A while back, I started a thread where someone had asked me about some lumber for siding his barn that his Brother-in-law said he could get for something like $75 a bundle. I thought I'd post an update on this to let you know what I found out.
There is a mill nearby (well, 45 minutes away) that sells their miscuts, "low grade" lumber etc. in a big bundle. No guarentee of what lumber you get or the lengths/widths that you get. Just a bundle of wood at a set price. The price turned out to be $125 instead of $75, but I thought I'd pick up a bundle to see what it was and if nothing else I could cut it into tomato stakes.
I get to the mill and ask the guy at the office about this. He looks at my trailer (just a 4x8' that I have hooked to my van) and he says, "ya...it ain't gunna fit on that little thing...you'll have to make a couple trips." OK..says me...I got the day off an aren't doing anything anyways so I have no problem with this. He tells me that he'll have a guy bring up a bundle and put it up by the road...I can load up there. I make a few polite inquiries and find out that if I want some better grade wood, they can offload whatever it is they are cutting at the time onto my trailer.
"How much?" asks me.
"$.40 a foot" says he.
"It matter what you are cutting?" asks me.
"Nope...whatever it is we are doing at the time."
I thank him for the info and go on out to load up my bundle. I see a guy in a forklift bringing something up and I think it can't be for me...it is a nice square of lumber with a metal strap around it....I'm expecting a pile of pixie sticks all jumbled together. He sets it down and tells me to have fun loading.
He had told me their bundles were around 800-1000 feet. I'm guessing this bundle was on the fat side of 1000. I haven't inventoried it yet, but there was ample wood there to keep me busy.
I was expecting 4-6' pieces of wood...The smallest piece was 8'. Most are 10 and a few go up to 14'.
I was expecting 6" wide pieces at the biggest. Most of them averaged 8" and there were more than a few that are in the 12-14" range.
I was expecting tons of knots. There are a few and not many of the boards could be called 'clear', but the overall quality of the lumber is much higher than I expected.
About the only thing that was disappointing is that the wood is sopping wet. I'm going to have to stack and sticker it for at least a year before I can use it..unless tomato stakes should be cut green....but then it does seem a waste to use this wood for tomato stakes...
I saw a little oak, a little maple and a bunch of stuff I can't recognize yet. Maybe some Sycamore and one of the guys in the yard said something about beech. Some of the boards are spalted (don't know if this is good or bad yet) but most are good, wide, straight boards that will let me make bunches of stuff I don't really need. :D
I'll probably post some pictures over the summer asking, "what kind of wood is this." For now, I need to find a place to sticker all this stuff. Guess I might need to make a shed to put it in ;D
To ask a question about all this....it seems to me that this price is EXTREMEMLY low. Would any of you sell your stock at this price regardless of quality? This seems cheaper than firewood...
in answer to your question, no i would not sell mine for that.
but in addition to your story, we have a mill here that cuts pine to make the crappy pine decking at the big box stores. and i understand that from time to time they have misruns on the lumber and actually give away lumber to who ever wants it. this is before it is treated, they do not treat the decking they just saw it. apparently if you saw something 5/4 and it aint 5/4 they will not accept it at the treating plant. anyway, sounds like a great deal for you.
I guess the thing is if the boards dont fit into the size and grades that they are selling, then what do you do with them? Sorting them out and trying to sell them may cost more in time than they could recover selling the lower grade boards.
Economicaly they are probably better to just bundle them up and sell them cheap.
If you have the time and equipment to process and use it yourself, then it's a bargin for you.
Ian
Quote from: Ianab on April 04, 2008, 06:30:10 PM
I guess the thing is if the boards dont fit into the size and grades that they are selling, then what do you do with them? Sorting them out and trying to sell them may cost more in time than they could recover selling the lower grade boards.
Economicaly they are probably better to just bundle them up and sell them cheap.
If you have the time and equipment to process and use it yourself, then it's a bargin for you.
