Cherry value

[sawmilljoe]

I have the chance to busy and mill some black cherry logs 20 inch plus diameter. Wondering what I should ask for the Lumber.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Be sure and seal the ends well as soon as you buck them to length as cherry is very bad to check.

   What are you going to do with the log? Just mill them? Air and or Kiln dry them? Plane them? Are you cutting them live edge or edging them? I'd try to leave them as logs till I had a customer if possible to know how to cut them. Have you checked with other sources around your area to see what similar lumber sells for? I make it a rule to never sell my lumber for less than others especially the big box stores. What will it cost you to process them? Include transport of logs and lumber as well as milling, drying, finishing, etc.

[killamplanes]

Hope your markets are better than ours for cherry. A dollar here is pretty good for green cherry lumber. 20in clear is not real common here. 14-16in more the norm.... nice cutting.

[sawmilljoe]

Very little cherry around here and 10 to 12 inch is usually as big as you find. So will make some 2 inch slabs and 1 inch boards. Will post pictures we I saw them

[Brad_bb]

Woodworkers love building furniture from cherry.  There's a hardwood place near me that sells dried cherry for $8-$9 a BF for 1.125" - 1.875" thick.  That's pretty high to me, but I'm also in an area with far fewer mills/sources than most.  I wonder how much they sell at that price?  They offer some volume discount - 5% for 50-100 BF, 10% for  100-250 BF, 15% for 250+.  Are there any other places in your area that sell cherry that you could compare?  You want to price it so you can move it faster than them I'd think.  Also, if you have any cherry with curl, you're going to need to price that a bit more than non.  I've never sold any.  I'm stingy and keep it all for myself  ;D

[sawmilljoe]

Nobody in the area sells it. And I may keep it all if I can't get $3 bf for it I do make furniture  and will use it.

[woodman58]

I have cherry 1" and 1 1/2" thick . Some of it is 17" wide and 12' long. I have had it listed on CL for 8 months for $2.50 BF and have sold very little of it. I have competition that lives closer to the city than I do. I did have some 18" that I sold for $7 BF.