Oak Prices?

[Deck Reagan]

Hi everyone,
I bought a Dewalt DW735 planer a while back. I mainly use oak in my projects. I thought I could save money if I bought a planer and started plaining my own rough stock.

So far I haven't been too lucky. I live in Nebraska and our local Menards sells 3/4" planed oak with one edge straight for about 2.50 a bd ft. I just bought a 100 bd ft of 15/16" oak for the same price! But I still have to plane it!

Does anyone know of better wood prices in NEBRASKA?

Thanks,

Deck

[Dennis Peacock]

Rough cut, kiln dried Red Oak sells for around $2 PBFT here from my lumber supplier. He's an individual that caters to cabinet shops. White Oak is about $1.50 PBFT and if you want White Oak that is freshly cut into lumber? I can get that for about $0.80 PBFT.

Unfortunately, Red Oak and Maple are continuing to skyrocket in price.

[Tim Burke]

Deck,

The 2 best ways to find places nearby (in the Midwest, nearby might mean within 1-2 hour drive) is to look on www.woodfinder.com (http://www.woodfinder.com), or go to the Yahoo yellow pages and search for lumber.

I like Menard's for most things, but their rough oak is not too good looking. For the same price, maybe less, you will find much better quality oak at a lumber mill or supplier. For a little less than Menard's prices, I bought red oak at a local lumber mill (45 minutes away). The boards are S2S, 7/8" thick. Menard's is already 3/4" before even putting it into the planer.

As far as saving money, well maybe. If, like me, you aren't doing a high volume of work, I question the money savings part. The Menard's S4S oak is pretty nice quality. Even at the higher prices, it saves me tons of time, planer wear, and the need to stock oak in my garage. However, a planer will allow you to get into any type of wood without hoping to find it preplaned.

Tim

[George Bledsoe]

I sell my kiln dried red oak for 2.00 a bdft. That is rough lumber so I guess planed and straight edged for 2.50 isn't bad. I haven't bought any wood for quite sometime but I had bought some from Hardwood Heaven in Omaha before they closed. I have heard tell of a place in Omaha that has a pretty good price called Intermountain. Since I have a sawmill I don't buy from them but I know a guy who has and he said they had a good selection no idea on price.

There is also Dunham hardwoods in Dunlap Iowa but that is a fair drive.

Good Luck

[Paul Canaris]

Most of the places I have done business with over the years charge about 15 cents a bd ft for planing. So I never viewed this as a cost savings per say, but more of a necessity. Since planning my own from rough, I tend to get much flatter stock and better outcomes.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Assuming it's graded as first and seconds (FAS), $2.50 sounds like a pretty good price, especially from a big box store. However, I'm from New Jersey; even the air I breathe here costs more.
-Jeff :)

[Deck Reagan]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Deck