How much you guys paying for Walnut.......?

Stuart Ablett

Member
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Tokyo Japan
I just thought I'd make all you guys out there fell better, I just picked up some walnut from my hardwood guys, works out near $15.70 a BF.......

Rough, and this is a "good" price, as it is kind of seconds, stuff that then pulled from the stacks, has a knot here and or there, (I don't pay for the knot spot). Don't matter how wide or thick it is, you pay the same rate, they sell here in the cubic meter, so I get boards that are 0.00121 of a cubic meter etc.

miseki_my_stack.jpg
The stack at the hardwood place

walnut_sen_in_truck.jpg
The stack, Walunt, Sen and waiting for the Luan, in the poor little truck

stack_wallnut_sen_luan.jpg
Stacked on my table in the Dungeon......

walnut_planed.jpg
Just to see what it looks like......

So, do you guys feel better now? ;) :D

$15.70 a BF for ROUGH Walnut.............:dunno:
 
Stu,

Nice looking walnut if that's any consolation...:dunno:

Depends on the walnut of course but we can get claro for about $6-$7/bf in the area I live.

I was lucky to acquire a bunch of hard maple, and traded 100 bf for air dried walnut, which is very nice, and it is ROUGH, but 12" wide boards, and 6" wide, 10 feet long.

I have some 8/4 I bought for the workbench I'm working on, and it was about $6.95/bf.

For really premium S4S milled at the preium store (Southern Lumber), they get about $15/bf, so it's not too much different than what you paid, but it is completely 4 sided, premium grade.

With that said, I really like to work with walnut, the consistency is wonderful, it's one of the most forgiving woods, in my experience. One of my faves, along with Cherry.

Here's a couple pics of the walnut when I got it, not the straightest stuff in the woods, but not bad for the $0.75/bf I had into the maple! :)

(linky pic)

 
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Stu, I've been paying $8 to $12 for the small amounts of 3/4" walnut I've bought over the past couple years. None has been spectacular, although it's S4S. I think the last time I bought 8/4 it was $15+ per bf, S4S. Granted, that's paying full retail at Rockler or Arroyo Hardwoods in Pasadena.

I'm sure I could find walnut for less around here somewhere, but finding the time when those places are open, and driving 30 to 60 minutes in LA traffic to get there, remain as stumbling blocks. If I was working a a project that needed a bigger quantity, it's be worth the extra hassle to get it cheaper. As it is, I don't use enough to warrant shopping for a better price.
 
Well at least double what you guys pay, hey, that is about normal for me here in Japan.

I went to the place I ususally go, and they were busy, they had four trucks parked up that they were loading, so I did not want to bug them for my small stack of wood. I went down the block to the next place, (I'm in the wood importing center of Japan) and walk in there, finally get some guy's attention, and I ask him if I can buy some wood. He says "sure thing" and sends me up to the office, I go in there, and talk to the nice lady, and she is giving me these papers to fill out....???

I explain, I want to buy some wood, maybe a dozen or so boards of Walnut...... well they sell only in the cubic meter (one cubic meter is 424 BF)...:eek: well, I was not going to do any business there.....:huh:

next place.....

Yep they will sell me wood by the board, no problem, yep, they got walnut....... please fill out these forms.....:dunno:

What do they want my bank info for, or my shop's association number...?

Huh?

Can I just buy the wood and pay you cash...?

"CASH?? :eek:" the guy says...........

"Nope, sorry, we are not set up for CASH........" :rolleyes:

Well by the time I tried to walk into another two shops, whey would not even let me in the door, I had made a long circle and was back where I started, and they were more than happy to help me pick some decent boards, I could pay cash, and I did not have to be a member of nothing. :thumb:

I think these guys will do.:)

Here are some shots of their shop.......

miseki_sign.jpg
Reads "Miseki"

miseki_big_bandsaw.jpg
BIG Bandsaw!!

miseki_big_planer.jpg
BIG planer!!

miseki_jointer.jpg
BIG Jointer (you can see the mortiser and veneer press in the background)

miseki_ts_powerfeed.jpg
Big cabinet saw with power feeder, this saw is set up for ripping

miseki_slider_tsjpg.jpg
BIG Slider!! set up for cross cutting.

