Cheeset202 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Reaching out to fellow woodworkers in N. Idaho for hardwood lumber resources. Stopped in at a local hardwood retailer in Hayden Idaho and was looking for 8/4 walnut. They wanted $16.23/bf! There are a couple of hardwood wholesale places in the Spokane Valley but they won't sell to the average joe woodworker. I ordered 60 bf of 8/4 and 12/4 from Bell Forest products for a Maloof chair build and it was delivered to my door for just under $10/bf. The quality was excellent but I am sure the price goes up if ordering non-project sponsored lumber, especially if shipping is not included like it is on some of the project packages. Am I stuck buying online or does anyone know of any good resources in my area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klappco Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Windsor in Spokane Valley has a fair selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 $16/bf is pretty high even for today's market...but you're in the Northwest so it's possible it was Claro...in which case that price is about right for straight retail, believe it or not. Black walnut should be about 3/4 of that price for FAS kiln-dried. Either way, people should prepare themselves for those kinds of prices, because IMO - they're coming. Everyone should stockpile all the reasonably-priced quality walnut stock they can find...things are gonna get worse before they get better...if they do get better again in our lifetimes. It's not totally unreasonable to think walnut could eventually go the way of Cuban mahogany. Walnut's native range is much larger but if you get enough demand, the risk of depletion becomes a very real possibility. My lumber dealer has been in the business for more than 30 years - he knows the industry well - and he expresses serious concern about the future of walnut fairly often. I'm stocking up, that's all I'm sayin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeset202 Posted June 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Eric, I agree hardwood prices in general seem to keep going up, the local retailer is selling FAS black walnut, not Claro. At their prices I will continue to order my stock from online retailers like Bell Forest Products. May need to start building projects out of oak pallet stock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeset202 Posted June 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 8 hours ago, Klappco said: Windsor in Spokane Valley has a fair selection. I will check them out, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 11 minutes ago, Cheeset202 said: May need to start building projects out of oak pallet stock! Well...no need to go dumpster diving...cherry is still reasonable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 If you are willing to dry it yourself, there are a few local mills that slab trees that they come across. I have such a slab drying in my shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeset202 Posted June 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 Problem solved, I think! Just looked at the CR Muterspaw site and their delivered prices of 100bf lots of wood are excellent. I can buy 100bf of 8/4 walnut for $860 delivered to a local truck depot vs our local retailer who wants $16.23/bf! The quality is FAS so it should be great quality. Be interested in comments from folks who have ordered from them. My choices are now Bell and Muterspaw with prices that are almost 1/2 of what our local retailer sells for! I will be contacting our local wholesale suppliers to see if they will sell to me, usually they will as long as you buy the entire piece of wood. Used to live outside of Portland OR and bought from Moxon Hardwoods (wholesale) and as long as I bought the whole piece they would sell to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 I've had good look with Bell Forest and CR Muterspaw primarily figured wood so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 There seems to be no shortage of Walnut around these parts. I just looked at several Craigslists in surrounding areas, and there is more than I have ever seen. I can see where commercial mills are having a hard time getting it. It seems like the number of people milling logs with portable mills continues to go up. Anyone who owns any land around here has a stache of Walnut stored somewhere. Even 50 years ago I remember people having stacks of Walnut somewhere on their property. One of my First Cousins called me a few weeks ago to ask what Walnut was going for. He has over 13,000 board feet in a building that's been stacked on sticks from 20 to 45 years old. Someone wanted to buy some, and he didn't know what to charge. That's not untypical around here. Most people that own land have some Walnut trees planted here and there, and are still planting them. I doubt you'll see many of them go to commercial loggers even if the land owner has a lot of other timber land. No one is going to sell Walnut for 16 bucks a ton, like loggers typically buy stands of timber for these days. We're having a little over a hundred acres of timber thinned right now, and the logger knows not to dare even scrape a Walnut tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 My mom lives in Rathdrum and I was just recently there. I did a little looking and I think there's on in Post Falls. It may be the same one but, I'm not sure?? I also noticed that Rathdrum has a business that manufacturers bandsaw blades. I didn't have time to check out either place while I was there but, will definitely be doing so on my next trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 10 minutes ago, Tom King said: Most people that own land have some Walnut trees planted here and there, and are still planting them. I doubt you'll see many of them go to commercial loggers even if the land owner has a lot of other timber land. They will when the prices get astronomically high. Everyone has a price, and if the demand continues to grow, eventually they'll have to tap into more and more protected tracts of land. The industry will knock on the door and the landowner will surrender with the right number on a check waved in their face. Hopefully the pinterest and commercial office building walnut trends will diminish sooner than later and the demand will relax before depletion becomes a huge problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWoodworker Posted December 24, 2020 Report Share Posted December 24, 2020 A bit late to the thread but hopefully someone finds this useful: Guide to Idaho Hardwood. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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