Did I pay too much for cherry?

[Chris Oakley]

I'm a newbie, thought I'd try to make a small wine cabinent out of cherry that I saw in a magazine. Went to my local lumber yard, paid $5.89 for 4/4 cherry. I'm in centra Kansas. I thought that was an awful lot, did I get taken?

[Jim Morrow]

Sounds about right to me. Here in Washington State it runs about $6.00. If you shop around you can find it a little cheaper.
Take care,
Jim

[Peter Gregory]

It isn't hard to find cherry for less than $5/bf here in Southern Illinois. I have bought air dried from $1/bf to $3.50 (8/4) and kiln dried from $1.10/bf in a bundle of random pieces to $4.50 for the best boards I have ever found. You got to hook up with the good old boys to get good deals. Retired coal miners are the best I have found.

On the West Coast, midwestern and eastern hardwood cost more, lots more.

My best sources for good wood are other woodworkers (they can tell you where the good suppliers are), want ads of the local paper and sawmill listings in the yellow pages.

It is capitolism. A good price is what ever you paid and there is always a higher and lower price out there.

Good luck.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I think we pay about $5 a BF for 4/4 rough here in San Antonio so it doesn't sound out of line.

[John Piwaron]

Buying lumber at a retailer of a species that isn't native to your location is probably always going to be fairly expensive relative to what is native. If for no other reason than there's shipping to pay for.

That said, cherry at retail is about $4.50/bd ft. in SE Wisconsin. I wish I'd find it for less.

[Steve Roxberg]

Where in Central Kansas? I live in Overland Park and have seen a mill listed on www.woodfinder.com that might have better prices. I pay just under $5.00 in KC.

Check out the mill, too far for me to drive, but might work for you.

[Chris Oakley]

Steve, I'm in Lyons, 40 miles NW of Hutchinson.

[Steve Roxberg]

This guy is in Belvue, I don't know where Hutchinson is either. Remember I'm from Kansas City so I know about Emphoria, Lawerance, Topeka, and Manhattan and that's about it.

Hopefully they are close by.

This information was located on www.woodfinder.com, and I 've never purchased from them, but have gotten pricing.


Kansas Hardwoods, Inc.
Contact: Steve Floersch
Address: 22855 Highway 24
Belvue, KS 66407
Phone: 785-456-8141
E-Mail: Floersch@wamego.net

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> Retail or retail/wholesale supplier
> Mail orders accepted
> Sells turning blanks
> Sells green wood
> Sells musical instrument wood
> Sells boatbuilding wood
> Offers custom milling
> Kiln drying available
> Pick up and delivery available
> Accepts VISA
> Accepts MasterCard


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Wood and Wood Products
HARDWOOD LUMBER: Red Oak, White Oak, Quartersawn White Oak, Basswood- for cavers, Cherry, Ash, Hard Maple, Soft Maple, Eastern Red Cedar, Walnut, Hickory, Osage Orange, Coffeebean, Honey Locust, Cottonwood, Box Elder, curly red oak, curly white oak and curly/quilted white oak, figured maple, curly white ash, curly quilted white ash...



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Other Products and Services
Kansas Hardwoods Inc is a diversified hardwood lumber company that sells direct to the public. Conviently located on Highway 24 in Northeast Kansas, we sell kiln dried lumber, provide custom services, and sell green oak and cottonwood. Uses for green oak include trailer decks, fencing, beams for both indoor and outdoor use. Green cottonwood is used mostly indoors, with much of it used for horse stalls, because of price and durability, and is also used for construction lumber in barns, etc. Our customers include cabinet makers, carvers(basswood blocks),craft people, homeowners, carpenters, and do-it yourselfers. We also have figured lumber, including curly red and white oak, curly, quilted ash, and figured maple.

