Replies

1. 
   jdstreet | Aug 02, 2022 06:25pm | #1

   Bought some white oak about one month ago. 10.50 for 4/4 and 13.50 for 8/4 kiln dried, plain sawn up to 9-1/2 wide. Located in SE MI.

1. 
   eddo234 | Aug 02, 2022 06:58pm | #3

   Thanks. I forgot to mention I’m in western Vermont. A much bigger disparity here between 4/4 and 8/4, $7.75 for 4/4 up to 9” and $17.75 for 8/4 up to 9”.

2. 
   chuckvandyck | Aug 02, 2022 06:58pm | #2

   10.50 plain
   14.50 qtr
   17.50 rift

   In the Bronx last week

1. 
   eddo234 | Aug 02, 2022 07:04pm | #4

   That brings up something else, my local supplier doesn’t list plainsawn, quartersawn, or riftsawn, just listed by thickness. My go-to supplier retired and shut down his business a while ago, so no one else to compare to locally.

3. 
   gulfstar | Aug 02, 2022 08:21pm | #5

   It’s air dried so mostly for boatbuilding and outdoor furniture, and it is yet to dry.

1. 
   eddo234 | Aug 02, 2022 08:39pm | #7

   So all the beautiful centuries-old furniture made with air-dried wood is outdoor furniture? :-) And what is “yet to dry”? I think James Krenov, who was a master woodworker, using air-dried wood, along with untold numbers of masters, would chuckle at such a naive comment. BTW, here’s more:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_DadO5HR2DE

1. 
   gulfstar | Aug 02, 2022 08:54pm | #9

   The century old furniture did not go in air conditioned buildings.

1. 
   eddo234 | Aug 02, 2022 09:07pm | #10

   But you left out the 20th century furniture of Krenov and all the other modern masters, as well as the 21st century masters, all surviving just fine right now. It doesn’t matter if you choose not to use air-dried wood, I and thousands of others are happily producing lots of quality “indoor” furniture and cabinetry from air dried wood.

1. 
   gulfstar | Aug 02, 2022 09:51pm | #12

   I use air dried wood, why are you so upset ?

4. 
   esch5995 | Aug 02, 2022 08:37pm | #6

   I feel sorry for some of you
   No. Virginia

   $7.25 4/4 up to 10" W plain
   $10.50 8/4 all widths plain

   They claim to be out of qtr sawn so no price at this time

5. 
   concealed | Aug 02, 2022 08:45pm | #8

   I just looked at my price list from a local sawmill. White oak 8/4 $6.50 bf. Or 5/4 quarter sawn for $4.99. Less if you go over 200 bf. West Michigan area.

1. 
   eddo234 | Aug 02, 2022 09:29pm | #11

   Wow, seeing quite a range. I assume white oak is common there. Here in Vermont it’s only common in the Champlain Valley and other low lying areas, not seen in the mountains or far north.

6. 
   gulfstar | Aug 02, 2022 10:00pm | #13

   8/4 Sélect KD white oak in Canada is $9 US a board ft and the logs are from US.

7. 
   geedubbee | Aug 03, 2022 12:22pm | #14

   Your east coast prices should be pretty reasonable. Like conifer prices on the west coast, there is almost no shipping cost involved.

8. 
   pantalones868 | Aug 03, 2022 02:19pm | #15

   Red oak used to be more expensive than white oak. White oak is very popular now. That Euro look I suppose but it's shifted the other way.
   In regards to drying I used to think in terms of years for air drying but a look at industry standards it's weeks or months. Most of the kiln dried lumber is probably some of both. It's cheaper in terms of energy consumption to let it air out for a period of time before moving it to the kiln. I would suggest that dry is dry and therefore suitable for indoor use. Cause and effect or rather my experience tells me there is a difference. You can see it and feel the difference between a properly air seasoned board and kiln dried. If you stumble upon a stash of lumber that was put away in the rafters and forgotten for years or decades there is often something very fine and elegant about those boards that you rarely if ever come across from commercial sources. It's like scotch whiskey ,it improves with age.

9. 
   eddo234 | Aug 03, 2022 03:02pm | #16

   Agree. When my shop was going full-tilt in the 80s and 90s, with 6 shop employees and on-site 6 construction employees, red oak was on nearly every job. Every bank, school, many home kitchens, etc. was red oak everywhere. I hated it, still do.

   Here's a snippet of what Krenov said in his "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook": Kiln drying "changes and dulls the color of the wood, and the fibers are affected so that wood which has been kiln-dried feels different to me. It's got a different ring, a different texture; it isn't clear and fine."

   I mostly air dry white oak, with a little maple, ash, and hickory. We dry some eastern white pine and tamarack, but not for indoor use, just construction: sheds, barn, etc. I recently sawed some box elder because we have a few of the big scraggly trees on our land, but I don't have any history with it yet. I think I'll use it for drawers. In my experience, softwood 1" boards can dry completely to EMC (roughly 12-14% here in Vermont) in a few summer months, 4/4 oak can take a year to get there. My nearly 2 year old 8/4 white oak stack still isn't ready.

10. 
    joeleonetti | Aug 04, 2022 12:19am | #17

    I got some eight quarter white oak two months ago that had been surfaced three sides and it was around $12 a board foot. Located in San Francisco Bay Area.