Heck, they even had a DC set up in there......

Cheers!
 
Everyone one of you is making me feel better!! I just bought 66 bf for $200 from the sawmill. I think he was $3-3.25 a bf depending on the quality. It's rough cut kiln dried and looks pretty good. Minimal sap wood. I feel like I got a bargain now.

The big question is what you gonna make with that Stu??
 
S2S 4/4 in the greater TN area goes for around $3.4/bf. Last year I made such a humidor for a friend but, used cherry. As many are aware, American cherry is very tobaco friendly (some pipes are still made from cherry) and much easier to work than spanish cedar. Here are a couple of pics of the unit...
 

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pretty piece chris!
stu, wholesale in the sticks for fas 4/4 is 2.90, 8/4 is 4.10 , #1 common is 2.00 ......tod
 
S2S 4/4 in the greater TN area goes for around $3.4/bf. Last year I made such a humidor for a friend but, used cherry. As many are aware, American cherry is very tobaco friendly (some pipes are still made from cherry) and much easier to work than spanish cedar. Here are a couple of pics of the unit...

Chris, that is really nice!

That pull out is one thing I'm planing on doing as well, it will give me a temp work surface for dealing with the customer while standing in front of the humidor.

VERY nice!

You know, the Spanish Cedar only has to be a 1/4" thick on the insides that is all it takes.

Cheers!
 
Stu, I thought I'd post this link to really make you feel bad. This is my neigborhood lumber supplier, since I have bought enough stuff through them they give my business a level 3 discount. The woodworking club I am a member of gets a level 4 discount.

You can find prices of everything from walnut to plywood in this link.....enjoy, or feel more depressed.

http://www.theworkbench.com/
 
Stu, I thought I'd post this link to really make you feel bad. This is my neigborhood lumber supplier, since I have bought enough stuff through them they give my business a level 3 discount. The woodworking club I am a member of gets a level 4 discount.

You can find prices of everything from walnut to plywood in this link.....enjoy, or feel more depressed.

http://www.theworkbench.com/


Well, the freight to Tokyo would be killer!! :D
 
View attachment 920
The stack, Walunt, Sen and waiting for the Luan, in the poor little truck
...
$15.70 a BF for ROUGH Walnut.


First... how do you manage to have a FOUR-digit license plate? Surely there are more than 1000 vans in Tokyo?

Second... sure the price of walnut sucks, but you get to drive that cool little minivan around. :p We don't get interesting cars like that here in North America. Unless you count the Smart. (I remember visiting England in '93 and seeing all the cool small vehicles that they had over there.) All the small vehicles around here... they're not cool. Well except for the Mini.

I know you've got a buddy in shipping, but ships move too slow. Seems like you need to make friends with someone in the military. My brother is a captain in the Canadian air force. He was in Tokyo about 2-4 months ago on a training flight. Seems to me he could have "easily" hidden a few boards in that great big Hercules they were flying.


And frankly I don't know how much I paid for walnut. probably around the $3 mark. Last time I bought wood it was from a guy I know who gets logs from building sites (he's a contractor) and he has them sawn and stacked on his backyard and sells a bit of lumber on the side. I just went over and gave him $100 and we just threw lumber into the back of my van until he was finished. Never bothered figuring the board feet, but I bet I got a deal. :D

...art

ps: Sorry, I don't have any business trips to Tokyo coming up, but if I did I'd offer to bring you something with my spare baggage allowance. :headbang:
 
Oh yeah, I'd say there are a few more than 1000 vans in Tokyo :D

The licenses here are all divided up into various classes, even private cars and company cars etc.

The licensing also have various offices, we are in the "Nerima" area, that is the two Kanji characters in at the top middle of the plate, then there is the hirigana letter, as well so all told there 4 numbers, and one letter, and with Japanese you have 47 "Letters" with out any modifiers, so with that many combos, I guess we are OK. Also a lot of the vehicles used in Tokyo everyday are not registered in Tokyo, but in the outskirts, as the tax is less, parking is less and gas is cheaper too.

Cheers!
 
Last I bought was 2.50 for some 8/4 stock rough.

I still have over a 1000 feet of 4/4 from my sawmilling, logging days, which was considerably cheaper as the logs were free
 
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