Part 7 - Lumber Prices and Buying Lumber

by Bill Tindall

For this discussion I will use poplar as an example. Its price tends to be more stable so my numbers will be more consistent. The prices are current for July 14, 2007. Prices for hardwood lumber are published weekly in trade publications such as the Hardwood Market Report.

Let us begin with a prime poplar log 12' long and 16" diameter. This log will scale 108 bd ft by the Doyle scale (see Part 5 Inspection and Grading for a discussion of log scaling). The log will bring $35 delivered to the log yard (Part 3, Logging) here in eastern Tennessee. Of that $35, the logger will get about $17.50 and the land owner $17.50 (see Part 2 Selling Timber). The actual split will depend on how easy the forest is to log and the quality of the timber.

This log will yield abut 136 bd ft of lumber if sawed on a typical circle saw with ¼" kerf (Part 4 The Saw Mill) or more if the log is sawn more or less with a band saw which has a narrower kerf. This log will typically yield lumber in all the grades from #2 Common up to FAS (Part 5 Inspection and Grading). Current prices for green (right off the saw) 4/4 poplar are $790, 390, 295 for FAS, #1 Common and #2 Common respectively. Prices are always quoted per 1000 bd ft. These prices are determined by demands in the various markets for these grades. Amateur woodworkers don’t buy enough lumber to have any significant impact on demand and price.

Let us assume this log yielded after grading half FAS lumber, and one quarter each #1 and #2 Common. The mill would receive $54 for the FAS lumber, $13 for the #1 Common and $10 for the #2 Common, for a total of $77. In poplar the FAS grade will be largely clear lumber, #1 common boards will have one or two knots, and #2 will look like knotty pine.

Next the lumber is dried. Prices for KD (kiln dried) 4/4 poplar are $950, $560, and $405 for the grades described above. Prices for KD 8/4 are $1015, $750. and $515, respectively. The 8/4 prices are higher because it takes longer to dry the thicker lumber, there is more downgrade from defects induced in drying thick lumber, and another factor which is less obvious. Logs will yield less high grade lumber when sawed 8/4 than 4/4. The reason is that lumber is, with one exception, graded from the worst side of the piece. Adjacent saw cuts that yielded a FAS 4/4 board followed by a #2 common 4/4 board would yield one #2 common 8/4 board. The premium for 8/4 oak is especially high because it must be dried exceptionally slowly to prevent cracking and even then there may be drying defects.

The quotes for KD lumber at the wholesale level will always state that the lumber is “measured before drying” and it may state that the grading is before drying. This is a code phrase to indicate that the KD tally (Part 5) will have 7% added to it on the billing. Sometimes it is hard to rationalize the price difference between green and KD lumber. The obvious factors such as cost of drying are confounded with other factors such as spot shortages of KD lumber.

Your local retail lumber store will likely pay more than $950 + 7% for the lumber in their rack. There will be shipping charges, which are not great, and the lumber may pass through one additional middle man on its way to the retail store. This middle man may do additional sorting of the lumber for the retail trade, especially in species like walnut and cherry where the differences in quality within the FAS1F & Btr grades is much greater than in the case for poplar. I will leave it to you to investigate how much mark up there is at your local retailer.

We can see that there are many places along this supply chain where the woodworker can buy lumber, from trees in the forest to the retail store.

Other than the need for logging equipment, buying trees and logs presents a special problem for the amateur woodworker. Beyond obvious defects such as branches an experienced timber person will see subtle irregularities in the bark which signal defects that lie within, and which the amateur may not detect. The first walnut veneer log I ever bought to saw had a large rotten cavity hidden in its center and the log yielded mostly lower grade lumber. Buying a log is the proverbial “buying a pig in a poke”—especially for an amateur. You will also need to learn to dry the wood without ruining it (no small task) and you will need to learn to efficiently use the lower grades of lumber from the logs in your projects. But if you have a trustworthy sawmill that will sell you logs, this is by far the least expensive route to lumber. Additionally, one can pick logs that have figure or size that could be attractive. I recommend this route for the serious woodworker. Bribing the sawmill with cookies and woodworking trinkets is effective.

Buying graded lumber from a mill is less risky and it is only somewhat more expensive a route to lumber. However, you won’t be able to pick logs which might yield figure or unusual sized boards.

Neither of these routes is available to persons who don’t live where hardwood is produced. Lumber is marketed internationally, and shipping is cheap. Every locale has a cabinet shop and they will have a source of lumber at near wholesale prices. Find out from these shops where they get their lumber. At least here in the southeast these suppliers will deliver a wholesale pack of lumber right to your door on the trucks they use for supplying cabinet shops. You may have to buy a minimum of 200 to 500 bd ft and you will be buying by grade. Recall that within a grade, lumber may differ substantially in quality—especially so for walnut and cherry (Part 5).

This picture shows a shed at a typical wholesale operation. The forklift is for unloading and loading trucks. It can lift several thousand bd ft of lumber at a time. When they get gravel on the tines and then lift a pack onto my truck the gravel embeds and it is not nice on planer blades. The colored ends on the lumber packs are purely cosmetic.

Another route to less expensive lumber is to buy the lower grades. The secret to working these lower grades is to learn to pick through a stash to find clear cuttings that efficiently make use of the clear wood between defects. Most of my furniture framing is cut from cheap #2 common poplar. If I have a good selection to choose from I have almost no waste. In walnut and cherry the #1 common grade is about one half the top grade price. The #1 Common grade typically has less sap and an experienced woodworker with a good stash to choose from can work it with little waste. You might only need the higher grade to make a long table top.

I would like to credit the following companies for help assembling this material:

Banish and Rickard
Gilbert Hardwood
Hunterville Hardwoods
Linda Hughes Lumber
Malone Logs and Lumber
Mountain City Hardwood
Stuart Lumber

The people at these companies have been most generous of their time and patience in letting me take pictures of their operations.