white pine slabs good deal?

[eugene thomas]

a neighbor had some white pine trees cut down year ago and recently had them cut up. the slabs are 2" thick and 10' long. width range from 18 to 26" wide with some of the narrower ones being live edge. he wants $50 a slab. if bought would have no problem letting them dry for year or more. Not really need them but if killer deal i can find place to store them.

[John TenEyck]

To me, they would be worth nothing. Another guy might happily pay twice the price being asked. Only you know how much they are worth to you.

John

[Andrew Seemann]

In Mpls, kiln dry white pine is usually a little over $3/bd ft for C and better 4/4, shop grade (black/loose knot) 4/4 is a little under $1.50, 8/4 C and better is probably over $5/bd ft, not sure exactly, I haven't bought 8/4 in a while.

I'd probably grab some if it was near me and they looked good and I had a place to store/dry them. But then again I like white pine.

[Zachary Hoyt]

It sounds like some of them might have twice the volume of lumber as others, but they're all a flat price? If you're going to buy any I would buy the big ones in that kind of situation. I have sold some pine live edge 8/4 for 50 cents a board foot, it was low grade with knots and crotches and such. It doesn't sound like a great buy to me unless they're clear or close to it, but I don't know what prices are like in your area.
Zach

[Jim Becker]

You'd need to let them air dry for substantially more than one year properly stickered and weighted with just a cover out in the ambient air flow, Eugene, or get them into a kiln. They will be unworkable at only a year. That said and as others have indicated, the price isn't "outstanding".

[Josko Catipovic]

I just bought a number of 8/4 freshly-sawnl white pine slabs for $.80/bf (in Southern New England) . Seller let me pick over the pile for clear stock. Mill-run was $.50/bf.

[Richard Wolf]

They would make some great seats for Windsor chairs.

[Robert Hazelwood]

Not a great deal in terms of bd ft pricing, considering they are not kiln dried. Also consider they may have bug infestations, so keep away from your other wood until you've had some time to observe.

But if you want live edge slabs, it's not bad if you can wait for air drying. The usual price of pine live edge slabs is ridiculous for a product that actually takes less work for the lumberyard to process than the dimensional lumber these slabs would otherwise be turned into. The "slab" place around here would charge $300 to $500 for those slabs (it's like $9 or $10 a bd ft), though they would be nicely kiln dried. But if they rip the edges off and sell it as a 2x12, the bd ft price drops down to $2-$3.

Possibly you can take them somewhere to be kiln-dried?

[Robert Engel]

A 24" wide plank is 40 BF. Not the greatest deal for $50.

Considering not dried, possiblity of bug infestation over the next 3-4 years, etc.

That said, if the wood looks good and grain is tight, and you have a need for secondary wood for drawers, etc.

Other than that, I would pass..