[Bruce Page]

Chris, I paid $7.40bf last Saturday.
New Mexico isn't kind to wood workers:mad:

[John Miliunas]

Originally posted by Bruce Page
Chris, I paid $7.40bf last Saturday.
New Mexico isn't kind to wood workers:mad:

$7.40bf?! Holy smokers. All's I can say is, NM may not be kind to woodworkers, but I'll bet NM also turns out some fantastic pieces made by those woodworkers. At that price, you guys must practice the "measure twice, cut once" religiously! :cool:

[Bryan Danner]

Bruce,

I was on Maui last November and went to a local lumber yard to look around. Their 4/4 cherry was about $7.50 bdft. Sounds like New Mexico might be kinda high. I recommend that you move to Maui!

BTW, I scored some really nice Koa shorts. They were 3 to 4 feet long (to fit into my baggage) and really stunning. I've never seen so much Koa in one place. They had to have a few thousand board feet of 4/4 and 8/4. It was all gorgeous, and every board looked completely different. Koa has a ton of character.

-Bryan

[Mike Mastin]

Steve and Jim out at Kansas Hardwoods are two pretty goof guys. They have about all native species of woods at their mills typically. Quality will vary from time to time, but I have always found something that I felt was worth the drive. We visit family in KC and I always make the trip out to see Steve and Jim.

[Dennis Peacock]

I get premium cherry here for $2.75 a board foot and if it is imported from Pennsylvania then it is $3.25 a board foot.

White Oak is $1.25 a bd ft
Poplar is $1.20 a bd ft
Maple (soft and hard) is around $2.25 a bd ft

Just an hours drive north east of here....

[Dominic Greco]

Originally posted by Dennis Peacock
I get premium cherry here for $2.75 a board foot and if it is imported from Pennsylvania then it is $3.25 a board foot.

White Oak is $1.25 a bd ft
Poplar is $1.20 a bd ft
Maple (soft and hard) is around $2.25 a bd ft

Just an hours drive north east of here....

Dennis,
Now that's the beauty of living in PA! You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a cherry tree.

I get rough sawn, air dried cherry, and walnut for $2.25 bd/ft. Soft Maple, Ash, Red Oak, White Oak, and Poplar are $1.00 bd/ft.

It sure is nice to have a Sawmill down the street! (heh heh heh!)

See ya,
Dominic

[Joe_Ott]

I just paid a little over $3.00 b/f (kiln dried - rough sawn 4/4) here a little south of the Cleveland area.

Joe

[Bruce Page]

I should have mentioned that the $7.40 cherry was 4/4 S2S. There’s only a half dozen suppliers around town for anything other than red oak so we pay through the nose. I’ve already convinced SWMBO that we’re moving to the midwest or southeast when I retire. I started this hobby years ago when I lived in California, so I’m used to high prices for wood.

Bryan, I was on the “Big Island” a few years ago and picked up a small log of KOA. I turned it into a small mantle clock for my sister. KOA is some of the prettiest wood that I’ve ever worked with.
:(

[Bruce Page]

I meant to add the pic to my post....

[John Piwaron]

I live in the Midwest and have long promised myself I'd move to Arizona when retirement came up.

However, since I'm retired, traveling a ways to pickup lumber could be arranged.

[Bruce Page]

Originally posted by John Piwaron
I live in the Midwest and have long promised myself I'd move to Arizona when retirement came up.

However, since I'm retired, traveling a ways to pickup lumber could be arranged.

John, Arizona is beautiful country but it’s too hot for me. I took a weeklong SPC class there a few years ago, it was 115°-118° cooling down to the low 90’s all week long. I asked the instructor how she dealt with it and she said that they just run from their air-conditioned home to their a/c’d car to their a/c’d grocery store to their a/c’d ….it just sounded like way to much running to me.:cool:

[John Piwaron]

once I'm retired.

I'm not yet there. Let's not rush things.

Years ago, my wife and I were driving across Arizona on the freeway during July and were passing through Flagstaff. It was snowing. It was hot enough to fry eggs, bacon and anything else you'd care to have for breakfast about 30 miles west. I don't know much about that town, but that looked good. Warm weather nearby, cool temps in the mountains. An appealing combination.

Most winters in Milwaukee are dreary. Some summers never get here. There's compensations for weather that's not always very nice, like lots of relatively inexpensive hardwood. But this being early March, I'm more than ready for some warm weather and outdoor grillin' in my hawaiian shirt and a cold beer. Therefore, Arizona looks good.