What's my wood worth?

Re: What's my wood worth?

JL

Whatever someone will pay

Usually not as much as from a lumber yard.

Re: What's my wood worth?

John K Jordan

4/4, thicker? Widths? Thicker and wider are worth more to some people.

To me, marketing would be the worst part. I have a lot of fun giving it away. If you have 8/4 stock you can help a lot of kids by donating it to people who make Beads of Courage boxes.

JKJ

JL, you are precisely correct.....

Barry Irby

I used to appraise houses. They are worth exactly what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller.

I was just interested in what this pile of crap might be worth.

Re: JL, you are precisely correct.....

JL

I can tell you what I've paid for air dried 8/4 soft maple and black walnut.

Typically about $2-3/board foot depending on if it is FAS.

Around me, likely to get 50 cents

Dick Coers

If you can get anyone to even come look at it. All the woodworker's around here are all thinking about how to get rid of the lifetime collection they have. Any professional shop will have no interest since they only buy per project.

They'll probably wait till your estate auction Barry so they can get it for pennies. You know, just the way you like to buy! LOL

Re: Around me, likely to get 50 cents

Barry Irby

I am sure you are right. I am not thinking about selling any of it, but this was a matter of curiosity. Part of me thinks this stuff has value and part of me realizes it worth nothing to anybody else.

I heard a news tid bit the other day that said in Sweden it has become a "thing" to look hard at your stuff and dispose of any of it your kids will not want and have to throw away. People are purging their stuff. It's called Swedish Death Cleaning.

I am beginning to throw out some junk. Try to throw something away everyday.

I have also realized your stuff owns you. Think about it. You house it, take care of it, repair it. I'm not sure who's in charge.

Re: Around me, likely to get 50 cents

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I have purchased several thousand BF of Cherry, Walnut and White oak from Estate sales, most from Amish people. I believe my average cost is around $.50 BF.

I have what was 2 skids of Cherry from one tree with very nice figure. I also have one lot of White oak composed of 10+long by 12 wide 6/4 boards - est 12 -16 boards. I have some Walnut over 14' long in various widths. As far as I know all of the lumber is air dried, it is rough cut and stored in the upstairs of my shop which is heated / air conditioned. I also have several other lots of Poplar, Ash, Hackberry, etc. All of my "stash" has been stored for at least 6 or 7 years. I had to quit buying as my storage area (30' X 8' X 8' is full) I had the lumber stickered for a couple of years but tight stacked to obtain more space. I have noticed the Amish that harvest their own trees only select the largest, straightest trees. Rough sawn lumber is quite cheap at these sales as many hobby woodworkers apparently do not have planers and jointers. Finished lumber usually sells at or above the commercial outlet prices.

Re: Around me, likely to get 50 cents

Tony - Memphis

Saw that article. Having similar thoughts. Most of my things do me no good. Guess I'm over that particular hump. I keep telling my wife we need to clean like we were moving. Funny how perspective changes as you go through life. What was important a decade or two ago is not that important anymore. Funny though, I work at a large corporation and LOTS of folks around here are really into that image thing.

The wood, on the other hand, well that's a dream around here...we have no wood stores left and it is very hard to find any wood around here. I get most of my wood from....Arizona! Yep. When Woodworker's Source has a sale, I load up. Our exercise room is also a lumber yard! Nothing like your stash - maybe 80 board feet tops?

Re: Around me, likely to get 50 cents

Pete in Holland MI

Value depends on how quickly you want to dispose of it.

If you want top dollar, expect to sit on it for a while, or have it slowly disappear. If you need to move it quick, you'll need to find someone that will buy a bunch, knowing he has no immediate plans for it.

Pete

How could anyone answer this question

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I'll ask back, what is my house worth. It is 2800 sq ft ? You were just given as much information to arrive at a price as we were.

Thickness, grade, species and moisture content determine value which will vary by nearly two orders of magnitude. If you know the answers to these variables you can go to a local lumber supplier, see what they are selling equivalent wood for and arrive at a potential value. Or, go to a mill and see what these thickness, species and grade are selling for which will provide a lower floor on value. If it is sawed and dried well you can always sell to a mill.

"Log run" means almost nothing because the value of the logs can vary from worthless to dollars per bdft. Improper sawing can lower value from some to total. Try marketing lumber cut too thin. Not kiln dried limits your market substantially.

good point and how we got into the business

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The only local lumber yard selling KD lumber was going out of business back in the 70's. I thought, I'll buy out their inventory at a good price, sell off what I don't want and have a great stash for future use. After all I had a captive market till someone other company entered the market (it took 30 years for a competitor to show up).

The flaw in the business plan.......Almost instantly we sold out of 4/4 oak, basswood and poplar. So we had to scurry around and find a wholesale supplier for these items to stay in business to sell the other stuff. After a while the 4/4 cherry and 4/4 and 8/4 maple went, and then thankfully the birch. And over the years most of the rest of it sold while we meanwhile sold thousands of bd ft of the stuff in demand. But we still have some 6/4 maple and 5/4 walnut from this adventure, 40 years later, and two exceptionally wide 16' long pieces of 8/4 oak that the right customer never came along for. Some years into this business we acquired 500 bd ft of ribbon stripe genuine mahogany for a "good price". Mahogany was not in fashion in E. TN, we found out. It sat in inventory for a decade and we finally lumped it off to someone restoring a boat. Wish I had it now!

