Anyone live in Arkansas, I’m considering a possible move, from Central California?
Three car garage full of machines, 600 bft of lumber………………
Will probably sell the lumber
I guess just about everything is more affordable over there, any lumber prices?
Replies
I live in North Central Arkansas (God's country). Best wood supplier is Hogan Hardwoods in Jacksonville outside of Little Rock. Their warehouse is in LR but woodworkers use the Jacksonville store as they stock the exotics as well as most standard molding, sheet goods and dimension lumber. Contact there is Melvin if you want good prices and service.
Where in AR are you considering. North, east, west, south or central?
Yes, wood is expensive but more affordable than in many parts of the country such as CA or New England area. Woodworking stores are few that I have found and I do most of my shopping on line and then order by phone.
Welcome to the God's country.
I live in Russellville, AR and purchase from Hogans Hardwoods in Jacksonville (about 85 miles away) as well. Used to be a Paxtons in Little Rock but they were bought out by Hogans. There is also an Acadian Hardwoods in North Little Rock but I haven't been there yet. There are also a few sawmills around my area but they don't have kilns. They do sell direct and the prices are a whole lot less.
Steve
I am in LR. and for the other two Arkies, Hagan has moved the store back to the location just off of Geyer Springs Rd.
You are going to love the difference between what you can sell your house for out there, and what you can buy here for that amount of $.
If you are here by Sep 24 th, I am hosting an all-day vacuum bagging, veneering, bending workshop at my shop. All it will cost you is the joining fee for the club. I think that is about $25.
I will look forward to meeting you, Keith
Keith and everyone.
Ya, this is also to LR.
Not sure if this will be by end September, have to sell two houses over here, relocate etc. Have a job offer over at your end, moving from the food industry back into plastics.
Can't wait to get out of California, been here four years and still don't know the neighbors.
We lived in Kansas City for 32 years. Knew only the two neighbors on either side, one behind, and two across the street.
Now live in north central ark on lake and know all the neighbors in both subdivisions (about 11 in each, separated by 1/4 mile). Also know about 15 across the lake channel (150 yards wide) as well as many around the lake (lake is about 50,000 sq. ft.)
Needless to say, it is less expensive, somewhat backwards, limited woodworking equipment suppliers, great food but we have to drive to get to it. The little local newspaper publishes all the obits and suprisingly the majority are in their late 80's to mid ninety's. I am sure our lives will be 10 to 15 years more than if we had stayed in the city.
The larger Ark cities are still more laid back than the cities elsewhere in new england or CA.
Stay on the forum and keep us updated.
A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!
Thanks everyone, I'm flying out on September 4th for my final interview. The CEO and COO, were both from CA, LA area and say they love being Arkies.
I am a Bay Area CA transplant to AR and I love it. Surprisingly, there are a couple of nice places for wood in Fort Smith, less so in Fayetteville (I don't know about Little Rock). There are lots of mills, I haven't found out if they will sell direct and what the savings would be.
I grew up in MO and have lived in the bay area for over 30 yrs. You couldn't pay me enough to move back there - lol.
Learn to love humidity 'cause it's gonna affect you and your woodwork in a big way. - lol
Dave: I wonder how many Knotheads live in the Bay Area? Think I'll set up a thread just to find out; might be interesting. KDMKenneth Duke Masters
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So, cashing out of california? I'm on my way back to Calif. This time to central Calif.
Just found out the house we sold two years ago in SoCal for $425k is now on the market for $850k. That made me sick.
If you plan on moving yourself. Try looking into a company Called Movex. (movex.com). You load/unload. They ship/haul. Their trucks are up to 53' long
Sell your lumber in CA and then use the proceeds to buy twice as much in Ark.
Hopefully you will take the time to find the local saw mills scattered all through the hills of Ark. Buy your lumber green in quantity and air dry it yourself. Talk to a state forestry person and get a list of small saw mills in your area. Get to know the guys with the portable band saw mills. Have them keep an eye out for you for the prime stuff.
If you take this approach, you will need a big heafty planer and space for air drying.
ps - my son's house out in Cow Fart Valley has gone from $350K to $600K in the last 5 years. Here in this part of Texas his house would sell now for maybe $150K at the high end.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Talk to me when you move, I'll give you a lead on 10,000 ft of prime black walnut near Locust Grove, OK that I'll sell cheap.
