ChetlovesMer Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Okay, I have access to a metric ton of 4/4 (actually it's a little better than 4/4, but that's another story) Black Walnut. It is all air dried (for only one year, which means I don't think its ready to use yet). Anyhoo, I'm thinking of a bedroom set for the most beautiful woman in the world (My wife). She's been hinting about it for quite a while. I can get as much as I want for $6/bf. That's not a great deal here, but it's slightly better than my local Woodsmith store at $7.99/bf. There's a mill about 65 miles from here where I can get it for about 50 cents cheaper a board foot, but it would be fresh cut and I'd have to dry it. So, I'm curious, what do you all pay for black walnut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikepugh Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I recently got a little under 20 bf of 4/4 black walnut at my local Woodcraft in Leesburg, VA on sale for $5.75/bf. I really don't know if it was air or kiln dried. One of the boards had some really nice figure on it though, which is what prompted me to purchase it and 2 others in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sac Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 You might want to check the MC of that wood. It might be ready. The general rule of thumb is that it take one year per inch to dry. And depending on your climate, and the conditions inwhich you have it stored, it may very well be ready. Take a slab over to your Woodsmith store and try out a few of their moisture meters. I also have a stack of walnut that is air drying at the moment. I have been looking at moisture meters for a while now, just dont want to bite the bullet yet. I have other priorities right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenMinshall Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 At my supplier in lower Michigan flat sawn 4/4 select black walnut is selling for $6.75/bf or $5.20/bf for an order greater than 100bf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APierce Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 $4-5 per bdf for FAS grade. Common stuff is around $2. I wouldn't pay that kinda price unless there were some good wide boards or if they were FAS quality. However if walnut lumber is a rarity in your area then it may be a steal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usacomp2k3 Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Is that a specific type of Walnut or technique, or do you mean "rough" sawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bywc Posted June 2, 2011 Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 I get it locally for $2 a board foot (planning is $.50 a board foot extra) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Is that a specific type of Walnut or technique, or do you mean "rough" sawn Yeah, I did mean "rough" sawn. But I thought "ruff" is a more amusing way to spell it. Mrs Friend, my third grade English teacher is somewhere and she's frowning heavily right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryangel69 Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 I have doing research here on that same subject. I can have logs cut at about 70ish cents a board foot. I can hunt around and get green lumber for less than $1 a board foot. Walnut is a little more but I can dig it up for less than $2 a board foot green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joestyles Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 I have doing research here on that same subject. I can have logs cut at about 70ish cents a board foot. I can hunt around and get green lumber for less than $1 a board foot. Walnut is a little more but I can dig it up for less than $2 a board foot green. Dang that would be sweet if I could latch onto dark walnut for less than $7 a board foot. It does not grow within 3000 km of here so shipping is expensive. I get all of it from scraps I find here and there. Wood workers round here make me clap when I get near their wood piles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bois Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I'm in New England, and 4/4 black walnut typically runs about $8.50/BF. But that's all kiln dried stuff. If you can get your hands on good quality air dried walnut, I'd jump on it. You see most of the black walnut you get from a distributor or dealer has been steamed. As you've probably seen, walnut has a decent amount of sapwood, and a great deal of color variation within the board. They steam the walnut to even out the colors and help blend the sapwood in more, but they also rob the walnut of it's best quality - that natural variation of colors within a board. The air dried stuff can be a little more work to match when laying out your components, but in my opinion it's well worth it. And if you see my earlier thread in this same room, I talked about some case hardening problems I have encountered with kiln-dried wood lately. So to cut to the chase, buy as much of this stuff as you can afford as long as it's good quality stuff. I'd borrow or steal a moisture meter too, just so you know how close it is to being ready to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southwood Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 $4 a Bd Ft around southern Indiana. Widths up to around 12". