such is life eh?

Thank you for the information.

[lou sansone]

Actually I paid 0.60$ a bf for 5/4 cherry & 0.40$ a bf for 6/4 & 8/4 oak from a local sawmill. The cherry looks to be mostly FAS and some #1, the oak is all #1 or better. Plus I got some QSWO for 0.90$ a bf (about 300bf). I bought this all a year or so ago and put it in an old garage at my grand parents farm, to air dry. Been turning it every 60 days or so, seems to be drying nicely. Should be mostly ready this summer.. If you've got time to Air-Dry, doing it right (ie min waste) and are in no big hurry -- plus no place to cut your own, it's not a bad way to accumulate wood. Just takes planning. If I ever get time to work w/wood more than a little turning, this stuff is supposed to become new kitchen cabinets and mission furniture for my living room.. someday! Sure would be nice not to have to work for a living but such is life eh?

hi michael
I am a big fan of buying green wood and drying it. red oak tends to be one of the more difficult woods to air dry from my experience and from all that I have read and seen discussed on woodweb's sawing and drying forum. cherry, maple and walnut are more forgiving when it comes to air drying. obvisouly at some point you will need to move the wood into a heated building to finish it off from what I would guess is a EMC of 12% down to the 6-8% range. I am curious about the prices you paid. Have you purchased from this mill in the past and paid similar prices ?

lou

[Aaron Kline]

The other thing you could do is buy green wood for fifty cetns a foot and take it to someone who custom dries wood. they usually don't charge more than fifty cents a foot to kd. I get some wood kiln dried for 28cents a foot at a local place.

[Dan Racette]

I am getting a load of green log run lumber for .30 per board foot if I buy the whole log. Drying is .30 more, but my dryer won't dry anything bigger than 5/4. I am building a solar kiln in the summer to dry my thicker stock, but otherwise it will air dry in my barn.

d

[Jim Becker]

Just a note for you folks going to dry your own...indoors isn't the best place to do that...you need air flow to help wick away moisture. Stickering your stack outdoors (6-10" off the ground) in an area where there is good air movement will give you the best results. You only need a cover on top to prevent standing water...don't cover the sides. Once the material is down to about 10-13% moisture, you can bring it indoors, re-sticker and let it acclimatize to local conditions. There have been several articles in the various woodworking magazines regarding air drying including good illustrations about how to properly stack the pile.