Wow are they proud of their walnut

[Tom Cancelleri]

I went to a lumber yard today to pick up some walnut for the doors and drawers to finish up the vanity. These guys always have nice stuff at the shows and good prices on things. So I go to their yard today to see what they have in walnut. All they had were shorts 5-6' long and that's fine, however they were all 4/4 slabs, ok that's fine I can work around that. However there wasn't a single board that wasn't horribly water stained and loaded with tons of cracks (I'm talking 12" cracks diagonally from the ends of the 5' slabs. At 7.50 a board foot and going over the slabs about 40% waste, they can keep it. I asked if they had any walnut in board form and he looked at me like I was crazy "nobody cuts walnut into boards, everyone wants slabs." The guy also seemed like a huge jerk, like me wanting to get lumber was a burden. I picked up 16 bf of maple for drawer boxes while I was there. Needless to say, I don't think I'm going there again since he was being such an ass. 

So I'm with the client I'm building the vanity for, and I said screw it, I'll pay 8.25 a board at woodcraft, at least I know the walnut is in board form and mostly clear with minimal waste.

 

[Stephen Prunier]

We have it in my neck of the woods. This is what my supplier has.

 BLACK WALNUT    4/4 FAS RGH 9.40 4/4 FAS S3S 3/4” 10.05 4/4 FAS 8”+ RGH 11.35 4/4 FAS 8”+ S3S 3/4” 12.00 5/4 FAS RGH 9.55 6/4 FAS RGH 9.75 8/4 FAS RGH 12.40 8/4 FAS S3S 1 3/4” 13.05 10/4 FAS RGH 11.25 12/4 FAS RGH 12.00 16/4 FAS RGH 12.40 

Doesn't Minwax have a nice Dark Walnut in their offerings?  

[Strasberry]

I went to a lumber yard today to pick up some walnut for the doors and drawers to finish up the vanity. These guys always have nice stuff at the shows and good prices on things. So I go to their yard today to see what they have in walnut. All they had were shorts 5-6' long and that's fine, however they were all 4/4 slabs, ok that's fine I can work around that. However there wasn't a single board that wasn't horribly water stained and loaded with tons of cracks (I'm talking 12" cracks diagonally from the ends of the 5' slabs. At 7.50 a board foot and going over the slabs about 40% waste, they can keep it. I asked if they had any walnut in board form and he looked at me like I was crazy "nobody cuts walnut into boards, everyone wants slabs." The guy also seemed like a huge jerk, like me wanting to get lumber was a burden. I picked up 16 bf of maple for drawer boxes while I was there. Needless to say, I don't think I'm going there again since he was being such an ass. 

So I'm with the client I'm building the vanity for, and I said screw it, I'll pay 8.25 a board at woodcraft, at least I know the walnut is in board form and mostly clear with minimal waste.

 

Tom I couldn't agree more! Life is to short to deal with jerks. I'd find someplace else also!

[Eric.]

He's an idiot for saying "nobody cuts walnut into boards," but he's right about the slab obsession at the moment.  It does seem like every other person wants a piece of wood with bark still on it, so I can see why they would start milling that way and offering what people want.  But to assert that nobody wants boards is just moronic.

Anyway, I don't blame you for looking elsewhere.  Walnut is just trash these days.  Beautiful, knotty, sappy, expensive trash.  Just take some time digging through the piles (if they let you) and select the best boards you can find.  Not much else you can do.  I'd say only about 1 out of 100 boards I see these days would be suitable for purchase.  Of course I'm super picky, but still...

[Tom Cancelleri]

You're not allowed to select anything, it's off the top lumber, and unless you plan to purchase 30 pieces you're not seeing the middle pieces. So I went elsewhere. Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

[Eric.]

Yep, buh-bye.  That's ridiculous.

[Llama]

You're not allowed to select anything, it's off the top lumber, and unless you plan to purchase 30 pieces you're not seeing the middle pieces. So I went elsewhere. Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

These are the guys that make people think that all wood guys are jerks. 

[Pete Staehling]

You're not allowed to select anything, it's off the top lumber, and unless you plan to purchase 30 pieces you're not seeing the middle pieces. So I went elsewhere. Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

I don't blame them for that part if their best customers want to be able to buy larger quantities off the top and get some nice wood.  Someone coming in and buying off the top doesn't want to have to deal with a pile that has been picked over.

That said my favorite lumber mill/yard does let me pick through and even purchase shorter lengths cut from longer pieces.  I suspect that most of their customers appreciate that and therefore they cater to them.

They need to cater to the customer base that they value more so I can see doing either depending on their customers.

That said some of the other stuff that they said was idiotic.  Nobody cuts walnut into boards?  That is just ridiculous.

[Cliff]

Wow that is horrid. I can't stand the look of slabs. Just not my style. I respect the work others do with it but I doubt I'll ever work with them. 

You guys have to come to the midwest where walnut is $6.50/bf and $0.75/bf at auctions. It's a wondrous land. Of course, I have never seen a mahogany board or anything like that - so there is a drawback.

[Eric.]

If they're gonna make you buy off the top and take whatever you get, they need to reduce their prices since so much of it will be unusable junk.

So often guys come into the yard and scoff at the prices.  "I can get red oak for $1.25 a board foot down the road at Bubba's Backyard Lumber Mill!"

And of course after some further questioning, we always reveal that, "oh, well yeah, you have to buy the whole pack...and about a third of it is waste...and it's rough...and commons.  But it's $1.25 a board foot!"

  People.