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Location: Pacific ocean now much further away!
Koa trees are going for about $30,000 for a 100 year old tree. Lot of koa seems to be getting shipped to Japan with some to China. You gotta be on top of things to get it at decent prices. Pheasant wood is almost as expensive. Saw a slab 8' x 14" x 2" for $6000. Beautiful piece of wood, tho'.
Sandal wood is starting to be farmed now after nearly all of it was logged out and sent to... ...China.
VH07V
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Wood-chips, you should consider going in with a few guys in your area and placing a wholesale order. When I need more common non figured material I typically buy whole sale. The prices would be low enough that it would cover the shipping cost and if you order from the east coast the material should be really nice. The only thing that is getting tough to get nice around here is oak and walnut from what I have heard. I was told white oak is being used up for barrels for alcohol production of various kinds. If that is true I don't know but prices have been going through the roof. The days of nice white oak for $1 a bf are gone at least around here. It is a good thing I don't use or like it.
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I recently had a need for QSWO, and just couldn't find anything in 8/4, NADA. That was a first for me. Well actually they had some,mostly was rift, and I was looking for ray fleck, serious ray fleck, NADA. I was down in Ky not long ago, and my buddy was looking to sell off a bunch of wood, everywhere we went they had scads of WO, it was all flat sawn for pallets for poor grade, and barrels for better grade, was still pretty cheep rough and green. But those two have been the plain WO market for a lot of years. I know Frank Miller, who do a lot of QSWO, send a LOT of it to Japan. My understanding that is usually for building open frame custom homes, they adore QSWO, and we just don't pay as much as they are willing to.
Walnut we haven't had the 1000 cankers here, and still have good supply. Folks to the West are seeing a lot of disease from what I hear. Didn't know it was harder to get East.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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Interesting, I haven't heard about the oak going to Japan. I can tell you all my suppliers are crying about finding nice material though. They all tell me it just isn't available. Walnut is a little different story. Big wholesalers don't have nice material around here it seems. It is either narrow or full of knots. Anything 8" plus or clear carries a hearty premium. one of my suppliers gets some really nice walnut at reasonable prices and I think it is coming from your neck of the woods Steve. Last I checked he was getting it from Ohio. The way to buy walnut around here is to go to local sawyers which is what I do. I buy it when it is available and put it up to air dry. You can get nice walnut at really good prices but you have to be careful and know what you are looking for when you go. A lot of this wood comes from tree services taking down neighborhood trees. These can be loaded with steel, knots or awesome. I have got some amazing walnut this way but I have also seen some real trash.
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07-28-2017, 06:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-28-2017, 06:43 AM by fishhh4.)
Dave ... I stopped in at the Hicksville planing mill
on my way home . It's just a little north west of Hagerstown Md. Prices ... 4 quarter walnut 5$ and 7$ .... Oak was kind of pricey as well . Just wondering if you had ever been there . I can get a lot better prices here at home . Laurel Highlands .
Charles Neil
If it can't kill you it probably ain't no good. Better living through chemicals.