So Dale what's the story on the Walnut?Marsh
I'm a forester in NE Okla. I inventoried Planewood's, aka Mike Taylor's walnut trees a few years ago. I was just trying to get a rise out of Mike. I guess he's too busy knobbing, : ' >
Dale
Tell him that they all blew down in a storm the other night, and that i will be over cleaning it up for him for no charge, thanks, KN
My wife lived in near Russellville, Arkansas as a girl for a couple of years. Has good memories. We were living in California, maybe 35 years ago, and took a trip through Arkansas and stopped in Russellville to see a friend she remembered. The local police got on our tail as we entered Russellville and stayed there for a good part of the day every where we went. They even waited while we visited the friend. They followed us to the city limits as we left and probably breathed a sigh of relief that those crazy Californians didn't cause any trouble. We have had many good laughs talking about that with friends.The fool does what makes himself fell good; the wise man does what makes him feel good about himself.
Yea, he probably suspected you were bringing in some drugs or granola or something.You may remember that the Rolling Stones got busted trying to get from Memphis to Dallas back in the mid-seventies. They were on the news all over the country. I came along however about six months later and got stopped by the very same cop. I thought I was probably going to be spending some jail time, however, I had gone from the first grade through twelve with this guy, and I didn't even get a ticket. I got cheated man. Where is my fifteen minutes of fame?The cop said he didn't know who the RS's were, but he knew who I was. Another clasic example of "It's who you know". Ha K
OK Dale, Yea since he Moved from God's Country to Texas his OKIE has started wearing off. Heck I thought they had bull dozed all of his walnut trees down and burned them, or was it make Palets out of them to have room to put in that new Moble Home park for all those extra people in Benton Ville AR that cant find a place to live!
Ha! Marsh
Needless to say, it is less expensive, somewhat backwards..
HAY who is talkin' about me???
I never lived there but have spent some time there on several Jobs.. Folks there are sort of like going to a old Texas Road House... Lots of fun and hardly any 'fights'! Just nice folks! Well, cept fer' a few... We ALL have them...
I'm not sure they are still in business, but years ago I took a bunch of woodworking students to a place called "Nations Hardwood Co" in Prairie Grove, AR. Large saw mill, huge stacks of all hardwood types, really good prices. I would be worth checking out. It's in the Northwest part of the state.
I guess just about everything is more affordable over there
When I've moved around, that really hasn't been my experience. Real estate can certainly be much cheaper in one part of the country than another, but that's about it: food, clothes, fuel, etc. cost about the same. Only housing and taxes varies alot.
Of course, that alone may be enough to justify a move. We moved from So. Cal. to oregon 16 years ago, mainly based on the then-cheap land prices here.
Willie,
Good luck on your interview. Where are you moving to? I have been involved in vacation real estate development here (Eureka Springs in NW Arkansas). A good portion of the buyers are from CA with a pocket full of cash. In our area, hardly anyone is a "native".
Nations Hardwood in Prairie Grove is still there, although I haven't been there yet. Plenty of local mills for supply-I had my logs milled which makes it really special, paid $.20 bd ft for sawing.
It's a great area. Real estate taxes are tolerable and cost of living is low. In NW Ark, we have 4 distinct season's which is a big plus for a lot of people. It snows, but melts in a few days.
Good luck!
Bob
Thanks for all for the input and here is an update.
Got the position in Hot Springs and scheduled to start November 1.
Would love to leave the Central Valley here in CA, now have to take the courage and make the decision to do this. Income will be about $35k less than here and wife will probably take about a year to re-establish her business, but the people over there, the cost of living and all the TREES, look sooo much better.
Decisions, decisions decisions...............
Congrats on the new position. FYI there is a new and active AAW group in Hot Springs if you are interested in turning. The website is: http://www.arwoodturning.com You are definitely welcome to visit. It just started this year and already has 57 members.
I believe there is a Woodworkers club there as well but don't really have any info on it. I think several of the woodturners members are also members of that group.
Steve
Welcome to God's land. But don't tell all your CA friends since we like to keep this area a kinda secret. :-)
A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!
OK, it's happened, all confirmed, signed and sealed, we are moving to Arkansas.
We are here in Hot Springs now, looking for a rental property, as there is a house to sell in California, kids to finish college etc., so the family will join me end of year.
Means no woodworking for a while, until I set up new shop, but the new job will keep me busy.
The challenge ahead is to decide what kind of property to buy, where I can set up a nice big shop, without any concerns about the neighbors complaining. Probably around three acres, but if I'm not in a residential neighborhood, will this be good value??
Any ideas will be appreciated.
Willie
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