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 $4 a Bd Ft around southern Indiana. Widths up to around 12". That's a good deal. Is it air or kiln dried... I assuume kiln, but that's still sounds cheap to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I have not tried to get air dried stuff. I buy shorts (6' pieces) and get them for $ 3.50 bf in my area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I have not tried to get air dried stuff. I buy shorts (6' pieces) and get them for $ 3.50 bf in my area Dang! I must live in the wrong area! Walnut is consideribly more spendy out here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Chet, the pieces at $ 3.50 bf and not fantastic and at the same time I am allowed to go to through the pile and pick up the pieces I want. Lately I have been buying more 5/4 and 6/4 for face glued cutting boards (showing the edges) even though I pay a little more, at the end of the day, less material is wasted as a percentage when I joint it. I took this thought a bit further and I have been thinking of resawing 6/4 material so I can use it for 5/8" boards ... still thinking about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mking1@sbcglobal.net Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Here in Houston (TX) the lumberyard that I frequent has 4/4 Walnut FAS for $5.07/BF (min. 100BF) to 5.90/BF for lesser quantities. Both are steamed and kiln dried. Tuesday of this week I drove up to Huntsville (about 60 miles from my house) to look at a small sawmill operation (M&G Sawmill) and they have 4/4 walnut FAS/SEL for 4.25/BF and #1 COM for 3.60/BF. Their walnut is kiln dried but not steamed and that is next to impossible to find in these parts. The downside to this mill is that they don’t carry anything other than 4/4 most species and grades. I got to remember to take cash next time because they don’t take plastic and my wife doesn’t let me have a checkbook because one time I forgot to write down the amount in the register. Apparently that’s a no-no and I guess I only got one chance to get it right and I messed it up. Miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southwood Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Chet, I guess you could say dried both ways. He has a solar kiln. Never had any trouble with his stuff, so he must know what he is doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bois Posted June 10, 2011 Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 Miles, kiln-dried but not steamed is rare everywhere me thinks. Lucky dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mking1@sbcglobal.net Posted June 10, 2011 Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 Bois, Next Monday or Tuesday I’m going to make another trip to that little sawmill and get me some of that walnut as well as some very nice quarter sawn 4/4 white oak (3.95/BF FAS). I’m thinking about 200BF. My wife just purchased a new pickup (Ford F350 long bed) and I’m going to test out it’s capacity. Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mking1@sbcglobal.net Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Bois, I just returned from the sawmill with 200 bf qtr sawn white oak and 100 bf of walnut (kiln dried but not steamed). All boards where 4/4 and over 8 foot so even with the long bed pickup I had to travel with the tailgate down. I could have easily carried three times that amount so this wasn’t much of a test of my wife’s new truck. All the white oak boards were 8” to 10” wide and over 8’foot long, mostly clear without sapwood and with beautiful ray fleck patters visible on each board easily meeting the FAS grading. At $3.95/bf I’m very happy with the purchase. The quality of the walnut was a little less mostly due to the amount of sapwood but it was still better quality than I had been getting at my local hardwood supplier. Also at $4.25/bf (FAS/SEL) it was about $1 less at the sawmill. It as suggested by someone else either in this thread or another that the lower quality of hardwood lumber could be attributed to the sawyer and the lumber merchant were far removed from the actual woodworking process. Therefore they lost the connection with the product’s use and where either unaware or unwilling to produce the quality of lumber desired by woodworkers. I believe this to be true not only in the lumber industry but in other producer/supplier to end-user chains. In this case the sawmill owner/operator/supplier is a woodworker and knows how the quality of his product affects the end-user. Well that’s my impression now but we will have to wait and see if this evaluation holds up after spending a few weeks with this lumber. Miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UglySteve Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 $5.90/ bf 4/4 $8/bf 8/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewCremona Posted July 25, 2011 Report Share Posted July 25, 2011 Just picked up some walnut from someone locally (Minneapolis area) who operates a small saw mill. Paid $2/bf for 4/4 for the boards in the "nicer" stack. The lower grade walnut was $1/bf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keggers Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 The price doesn't sound bad. Lumber that is air dried outdoors for over a year will rarely fall below 13% mc, unless you are in a drier part of the country than I'm in - S.E. Missouri. I air dry my 4/4 walnut outdoors for about a year and then bring it into my environmentaly controlled shop to finish the drying process. It takes about 2 months to get it down to 8% - and that's with a dehumidifier running and a fan blowing on it all the time. It takes a little less time in the winter. Then it's ready to work or sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJC5151 Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 you guys getting walnut for 2 bucks or less a bf. what area are u in. and is it green? im in nw indiana and good select or beter rough sawn walnut i cant find it for less then 6 bucks for 4/4 7.30 for 8/4. common i get find for as low as 4.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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