I found a local farmer who is selling about 1600 bf of green walnut. The trees were on his property and were felled in 12/05 and by the looks of the resulting green lumber, it looks like a bandmill cut the logs into mostly 4/4 boards (rough). I when to inspect the stuff, it looks pretty nice some of boards are nice and wide , the ends are coated the wood is stickered and the MC looks to be around the mid 20’s, lastly not too much sapwood.
The farmer wants $2.50 bf for most of lumber and $3.00 bf for the widest stuff (18 inches). Ok, now here is my question, I never have bought green walnut before even though it looks nice it’s still green ungraded walnut. I can’t seem to get him to budge much on the price, unless I buy all of the lumber. Does 2.50 sound like a decent price for green walnut? Am I crazy for not snaching it all up without even thinking about it (the LOML thinks I am crazy if I buy it)?
Replies
price the wood dried and graded. compare to green price. Youll notice its a lot cheaper.
buy it before someone else does
Thanks for your reply, it's definitely cheaper that my usual source, but then again I usually buy dried FAS Walnut. The usual source would be around $6 bf at my door.
Where's it at. If you don't take it, I'll take it all, if it's close to me.
Jeff
Jeff,
It's in <!----><!---->North Carolina<!---->, kind of a hike from <!----><!----><!----><!----><!---->Illinois<!----><!----><!----><!---->. But I take it by your answer, that the price per bf seems decent, even for ungraded green Walnut?
I can tell that the LOML is not going to like the results of this thread...
Here is a link to a location in NC that has a regular special on Walnut. It's boards may be to narrow for your likes (4" to 8"), but he special is $345 for s2s 100bf bundles. Wall lumber has a good reputation. I was ready to order from him and had to move.
http://www.walllumber.com/FeatSpec.asp
Hi Bones,
Interesting, I have never bought from Steve Wall Lumber, but I understand they are a good source for Walnut in NC.
I am a NC transplant via the great and grand Garden State (NJ)..So my usual sources for lumber are still in Lancaster County Pa, the freight charges so far have not been that much different from when the lumber was shipped to NJ.
Thanks
Bobabeui
If you asked me, air dried walnut is the best kind of walnut you can get your hands on. First of all, it dries very well, and very quickly. Also, by air drying, you will retain the true colors of walnut, and all the hues of purple, red, and brown frequently found in walnut. Kiln drying usually involves steaming the wood, which is done to disguise the light colored sapwood as best as possible, and this process eliminates all the natural, beautiful colors of walnut.
Buy it all, sell half, and keep what you need. At that price, you should be able to make a buck a board foot, and come out smiling.
My local mill is around $5 per board foot for dried walnut.
Jeff
Damn, you are on the wrong coast!1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
buy it.
remember you will lose 15-30% with edge and sap wood
I snap a edge line with a chalk line and run it through the band saw then joint one face
North Carolina is north Carolina but here in Ohio, I pay 3.25 for FAS walnut. I would grade it at #1 common as you can never tell how many defects unless you can see each board. If you do buy it, make sure you pay close attention to drying. Be darn sure to coat ends with wax or something. I can tell you that from experience!
That price is a good price, but not the steal of a lifetime. You have some work to do to get it ready for furniture. First you need a place to air dry it. Hopefully protected and not out in the middle of a field. It is critical you start with a level base of al least 4x4's and 1x1 stickers. Sticker it every 2 feet and leave at lest 1" between each board in each row in the stack. Cover the top from exposure from the sun and have the stack so it gets some wind through it but not full gales. A leanto is perfect. I would paint the ends with real end treatment (timberframers carry it) so you dont get any checking.
After it is down to about 15% m.c. try to find a small mill in your or a guy that has a good qualit dehumidification kiln. Don't let anybody steam it you lose al the variety of colors. I 've done the routine with about 10,000 bf of various woods and it always works. Take your time this is a marathon not a sprint. Hope this helps .
terrylee86,
Thanks for your reply..Do you think it would be possible to finish drying the lumber inside, after it has reached it's EMC outside (essentially skipping the dehumidication kiln)?
I've used air- dried lumber for projects with success and some not so successful so I guess it is better to get it kiln-dried than not. I like the dehumicification kilns because they are slower. Kiln drying rids the board of water trapped in the cell wall and air drying only rids it of the water inside the cell. Inside your house will do nothing except lower the MC but it will reabsorb moisture much easier. We cannot stop wood from reabsorbing moisture completely that is why it moves from summer to winter.
terrylee86
when you accept kiln dried wood, especially black walnut, you accept a inferior product..
The brillant colors are all gone and muted, never to come back..
I can get air dried wood to the mystical 7% moisture content with out much trouble.
