Replies

1. 
   alanplanesaw | Feb 22, 2003 04:32pm | #1

   IMHO the answers you receive will simply reflect the priorities of those of us who answer.  And, it may reflect how many tools we already have.  If we have plenty of tools, we'll say, save the wood.  If we need some tools, we'll say sell some wood.

   Ultimately, you simply need to determine your priorities.  And, you know, you never have enough tools!!!

   So, all that to say.  If you don't have a specific project or two in mind that will require all the wood, then sell some.  Determine which tools you want to purchase in what order, and start down the list until the money runs out.

   Then, get to work and build something.  And have fun!!!!

   There is no "right" answer for this.  No matter what decision you make now, there will always be times you wish you had kept more of the wood or sold more of the wood.  You simply have to make what you believe to be the best decision for you at this time and move forward.

   Wish I had such a dilema (sp?).  What to do with 1500 bd.ft. of cherry. 

   Enjoy,

   Alan / Planesaw

2. 
   BG | Feb 22, 2003 06:21pm | #2

   Kelvinpotter,

   Many years ago I had a friend clear a couple of acres of his 5 acre lot to build a house in Vermont.  He got enough good wood to pay for the clearing and the house foundation, and enough left over to put hardwood floors in the house.

   One thing for sure, when that new house gets built there will be many opportunities to use that wood. I would like to build two corner cabinets for the dinning room.  Between the cherry and cherry plywood each cainet will cost $500 in wood alone...ouch! An interior decorator once told me that to get the full value for a house, you needed to spend 1/2 again on the interior as the construction.  Don't know if that is true but it is something to think about and that wood could come in very handy... 

3. 
   jgaiennie | Feb 23, 2003 03:23pm | #3

   Kevin,

   I don't really understand why your lumber is worth so much less than commercially manufactured lumber.  I believe you must be under valueing it.  Cherry at a buck a foot? - sure you can probably sell that all day long - especially when you say the competion is selling it for $7.00.  I believe you're giving it away at a buck.

   I can only suspect that if the only customers you can find are the ones willing to pay this "buyer's price", then your sales effort has not been very energetic.  Is there anything unusual about the way it's been sawed? - thickness?  Width?  Has it been air dried properly?  Air drying doesn't devalue wood in my opinion, as long as it's done correctly. 

   How would you feel about selling it at $5.50?  Why not?  Is there a good sound reason that your wood is not worth as much or nearly as much as that which available elsewhere.  If you want to get a fair price for you wood, and it's a good product, run a classifed ad.  Get on the phone and call some end users - cabinet shops - other woodworkers / furniture makers, etc.  If there's a reason (price, quality, size, location, availablity) they would consider your wood - they would.

1. 
   fdampier5 | Feb 23, 2003 06:51pm | #4

   Kevin is right,  commercial saw mills charge around $1.50 to $1.80 a bd.ft. here rough and green at the mill.  I've bought it as low as $1.20 when I'll buy mill run but if I want to sort out the FAS I have to pay $1.80

        Now his is dry (?)  but that really doesn't add a whole lot of value since it's not graded or surfaced.

     To get full value for it he'll need to run it thru a planner and then sort according to grade.  He still won't get full retail price, the world being what it is but it should be within a dollar or so of retail to the right person...

        There is a giant differance between retail at the lumberyard/store and the price you can buy it at the sawmill for..

        

1. 
   T | Feb 26, 2003 12:35am | #5

   Kevin said he reciently cut this wood. That means it isn't dry. It takes about a year to the inch to dry it in good conditions, and I don't know where he is but there have not been very many days of best cinditions here in Virginia lately.

   This wood needs to be on sticks asap if not sooner so it will be worth something to somebody, someday.

   I think what he needs to ask himself is what does he like to do with his time. Logging is hard work, and so is building drying stacks, even if you already have all the sticks to put it on, and if not they are hard to come by. And babysitting it for a couple of years keeping the covers on it so it stays in the dry is a little less like woodworking than I really like to do too. I'm not sure I would want to pay all that much for wood like that either.