The moral of this story is that there are customers that buy large quantities of what they buy and it is easy to sell to them at market rice. And then there are hobby woodworkers that buy a few boards of this and that at market price and above. As Pete said, if you need to be rid of a large quantity of something that doesn't fit into a high demand market it may take decades to sell at market price, or you will need to price to induce a buyer that can't resist a bargin as in the case of the mahogany we bought and then sold.

I realize that none of this answers your question, but your question can't be answered by us. The best value is to use it .

Re: Around me, likely to get 50 cents

TomD

"I am sure you are right. I am not thinking about selling any of it, but this was a matter of curiosity. Part of me thinks this stuff has value and part of me realizes it worth nothing to anybody else."

The problem with large stashes is whether one will ever use them. If you were going to use all that wood and had to buy it, your price would be what you would have to pay, minus what it cost you. That could have a huge economically positive impact for you. But if you have little to no chance, or interest in using it. Or you do, but every project you undertake seems to need some different wood, then you have some choices to make. One of those can be to settle for the wood you a have a little more in some things, if that seems suitable, and that is what many people over the years have done. Or to specialize for a while in things that cane use the wood you have, which may require some help from consumers.

Emotionally we often start loving the stash and end up carrying it. So there is that. A useful idea from pop psych, I think, is does something seem to be upstream or downstream. Are you swimming with or against the current. People who enjoy challenge, sometimes in the form of doing things in an old fashioned way, are often the type of people who swim upstream. That can end up to be a bad, or even unhealthy thing to do.

"I have also realized your stuff owns you. Think about it. You house it, take care of it, repair it. I'm not sure who's in charge."

Stuff you have is certainly to some extent in charge, it all needs something in the run of a year.

Re: What's my wood worth?

TomD

That is the mechanism by which the market determines value, not the level the market is at.

Re: Swedish Death Cleaning

TomD

You would think that in a place that is at least a bit of a socialist paradise, they would have some government department to match up buyers and diers.

I watched a bit about the lady who started that. I suppose most people do it to some extent. It is a real problem for people who are engaged in complex crafts. You need a lot of stuff and there is no easy way to get rid of it unless you want to stop doing what you do.

Re: What's my wood worth?

paul in AZ

There is an old saying that 'wall street [the market] knows the price of everything but the value of nothing'.

Re: Swedish Death Cleaning~not an issue for me!

Larry Clinton

My youngest son (in his late 40's) likes and is pretty adept at woodworking so all of my shop equipment and stash of wood will be his to use. At this time he is unable to spend much time as he just purchased an old farm house on 3+ acres and is in process of setting up his mini-farm and has a lot of remodeling to do. He is a worker and kind of a prepper, and has two homes paid for in full. He has done all my home's heavy maintenance for the last few years so wife and I have willed our home and shop to him. My other hobby is also shared with him - collecting firearms. So I will leave all my firearms and ammunition to him and my other sons. He and my other sons can deal with the misc. stuff!

Re: How could anyone answer this question

Barry Irby

Bill, I suppose the question was somewhat philosophical. And you are correct, unanswerable.

The wood is part of that vague plan, non plan, I have had since 8th grade shop to build some furniture. I never know whether people want and like the stuff I build for them. Maybe I'm insecure. Maybe I wonder if it could have been better. I'm shocked when I find something I made years ago and realize it treasured. Slightly baffled. Other times I wonder if they are waiting for me to die so they can finally throw it away. I'm hoping it's a long wait. I NEED some 8/4 walnut. time to start reading the obits.

I just wish there had been some cocobolo and ebony trees on the farm. Come to think of it, there is a huge persimmon......

Re: What's my wood worth?

Dave Bair

In a southern Michigan hardwood lumber yard near me, 1000 BF of 4/4, select and better, kiln-dried: walnut would be about $5.43/BF, poplar about $2.06/BF, cherry about $2.76/BF, quartered white oak about $4.69/BF. Your stash would be worth around $15,000 if I bought it from them.

Re: What's my wood worth?

Barry Irby

That's the kind of ego boost I was looking for. Actually I would be thrilled if I thought it was really worth a third of that.

As has been pointed out above, it's worth more to me than whatever I could sell it for. It's a joy having it.

flaw in your analysis

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

You don't know the grade of Barry's lumber. Barry's walnut is not steamed nor KD, something of substantial importance to the kind of business that buys 200 bd ft at a time.

The cherry in the chest of drawers Barry posted is nice wood, but Barry said he had to do some searching to find these cuttings. They were not large cuttings and would have been easy to get from #1 common or better grade.

We sold lumber for many years and in that time I chased several wild geese in the form of "deals" on lumber put away in a barn XX years ago by individuals from sawing their family logs. Invariably this lumber contained mostly lumber that would grade at the bottom of the scale. The timber on family farms has typically be high graded for generations as the family needed money and fell prey to the local logger. There are exceptions, but the typical log I am asked about isn't worth the saw bill if the object is resale.

That said, something made from timber from the family farm has value that transcends market value for the family. It is best to think about the value of what can be made from it and not the value of the raw material.

Re: flaw in your analysis

Dave Bair

I told him what it would cost me to buy a 1000 BF of each species of lumber from my local supplier. I specified "select and better, kiln-dried" in my reply since that is the specs of the lumber I used to come up with a price. I never said his was worth that amount. He was just asking for an idea of his stash's worth and nobody seemed to want to give him an answer to his question without a bunch of ifs, buts and depends.

Re: What's my wood worth?

johannaj

Price depends on where you are - here in the Southwest we pay premium prices for hardwoods since there are none that grow naturally here.