Ambrosia maple, what would you charge?

Old Greenhorn · August 01, 2020, 06:06:42 PM

I have been milling up some short junk logs for stickers but it turned out they are full of ambrosia and very pretty. The stuff that had defects (knots, cracks, punky) went to stickers, but off each log I saved some boards that are very clear and the color is superb (in my way of thinking). The boards are 4/4 x 11-13 x 3-4'. I am wondering if you charged say $2.50/BF for regular maple (air dried only), what would you charge for ambrosia? Right now these boards run between 13 and 20% MC. I can't wait to run one through the planer and see how it looks. I still have a few more logs from this tree and I have not gotten the butt logs yet (it is a split trunk), so I am not sure what else I may get out of it.
I am just asking because if there is a premium I would put in the effort to keep these extra flat and clean and I might put the time into planing them before sale. I know it will fade a little as it dries, but I feel like a kid at Christmas eve waiting to see how this will turn out.

richhiway · August 01, 2020, 07:13:31 PM

I have been successful putting real nice slabs or boards on FB marketplace with a fairly high price. If it catches the eye the price is not a issue.

I think I sold some spalted maple for around 8 a b.f. last fall.

He would have bought more if I had it.

Wood workers like hardwoods at 5/4 so they can plane it.

I would not plan it until it dries a while.

Old Greenhorn · August 01, 2020, 07:30:28 PM

Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. :D Actually I had no plan to save any of this and went with 4/4 because it was all stickers. But when I saw the coloring throughout these logs, I changed my mind and didn't make it all stickers. I figure it will plane out to a nice 3/4 boards which would be good for boxes, picture frames, drawer fronts, and other stuff like that.
I have another one of these I am going to try and do tomorrow morning before the weather comes in, maybe I will grab a few 5/4 boards out of that. I still have a lot more from this tree, but I have no idea if the coloring will carry through it all. I can't wait to get the butt logs and am hoping there is no metal in them. They have to be at least as good, and that is where I will pull the thicker lumber.

moodnacreek · August 01, 2020, 09:34:53 PM

For well seasoned wormy soft maple I get $4.00 bd. ft. or more. This is 2" rough circle sawn stuff. To me there is no such thing as ambrosia maple and 'slabs' are the outside first cut off a log . All these new terms bug me but I can't change the world. There is a 'reclaimed lumber dealer not far from here that can get as much as $14.00 for wormy maple planks.

richhiway · August 02, 2020, 07:29:25 AM

Quote from: moodnacreek on August 01, 2020, 09:34:53 PM
For well seasoned wormy soft maple I get $4.00 bd. ft. or more. This is 2" rough circle sawn stuff. To me there is no such thing as ambrosia maple and 'slabs' are the outside first cut off a log . All these new terms bug me but I can't change the world. There is a 'reclaimed lumber dealer not far from here that can get as much as $14.00 for wormy maple planks.

I am with you. I wonder how long the live edge/scrap pile lumber market will last.My dad had a antique shop for many years and most of the high dollar furniture he sold is out of favor today.

Old Greenhorn · August 02, 2020, 08:16:25 AM

Quote from: moodnacreek on August 01, 2020, 09:34:53 PM
For well seasoned wormy soft maple I get $4.00 bd. ft. or more. This is 2" rough circle sawn stuff. To me there is no such thing as ambrosia maple and 'slabs' are the outside first cut off a log . All these new terms bug me but I can't change the world. There is a 'reclaimed lumber dealer not far from here that can get as much as $14.00 for wormy maple planks.

@moodnacreek I don't have wormy Maple here. Maybe you have never seen this, I know I had only seen small sections of it here and there before these logs showed up. This is the first time I have seen it through and through on a 20" log, for sure. I am not a big fan of made up wood names, but this is not that. It is a coloring pattern that is caused by the ambrosia beetle and it is well documented and understood by science. You can look it up in the Wood Database here. The only other examples of this I have found are small areas in certain boards along a log. The coloring is supposed to be around the beetle tunnels or tracks. In these logs, the color is just about everywhere and I have never seen that before. The ambrosia beetle infests dead or very weak trees and I suspect they were working on this tree for a long time.There are very few holes visible. These aren't slabs I have, those are on the firewood pile.

It's a rainbow pattern of blues, greens, grays, and browns. Very pretty. There are few holes. If I wind up using this myself, I am saving it for some special projects because I don't know when I might ever see it again.
I found an online woodworker's supply that sold small quantities of this with a premium charge for wider widths. So these boards would be $9.75/BF from that supplier, but theirs are KD.
Thanks for the input.

tawilson · August 02, 2020, 09:49:23 AM

These are beams I milled for my kitchen. What I gathered was ambrosia or wormy maple. There's a little bug hole in each streak.

stavebuyer · August 02, 2020, 09:59:32 AM

It may be a rarity in the north but 95% of soft maple in the mid-south is "wormy". In fact all but the largest mills here can't saw for the soft maple white lumber market. "Ambrosia" is sold by the trailer load for frame stock pricing.

moodnacreek · August 02, 2020, 10:00:57 AM

Greenhorn, The wood you are showing is very common in this area. It is most often red maple, a soft maple, but could be hard [sugar or black] maple. And yes I know that the Ambrosia beetle is responsible for the streaks. I stock and sell this wood. This stuff used to go in the firewood pile. I should have put my comment about slabs in a separate paragraph. Slabs also go in the firewood pile. If you ever see worm tracks in silver maple ....... I better not say anymore. Have fun.

cutterboy · August 02, 2020, 09:20:11 PM

Ambrosia maple, some people love it, some people hate it. I used to think those dark streaks were defects until a customer went through a whole stack of red maple taking every board of ambrosia. I don't charge any extra for it.

Old Greenhorn, I don't think yours is typical ambrosia. Ambrosia maple is white with grayish streaks with one, two, or three holes in the middle of it. Yours has some color to it which is unusual.

Old Greenhorn · August 02, 2020, 09:30:13 PM

Yeah, it has greens and grays and what might be some pink or something throughout the whole board, each one. I took a closer look at it today based on the earlier comments and what I am seeing it that I do have the telltale holes centered in the brown /gray streaks, but the rainbow colors cover the areas between any streaks. I have had small pieces of ambrosia before but nothing like this. I am just gonna look for somebody who will appreciate it is all.

WDH · August 02, 2020, 09:33:33 PM

The colors other than the dark streaks with the ambrosia beetle holes are caused by gray stain, an enzymatic oxidation of the sugars in the wood at high temperatures (summer) and high humidity. It is a chemical reaction and will not plane out. Results in strikingly beautiful colors if the logs sit in the heat and humidity long enough.

mike_belben · August 03, 2020, 06:26:09 AM

I see it in red maple firewood thats been on the ground a while, quite often. Wormy maple makes a beautiful floor.

Don P · August 03, 2020, 08:49:41 AM

Sort of like blue pine, you can sell it at pallet prices or specialty prices all depending on on the customers appreciation of the character of the "defect". The guys are always wanting to slab logs that I would firewood. I look at it and think "Really? Well it'll be easier to burn after we whack it up :D" Each of us has a different vision in our head. Every time I've done an ambrosia maple job it has led to a request from one of their friends for more.