Cost of Material

[dusty]

I am curious. How much do you folks pay for the lumber and sheet goods that you are building with?

In your area, do you purchase by the linear foot or board foot? Maybe that depends on where in your area you purchase (HomeDepot or lumber yard).

This week I was being pressured to finish a project started weeks ago. It neccessitated I purchase two 1"x10"x10' poplar boards. I did, at the cost of $3.68 a linear foot.

I think I have to find some other way.

Feedback, please. Is this cost excessive or am I living in the past? Do most retailers sell by the linear foot now? Maybe it's too hard to calculate board feet and the cash register doesn't do it either.

.

[charlese]

Used to buy some oak at home depot when I could fool them into thinking that they had to beat Lowe's Price by 10%. After they discovered lumber is a commodity, they wouldn't do that any more.

Now found a local cabinet and molding supplier that will part with hardwoods at $3.30/ Bd Ft.

Stocks Lbr yard is just too expensive for more than a small quantity.

One of these days I'm going to travel down to the LA area to a couple of advertised lumber brokers.

[john]

Dusty:

I buy both, linear and board feet depending on what I need and/or how urgent it is. Except for pine I now try to by all my wood in rough form by the board ft because it is so much cheaper. For example, I recently ruined pieces for my CD cabinet and thought I would save time and buy some 1x8 oak at the local Home Depot. They wanted $34.00+ for an 8 foot board ($4.25?/linear ft), or roughly $5.66 bd/ft. My local rough lumber supplier charges $3.40 bd/ft, and will plane it for $0.20/ft/face. Needless to say, I will wait and buy it in rough form .

I usually find pine is not worth the effort and often buy knotty pine at HD, but more than necessary, and try to find as much clear wood as possible to work with.


John

[james.miller]

Dusty,

Where did you buy the poplar? Have you been to Hood Industries on Toole St, used to be McEwen and before that SouthWest Hardwood. http://www.hooddistribution.com/locations/tucson.php

[scottss]

Dusty I purchase almost all my hardwoods and softwood at a little wood supplier it my area
http://www.hardwoodstoget.com/
I also get some from
http://www.windsorplywood.com/
Once in a while I end up at HD or Lowes or my local lumber yard, but I try to support Targo as much as possible. I buy it by the board foot except for HD, Lowes and my local lumber yard they sell it by the board or linear foot. The last project (sofa table) I got the red oak for $3.85 bf and it was 4/4 stuff. I also picked up some maple for $3 and some birch for $2 a bf.

[dusty]

My thanks to all of you.

What I think I have learned is that I am paying way too much at Lowes and HD. I need to find, even if I have to travel some, a good lumber yard where I can buy rough cut.

Jim in Tucson has also given me a source, less than 5 miles from me, where I can get finished lumber and maybe some rough cut. I need to go by there to check prices.

There are some Christmas gifts on the drawing table, I guess I had better get IT in gear.

My question regarding linear vs bd ft measurements is still sort of unanswered, I think. Where I have been shopping, sells nothing by the board foot (except maybe hardwood flooring). Everything is priced by the running foot. I have sort of concluded that this is because I am buying finished grade lumber. When I find the mill yard, I expect it to be board foot.

Thanks again for the comments.

[jtomwoods]

I use several methods.

There is a local mill that will sell me kiln-dried FAS red oak at $3.30/bd ft. He will plane both sides and give me one straight edge at no charge. Last year he sold me clear red oak at 6 ft lengths (200 ft) that was outstanding. Poplar is $1.80-$2.00/bd ft. I bought pine for $1.00/bd ft that had some knots, but they were tight and actually look good in some projects.

An outlet from an Amish mill will sell kiln-dried red oak "cut-offs" that are rough (need planing and jointing) for $1.80/bd ft. These may have a knot here and there, but you can work around them.

[scottss]

Tom you are getting a great price. But I imagine oak is more plentifull there then hear in the pacific northwest. I used to be a chimney sweep years ago and I was told that back east there was so much oak that they burn it in the fireplaces and stoves. Here in the northwest people burn a lot of maple, alder and birch and you can get as much fir as you can handle. So I guess its supply and demand.

[Ed in Tampa]

Originally Posted by dusty

My thanks to all of you.

What I think I have learned is that I am paying way too much at Lowes and HD. I need to find, even if I have to travel some, a good lumber yard where I can buy rough cut.

Jim in Tucson has also given me a source, less than 5 miles from me, where I can get finished lumber and maybe some rough cut. I need to go by there to check prices.

There are some Christmas gifts on the drawing table, I guess I had better get IT in gear.

My question regarding linear vs bd ft measurements is still sort of unanswered, I think. Where I have been shopping, sells nothing by the board foot (except maybe hardwood flooring). Everything is priced by the running foot. I have sort of concluded that this is because I am buying finished grade lumber. When I find the mill yard, I expect it to be board foot.

Thanks again for the comments.

Dusty
Frankly I don't care if the wood is sold by linear or board ft as long as the price is good. I have a couple lumber yards around me that sell wood. One is linear foot and the other is board foot. And if you sit down and calculate their prices they are almost identical. Lately I have been buying planned both sides with a finished edges because I have been getting good wood with little or no waste. At times I buy the rough cut but I have learned to be very very careful. I usually only do this when I get a good buy on something like a thousand board feet or so.

In your example where you paid 3.68 per linear foot worked out that you were paying about $4.42 a board foot for the wood. I don't know your area but that is high of poplar. However if it was finished both sides and ripped to width then you have to subtract mill work and the actual cost of the wood would be lower.

Actually nobody really sales by the board foot anymore since everyone I have found has different per board foot prices depending on thickness.
One place will sale actual 4/4 (1 inch thick) for one price and "finished" 4/4 (something less that 1" usually 3/4 or 13/16) and 8/4 for totally different price.

We had a hardwood dealer that sold exclusively by the board foot. The price was $X and it didn't matter if the wood was 1" or 5" thick. They figured real board foot 1 foot by 1 foot by number of inches thick and sold it to you.

I find that most people that sell by the "board foot" today are really selling by linear foot disguised as being by the board foot. The have their 4 inch wide 3/4 inch thick boards priced at different price than say their 12 inch wide 3/4 thick boards and the total cost of the 12 inch wide stuff will be a lot higher than 4 inch wide. Mainly because it is harder to find a clear piece of wood that wide today.

I take my calculator and shop for the best wood price be it linear or board foot I look at bottom line, what is it going to cost me to buy enough wood to finish this project.

[ericolson]

I'm real lucky in that I've got a sawyer here who sells me my rough cut cherry and walnut for $2.50-$2.80 a board foot. A true board foot. He also doesn't stick it to me when he comes across and interesting piece, say, curly cherry, that he knows I'll buy. Same price as regular cherry. I'm also fortunate in that I can mill smaller logs on my property. I milled a chunk of hickory from my drying stack this weekend and it turns out I have a rough cut log of quilted figure hickory!! Needless to say, that stack of lumber is now a "special projects only" pile!