   I use to have to cut a lot of fire wood (21 years in AK). Like up around ten cords a year. I had to slog around in the woods rastling with it, maintain my 4x4, saws , and a splitter I built. And that's to say nothing of stacking and restacking and cleaning up the mess made in the yard from all the bark. After 17 years( I'm a quick studdy) I figured out that....

   I could make more money building houses than I could if I made fire wood so I decided to take the time I spent doing the wood cutting and work extra at the job. Then take the money and buy wood. I came out ahead, and had more time to do the stuf I liked best, like working in the shop.

   If you like to make wood and fool with it do. If you like to make furniture, like I do, I would sugjest you sell it and buy what ever you want.

   I do have a little wood here that came off my place,and have made some nice stuf from it, but you probly should just higrade some for a couple of nice special pieces and get on with woodworking. Let the lumber folks do the lumbering, unless you would as soon be a lumber man as a woodworker.

   A.T.

4. 
   BrianMcG | Feb 26, 2003 08:37am | #6

   Hang on to it. You'll be glad you did I think.

5. 
   ChrisG | Feb 26, 2003 09:14pm | #7

   Kelvin,

   I joined just to respond to your post.  You can never have enough wood.  Tools come and go, but wood...  Think about what it will be worth (not in terms of money, in terms of projects) in a couple of years.  You will never be able to replace it if you let it go.  In Japan, woodworkers routinely put aside materials to be used by future generations, and the materials they used were put aside by their predecessors.  Just a thought.

   Chris

1. 
   tck | Feb 27, 2003 12:50am | #8

   Chris,

   I agree with the notion of handing the wood down to future generations. Many years ago my grandfather would routinely cut some of the walnut trees on his farm and have them sawn. He used that wood to make grandfather clocks for his daughters and he always had much more on hand. When he died several years ago, I was given his stock of walnut. I now use it for special projects and when I see what I made I think of my grandfather. It meant so much to me to be given that wood.

   I'm getting misty.

1. 
   StanleyNiemiec | Feb 27, 2003 01:35am | #9

   It seems to me that the best way to insure that future generations have available wood is to make sure you plant more trees  --  maybe two to three times the volume of wood that you actually consume.

   The drying of wood is the most energy consuming part of the entire process of producing lumber.  As such, those costs have to be added into the pricing structure and I think it is appropriate to guesstimate somewhere in the region of $0.50 per board foot.  This will include both energy costs, additional handling costs and the investment required to erect and operate a kiln.  You also have to recognize that a certain amount of degrade also occurs during the drying operation so that these losses have to be entered into the cost equation.  For the original poster, you have to recognize that air-dried lumber will be unsuitable for most interior applications and uses of wood so you somehow have to run it through a kiln.

   The difference in price when buying directly from a mill in volume versus purchasing it from a local dealer indicate the costs of operating the local dealers operation, the additional shipping and handling costs, and the dealers profits.  The reality is that most mills require a minimum purchase volume and will not let you high-grade (going through the pile and picking only the boards you want).

1. 
   johnhardy | Feb 28, 2003 04:04am | #10

   I'm curious. Why do you say that air-dried lumber isn't suitable for interior purposes?

   John

1. 
   StanleyNiemiec | Feb 28, 2003 04:29am | #11

   In most cases, air dried lumber does not have a low enough moisture content.

2. 
   mallard10 | Feb 28, 2003 06:14am | #12

   What about all the stuff made before most wood was klin dried? Jerry

3. 
   StanleyNiemiec | Feb 28, 2003 08:10am | #13

   Centrally heated buildings that have temperatures of 70 degrees F and 25% RH create Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) conditions where the wood moisture content will go to 5.5%.  If your air dried stock is at 12% MC in your shop when you make an item as in summer, considerable shrinkage will occur if it is placed in an environment as listed above. 

   You have a choice  --  kiln dry your wood to 8%, tolerate cracks, loose joints and warp, or get rid of your furnace (try telling that to your wife and kids).  Also most kiln cycles likewise sterilize the wood  --  air drying does not, so if there is some sort of organism in your air dried material, expect it to emerge (and possibly infest the rest of the wood items in your home as with Powderpost beetle).