The only wood I would ever accept kiln dried is Hard maple.. and then I'd never accept fiddleback maple kiln dried, it loses a lot of the vibrancy and beauty of kiln dried fiddleback maple.. It's reported that much of the reason for the wonderful tone and beauty of a Stradivarous has to do with the one maple log he's reported to have salvaged from deep underwater.
Frenchy
Like you I dont pay much for walnut and I prefer it air dried.
We had some strait winds come through Iowa in "93" I believe, and I got all the walnut logs I wanted, free for the hauling. I could have had 75 logs if I wanted but you have to stop someplace!
I have some 2000 to 2500 board ft. of the stuff air drying in a barn, all I paid was the milling cost.
Doug
Bobabeu,
Here where Black walnut is relatively common I pay around $1.65 a bd. ft. for milrun black walnut . That price probably reflects it'srelative scariscity in your area.
FAS costs me an extra 20 cents per bd ft. if he seperates it out.
I alwaysbuy my black walnut green.
Frenchy,
I was kind of hoping you would post a response to this thread. Yeah, my understanding is Black Walnut grows like a 'weed' in the mid west, not so in this area of the country.
Thanks
Frenchy,
How is the healing?1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
ricks503, probably OK by now still hurts in the wrong position but what the heck I'm old, pain is just part of getting old, (sure beats the alternative)
Lumber, engines, guns, coins, anything...it really doesn't matter, we are all lured by the prospect that it is "on sale" or we will be getting the "deal of a lifetime".
If you need 1600bf of Walnut, buy it....otherwise walk away.
When I am about to look at anything for purchase (antique cars, guns, etc.) I always ask myself if I can walk away from the deal and sleep well. If the answer is no, you've got a problem. Any deal that you can't walk away from, the seller has the best of you and will take advantage.
Honestly, specific to yuor question about whether you should buy it, you are looking at $4K for all of it, which is most likely going to shrink to about 1400bf+/- and then you have to store it, dry it, maintain it, and eventually use it or sell it.
What is your time worth, add that to the mix for all you will have to do.
If you are a professional cabinet/furniture maker, buy it all.
If you are a hobbyist/part-timer, walk away and know that you saved yourself a lot of headaches.
Besides, why did the farmer cut down perfectly good Wlanut trees in the first place? You may see the point to negotiation by his answer.
I just bought 200bf of air-dried (30 years) 4/4 Walnut and about 100bf of crotch flitches from an old timer in NJ -- I paid $1 a foot.
good luck,
erik.
mowog77
Hmmm,
Pass up a decent price on black walnut because right now you don't need it?
So you can pay $9.00 a bd. ft. for it later when you do?
Have you ever heard of trading?
That's where you trade some of what you have for some of what you'd like to have..
Stack up the 1600 bd. ft.. and I promise you long before it rots you'll have so many offers you won't know what to do with them all..
Mowog77, If you don't really need or want something, that's fine.. don't buy it, but if you work with wood and you normally pay over $9.00 a bd, ft, for black walnut a buck and a half is very attractive..
Frenchy,
It's not trading, it's hording.
It's a decent price, yes, but I've gone to farms to look at wood that farmer's price enticingly -- most of the time it's a bust.
Frenchy, you can do what you want -- I won't stop you.
This guy asked for opinions -- there's mine....thanks for yours.
erik
<"Any deal that you can't walk away from, the seller has the best of you and will take advantage.>"
Agree. Any deal where you are not prepared to get up and walk awy from the table is not a negotiation, it is just one side dictating terms to another.Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
The average of a log will grade about one common. That means you will get some FAS, IFB, select, one common and two common, and three common. It averages out about one common in price.
Holy cow. That's a con around here. But thats a big qualifier. Rough, ungraded, maybe air dried . . . you might get 65 cents a foot. Guy down the road is $1.25/bf kiln dried, ungraded, in the rough.
But I did notice someone said it grows different, different places. That much is true. Most farmers here have the same disdain for walnut that they do for weeds, and many of the trees grow that way, along roads, fences, and what not. Not exactly "ideal" stock for furniture work.
My only other reference is an uncle in Indiana with a very nice stand of walnut on about 120 acres. Now those trees, he's paid attention to them. When he wants a vacation, he sells a couple. They've been around long enough to be worth something, and grown sheltered by their other neighbors so I suspect have nice grain. He figured out long ago that the guys that saw them leave about 3 foot sticking up, so he goes in after that and digs up that right into the ground a couple of feet, and many a very nicely figured gun stock has come out of that.
I think you have to research a little on what that commodity brings where you are, and run with the results. The rest of us can just give snapshots of the area around us.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
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