Ian
This is pretty much the conclusion I came to. They could separate each species as they cut it, and then go back at some later date and try to re-cut/classify everything, or they could just try to sell stuff cheap without putting the extra time and labor costs into it. Hey, if it works for them, who am I to question things?
Got everything stacked (not stickered) for now...about 4' wide and 30" high averaging about 10' long. That works out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 board feet (less gaps, but there aren't many of those), right?
I've been thinking about buying a neighbor's lot which was forclosed on...has a big 3 car pole building sitting on it doin' nothing right now. Could be a great place to go dry a bunch of wood. At 10-20 cents a foot, I could start my own little warehouse....don't know what I'd do with all that, but it would be fun trying to figure out :D
Quote from: Osric on April 04, 2008, 04:29:59 PM
I make a few polite inquiries and find out that if I want some better grade wood, they can offload whatever it is they are cutting at the time onto my trailer.
"How much?" asks me.
"$.40 a foot" says he.
"It matter what you are cutting?" asks me.
"Nope...whatever it is we are doing at the time."
This is the one that gets me. How can they possibly sell "anything" for forty cents?
I'd be down the road watching with binoculars waiting for them to dip into the cherry or walnut pile. ;D
Osric,
Don't wait too long to get it stickered. I notice you are from Athens. Which Athens are you talking about? I get up to Athens GA a good bit.
Quote from: brdmkr on April 04, 2008, 10:14:46 PM
Osric,
Don't wait too long to get it stickered. I notice you are from Athens. Which Athens are you talking about? I get up to Athens GA a good bit.
I'm a little north of you.....Athens, Ohio. ;D
Quote from: Ianab on April 04, 2008, 06:30:10 PM
I guess the thing is if the boards dont fit into the size and grades that they are selling, then what do you do with them? Sorting them out and trying to sell them may cost more in time than they could recover selling the lower grade boards.
Economicaly they are probably better to just bundle them up and sell them cheap.
Ian
That is why American buisness are in the shape they are in.
jim
Howdy Osric I'm just up the road 30 miles
Its out lumber , I have bought it and upgraded it a few times. Usually good wood. I thought I heard a man say other day that face and better was like .67bf so if they are getting 40 from out lumber and off species good for them.
I have bought it for a 100 a pack and as much as 200 a unit. Buy poplar outs and side outbuildings.
nahh..'snot cheaper than firewood, at least not around here...guy was trying to chump me into giving
180 bucks for a fat cord the other day...are you kidding? I do own a chainsaw...
sounds like a good deal for the homeowner though...cheap way to build board fence...
This makes you wonder about paying loggers $.50-$75 a bd ft in the log for oak up here in mid michigan. I feel the price of green wood is about $.50 around here and people won't bang your down trying to get it. I live right next door to a veneer buyer. Any good logs go there, and its worth the drive. Veneer red oak they are paying $1.60 something in the log, and everything goes up from there. Kinda the worst of both worlds. High log prices and low lumber prices. Hmmm.....
It is amazing to me though. I see these out lumber bunks sold on ebay for not very much money. I would buy them, and repackage, kiln dry and sell in that building you were talking about. No sense wasting your time sawing lumber for $.30 some cents a board foot if they will give you it for just about 1/3 of that. I wish i was near those guys!
Lumber as a commoditity is odd, but man if you pay attention it really is sold for very little money when done in bulk. There is a wholesaler about 10 mins from me that sells Select kiln dried 1x6" red oak, delievered for $1.25 in 500 bd ft bunks. Really perfect stuff. Very little margin in between those two numbers. Cost of log, cost of sawing, amount you get when sold. Gotta think outside of that box to survive around me.
good luck,
KP
Kelvin, as I mentioned above, there is a company near me that sells "out lumber" for about the same price. I stopped last week to look at it and it is hard maple. I bet they would give a better price if you bought three or four bunks at a time. Let me know if you want the company name or a few pictures of the lumber.