Cear alder is more exensive than soft maple

[Jim Becker]

Poplar has to be air dried before being kiln dried, without that , it will have to be used on small things ,like bird houses. Bought from
a good place poplar will be reasonably straight and flat . Buy only the green (color poplar) for exterior use.

Tulip Poplar/Yellow Poplar (magnolia family) only has the greenish tint when fresh cut. Poplar from "out west", which is a true poplar is a whole 'nuther kind of wood.

[Mel Fulks]

Tulip Poplar/Yellow Poplar (magnolia family) only has the greenish tint when fresh cut. Poplar from "out west", which is a true poplar is a whole 'nuther kind of wood.

Good arcane knowledge ! But I’ve never seen any architectural specs. that called for western poplar. They just want the stuff to be
flat and straight , and some of them have commended me for sending such “ EZ 2 youse” material ! LOT of mahogany ….is not
mahogany ‘til some use something that ‘kinda’ looks like mahogany and gets it certified by oohs and aahs !

[Mark Wedel]

The lumber industry seems a bit odd in its pricing. I can certainly understand why online stores are generally going to charge more - people would probably be unhappy if they were looking at prices and putting something together, and then when they finally do the order, find out the wood is 30% more than it was 3 days ago, so online places might be more likely to average out their wood prices or do trends.

Where as the lumberyard I use seems to have a price for each pallet of whatever, and charge based on what they paid for it, even if it is the same material. A few days back I bought some baltic birch (though given it is made in vietnam, maybe vietnamese birch, but that doesn't have quite the same ring). But the person ringing me up had to go check which rev of it was, because they apparently had 2 in stock with different prices, despite these being the same things. I've run into the same thing with hardwoods - that pile of cherry over there is $x, that other pile there is $y, despite both being 4/4 S&B S3S cherry.

At least they will honor prices - since I often call ahead, when I actually go there to get the material, the salesperson will ask if I was quoted some rate and give me that rate. I sometimes need to call ahead because depending on what they need, it might not be out this gives them time to pull a stack out vs me having to sit around a wait while they do so.

[Cameron Wood]

I don't care for alder- find it less stable & more sort of fuzzy. Maybe this is a West coast thing. Prefer poplar or soft maple.

[Simon Dupay]

Alder is a small tree, that's why the clear alder is more the 2x as expensive as Knotty alder, soft maple is a much larger tree, btw clear alder (in at least in MN) has always been $$$$ as long as I been in the industry (18+ years)

[andrew whicker]

That's crazy!

Right now, it's 3.88 for H. Maple / S. Maple for 4.11 / Alder for 5.something.

I think we luck out because we have a really good rail system that goes thru SLC.

At my local place Alder is $7.25, soft maple is $7.50, and hard maple is $7.10. Poplar is $4.10 (all retail 4/4 rgh) It all seems expensive to me!

[andrew whicker]

Alder is a small tree, that's why the clear alder is more the 2x as expensive as Knotty alder, soft maple is a much larger tree, btw clear alder (in at least in MN) has always been $$$$ as long as I been in the industry (18+ years)

Good to know. Thanks for the insight. Guess I'll never use alder then?

[Joe Calhoon]

Andrew, I just bought clear alder for $4 per Bd Ft from Intermountain. National in Denver is about the same. Seems like last time I bought it was $2.50. Nothing surprises me anymore on costs. Alder, especially knotty alder has had a long run in the mountain states and still seems popular. I don’t care much for it and always tried to steer the customers to knotty cherry when I could. I think in the North West most people there consider it a weed!

[Andrew Hughes]

Alder used to be called poor man’s cherry.

[andrew whicker]

Andrew, I just bought clear alder for $4 per Bd Ft from Intermountain. National in Denver is about the same. Seems like last time I bought it was $2.50. Nothing surprises me anymore on costs. Alder, especially knotty alder has had a long run in the mountain states and still seems popular. I don’t care much for it and always tried to steer the customers to knotty cherry when I could. I think in the North West most people there consider it a weed!

Yeah, I will have to get knotty for baseboard soon.

That's interesting on your prices. Intermountain for me was way high. Maybe because I just opened a cash account vs having a long relationship?

I have yet to buy from national

All my stuff so far is Macbeth (Indiana, Utah and Cali)

[John Kananis]

Andrew, slightly off topic. My accountant has me charge tax for cabinetry (i don't do a ton of it though). The argument is that it can be unscrewed from the walls and removed. I argued that nobody does that but he said better safe than sorry. Do you not charge tax?

When I first made the acct, I made it tax exempt (furniture sales), but quickly became cabinet guy. I need to make my account taxable (which is on me). But every guy at this lumber shop is like "cool, no big deal", but this one guy there is such a PITA. He's always "sigh..... welllllll... we can't put it on the account then... I'm just gonna have to charge you full price.."

Sigh. Give people a little bit of power over someone else and it becomes a whole thing.

[andrew whicker]

Andrew, slightly off topic. My accountant has me charge tax for cabinetry (i don't do a ton of it though). The argument is that it can be unscrewed from the walls and removed. I argued that nobody does that but he said better safe than sorry. Do you not charge tax?

That sounds like a pretty over the top argument to me. In Utah, cabinets are specifically referred to in the sales tax documents written by the state. They are excluded from sales tax as with the rest of construction.

I would call your city and ask them. They are ultimately the arbitrators.

[Joe Calhoon]

Yeah, I will have to get knotty for baseboard soon.

That's interesting on your prices. Intermountain for me was way high. Maybe because I just opened a cash account vs having a long relationship?

I have yet to buy from national

All my stuff so far is Macbeth (Indiana, Utah and Cali)

I used to buy from Macbeth they have some unique products. Way back they used to run a truck up here once a month. Not any more and too expensive to go common carrier.
Intermountain and National have been running weekly into the mountains since the 80s. To get best pricing best to stick with one or two suppliers and build a relationship.

[Curt Harms]

Alder used to be called poor man’s cherry.

But when I was trying to buy alder to match existing alder cabinetry, alder was more $ than air dried cherry. Alder is a west coast tree as I understand it, Pennsylvania has lots of cherry which at least partially explains it.

[John Kananis]

I'll do that and thanks for the input/direction.

That sounds like a pretty over the top argument to me. In Utah, cabinets are specifically referred to in the sales tax documents written by the state. They are excluded from sales tax as with the rest of construction.

I would call your city and ask them. They are ultimately the arbitrators.