Wood prices: Ouch!

[Mike Brady]

I got a jolt yesterday, going to our only hardwood supplier in Indy.  I'm am starting to build a sharpening station similar to what Lie-Nielsen (formerly) offered.  Since it will be near my bench, and the bench is ash, I asked to see their ash, of which they had plenty.  I needed 8/4 by roughly 1X8ft. to get started.  Easily found a board and went to pay.....$96.00!!  I picked myself up from the floor, and asked how much it is per bd/ft.:  Six bucks.  Last time I bought a quantity of wood, I could get cherry for that price.  My bench has a hundred BF of ash in it @ $3 /bf (built in 2010).

I once asked a high-end furniture builder where he bought his wood.  He mentioned a store wood store in far-west suburban Chicago.  My first reaction was that it was by far the most expensive place.  His answer was that the cost of wood is modest compared to the the other costs of operating a professional artisenal furniture-building business.  As was once said, "The value of something is remembered long after the cost is forgotten". 

[6270_Productions]

I have not heard much about the emerald cherry borer, but the emerald ash bore. . . and the efforts to destroy it . . . have all but eliminated the ability to buy ash in this area.

[jteneyck]

$6/bf !  For ash?  Use something else and look elsewhere for your wood.  I sell it for $2.50 and even the commercial guys around me charge less than $4.  The ash trees are mostly dead in my area but even dead ones yield good lumber for a couple of years as long as they remain standing.  

John

[photobug]

I just paid $157 for a 3/4 sheet of 4x8 Baltic Birch.

4/4 Select Maple was $6.6 BF
8/4 Maple                 $7.9 BF
4/4 Walnut FAS Premium $15.2 BF.

I have over $1000 in lumber and not enough to build the benchtop in the dimensions called for but don't think I can afford to build a 3" thick top at these prices.

[AHill]

It's not just lumber. It's everything. I was at Costco yesterday and the price of beef was insane! NY Strip steak was over $17/lb. That's crazy. Might be cheaper to own a cow and do the butchering myself.

[Tony Z]

Sure am glad we got the genius in the WH

[tablesawtom]

Bought 58 BF of it Oct 4th. I changed my mind on a work bench build and decided to do a split top, so I am going to get another 50 BD FT  tomorrow. I will probably get a few more feet of maple while I am at it.

   

He said he had 8/4 ash also. I do not prefer to build bench tops out of 8/4ths. Yes there is a little less gluing but 4/4ths is easier for me at least to keep nice and tight without openings in the glue line. I will ask what the price per BD Ft is. It will probably be a little over $2 a BD Ft.

My shop is unheated and once it gets below 55 degrees I stop gluing. Otherwise I would take orders for glued up bench tops 

Tom

[Bill Holt]

I needed 30bf of 4/4 walnut and one sheet of 3/4" walnut plywood for a small pulpit.  I ordered 70bf, received 80bf. Plywood $200 even; Total bill $995.  This was back in the middle of August.  The really sad thing: the quality was so poor, I had only one piece with quality grain, maybe 4" X 40" left over.  The rest will be used as secondary wood in other projects.

[Admiral]

https://www.walllumber.com/premier.asp

$4/bd ft for 8/4. Shipping will increase this. Wall was my go to supplier when I lived in NC. I use their prices as a reference point.

[Rob Young]

It's not just lumber.  It's everything.  I was at Costco yesterday and the price of beef was insane!  NY Strip steak was over $17/lb.  That's crazy.  Might be cheaper to own a cow and do the butchering myself.

I'm paying $6.98/pound for KC (NY) Strip. That's up $1 from 2019.