Recent hardwood prices?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Find and support your local sawmill. Many are set up with kilns for drying wood, and often, a small proprietor is going to take better care and have pride in the product he/she delivers. I know several around the country that have recently installed vacuum kilns, as a newer company is building kilns to support smaller mills with a entry price point 1/3 the cost of previously available systems. I'm looking into one for my own operation, and it can dry 12/4 slabs in 2 weeks or less with almost zero degrade. 4/4 and 6/4 lumber is dry in less than a week. Support your local sawyer, and you will also find a lot of different species of timber not normally found at the typical retail suppliers, too. Just a thought.

It's rare to find hardwoods in my neck of the woods.

[Jeff Heath]

Jeff,
Can you tell us the name of the vendor selling those vacuum kilns?
I'd be interested in learning a little more about those! Thanks, Jeff

Here you go. Keep in mind, they are selling the kilns, not offering a wood drying service. You need to find a local kiln operator, but at the rate I see these systems selling, it's not going to be very long before they are available all over North America. I was considering a vacuum kiln 2 years ago, but the $140K selling price gave me serious pause. At the current entry price point of $50K, the ability to recover the initial investment is fairly quick and relatively painless for anyone operating a sawmill with a lot of lumber to dry. The turn around times for drying 12/4 slabs go from many months, in a typical dehumidification kiln, to less than a couple weeks. Not a commercial, although I may sound like one. I have no ties, but am serious about buying one.

https://idrywood.com/

[Jeff Heath]

It's rare to find hardwoods in my neck of the woods.

Ken

I have a good friend who lives in Post Falls, Idaho who frequently gets together with other local woodworkers, and they split the cost of shipping in a decent order of hardwoods for use. My point is, if you want something in North America, anything can be delivered. 20 years ago, before I bought my first sawmill, I used to have hardwoods delivered from Pennsylvania to my area (northern Illinois) because I think the local retail hardwood dealers are absolute crooks, and the quality of the lumber was always suspect, with a lot of poorly dried, warped and twisted lumber included.

Another friend, who lived in Montana as a custom furniture builder, for a long time, ordered in all his hardwoods.

Probably not very practical for 50 board feet, but planning ahead for the future makes shipping very doable.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I have quite a few trees down on my property...

Ash is really bad about getting buggy if on the ground for long. If you want to mill it you better hurry.

[Jim Becker]

Ash is really bad about getting buggy if on the ground for long. If you want to mill it you better hurry.

The ones I'm most interested in milling fortunately are still standing.

[Jeff Heath]

I have had excellent success milling a lot of ash. It's very well behaved while drying, and the EAB only eats the cambium layer. I've been using a lot of it lately. I think it's a nice species that's been overlooked for furniture and cabinetry for a long time.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jeff,

Earlier this month I joined a local woodworking club that I didn't know existed until a couple months ago. The club members gave me some leads on two local sources that I didn't know about. Several members said they often get together and drive to Portland to purchase hardwoods and bring back.

[Darrell Bade]

In November I bought 150 bf of plainsawn red oak for $2.29 a board foot and 150 bf of quartersawn red oak for $3.29 a board foot. That is about what it has been for a long time.