Would this be a good buy?

[Rwham]

So I am just starting out and I found a guy selling solid oak barn wood. Some are 4/4 and some are 8/4, 6" to 20" wide and he has some 5' and some 10'. He is asking $3 per BF. I would probably just use it to practice with but i don't know if it is worth the price. There are pictures. 

[Tom King]

I don't know why that's called "barn wood".   No, I wouldn't pay that for it.  It does look nicely stacked on stickers, but the woods are full of stacks of lumber like that. You'd be better off going to a good supplier of kiln dried wood, and buying what you need for the project you have in mind.

It does look like solid wood though.

[Eric.]

Are you calling it barnwood because it's been stored in a barn?  Because it looks like freshly milled lumber to me.

Oak is cheap, especially red oak.  We sell 4/4 S3S FAS (highest grade) for $3.65/bf...so no, I don't think it's a great price.  If that's air dried red oak, I'd be looking to pay around $1/bf.  Maybe $2/bf if it's white oak.  The bark does look more like white to me but I'm far from certain about that.

[Tom King]

The bark looks like Red Oak to me, but it does have kind of a whitish tint to it, so that could easily be wrong.  

Our house has White Oak siding.  When I built it in 1980, I paid a hundred dollars a thousand.  When I added on to it in 2006, I bought the best grade of White Oak 1x6's for .65 a linear foot directly from the mill green.  

[bleedinblue]

Craigslisters have to call it barn wood to double...or triple...the price.

[socoj2]

i can buy 6/4 quarter sawn white oak Rough for $1.50/bf