Need some pricing advice for table tops, any suggestions?

fishpharmer · February 22, 2010, 11:37:09 AM

This may be getting the cart ahead of the horse. But figured I best ask while its on my mind.
Since getting my sawmill cutting real well, I have a few big logs waiting to be slabbed among other things. Generally, I think its best to have an established market before producing a product. Yet i thought about trying to market a few slabs and see if there is any demand. Okay, now the question.

How much should I charge for slabs 1)fresh cut 2)air dried 3) kiln dried???

Not sure where to start on the pricing, since my overhead is low I would like to start with something reasonable.

Maybe I should ask what would you woodworkers pay for a nice big slab for a table top?

Thanks

Tom · February 22, 2010, 12:23:00 PM

First of all, find another name for the timber. Until I got to the end of your post, I was picturing the slab pile and wondering how you were going to market it. Most of us beg folks to come get it, might get $10 a truckload or saw it up for firewood prices.

Table top timbers and mantles don't sell by the boardfoot, though you could use that as a guidline if you liked. They are hard-to-get pieces that carry the sawyer's price per piece as if it were a piece of art. A mantel might go from$30 to $300 and you can't smile or back off. Table tops are the same way. Try to get a feel for the market by looking through the internet. You can't expect finished prices, but you don't want to be attracting people with a .60 a board foot price either. If it has good grain, good figure, good edges, it might command a very high price. Yes, it depends on the species too, and how well you can market. Put a price sticker on each piece. You might even want to write up a little sales talk for each piece and put it in a zip-log bag attached to it. Make the article special and it will be special. Act like it is a piece of junk and they might charge you to haul it away.

Make some stuff out of it yourself, even if you don't sell it. That lets them see what they can do. If they want your ready-made stuff, put a good price on it too.

fishpharmer · February 22, 2010, 01:09:35 PM

Thanks for the good advice Tom. Yes, "Slabs" was a poor choice of words. I changed the subject title of this post. Thanks.

DanG · February 22, 2010, 01:52:12 PM

"Slab" is the term that has been in common usage on the Forum for a long time, but I've never cared for using it for that product. It is ambiguous and sometimes confusing. I don't know what we should be calling them though. I've been thinking that "plank" would be better, and we don't seem to be using that term for anything else. :

In the case of cutting something for a specific purpose though, I think you ought to just call it whatever that is, like "tabletop."

Thinkin' about that big cypress log you have, Fish, you could make some dandy mantles out of part of it. You could get two live-edged and a few square-edged mantles out of each section. Folks building those big log houses, timber frames, and rustic lodges don't mind coming off of a few bills for a nice mantle. You can also split a small cypress log down the middle to make the support columns for it. Make a few and put them on Craigslist in Augusta Ga. They're building the heck out of those big homes around Lake Oconee, and everybody over there is scooting around in an Escalade or a Hummer. Don't be afraid to take a chunk of their money. ;D

Dodgy Loner · February 22, 2010, 03:49:32 PM

"Slab" is only an ambiguous term when it is used when both sawyers and woodworkers are present. Refer to a slab around a woodworker and he will invariably imagine the wide, thick, live-edged tabletop-type "plank" that fishpharmer is talking about. Refer to a slab around a sawyer though, and he will think you're talking about the waste that comes off the first cut on a log. I have been a woodworker longer than I've been a sawyer, so I knew right away what fishpharmer was talking about.

Sparty · February 22, 2010, 04:50:27 PM

I agree with dodgy. I think that most, if not all, woodworkers use the term slab for any wide, heavy board cut "through and through" or "bark to bark". It should not be a problem using "slab" to market to woodworkers. I think most of us woodworkers hear "plank" and think of a thick board that has been straight-line ripped on both edges...like a heavy joist, or "plank" flooring. It is confusing, but if you fully describe your product and use several catch phrases like slab, plank, table-top, etc., you should reach the right people.

Dan_Shade · February 22, 2010, 05:33:53 PM

I did a job for a fellow once, he wanted a "thick slab" for a bench, So I drop down and cut a hunker of a slab, ask him what he thought, and he looked at me like I had two heads....

Understanding language can be a fine art!

Dodgy Loner · February 22, 2010, 05:37:57 PM

I take it you cut a sawyer's slab and not a woodworker's slab? ;D A thick sawyer's slab will make also make a fine bench, of course. ;)

Larry · February 22, 2010, 05:44:36 PM

What Dodgy said.

I wouldn't think to much...just take really good pictures and put it on craigslist. Figure a price that you can live with. To high and you won't get calls. To low and you will think about leaving the phone off hook.

GHRoberts · March 03, 2010, 05:22:12 PM

The big issue is how wide are the slabs? (I prefer the term live edged.)

I have made a number of tables from 24" wide boards. They make nice 4' wide tables when sequential boards are book matched.

$6 or so a board foot seems reasonable for dried clear figured stock. It would be nice if you could offer planing.

metalspinner · March 03, 2010, 06:03:44 PM

fish,
I have struggled with this question, too. Of course there are many variables - length, width, thickness, species, "grade", unusuallness (?), etc. What's going for you is that the market isn't flooded with this product. But that works against you, too, because folks are not very familiar with what you actually have and what they can do with it.

Insert Mr. Tom's explanation here...

In the end, you can move them quick if they are priced reasonably, or sit on them forever if they are priced too high. As a woodworker that has used large peices like this, I can tell you that a lot more work goes into finishing these than using regular boards. So that cost would be passed along to the end customer. Combined with the higher materials cost, that would price out a group of customers.

You will get the best price if you make something yourself with them.

Large patio tables for a crawfish boils, maybe? Local restaurants might be into that.

Large picnic tables for church or civic pavilions.

Cool bar top at the local pub.

Tiki bar top for the joe down the street.

Etc...

ARKANSAWYER · March 03, 2010, 08:12:09 PM

Yes it is sometimes hard to tell what people want or expect.
These are half log benches.

Some times people call them slab benches. :

This is a natural edge slab of wood coffee table.

Some say live edge and others just want chuncks of wood. I even have some call and want fletch sawn lumber and I make natural edge siding to sell as well. All I really know is this is a butt cut.

I through and through saw logs all the time and put them back together on stickers minus the slabs. I sell them all the time and often get twice to three times the going rate as if it was 4/4 lumber. It is easier to come down on price then go up.