cost for buying timber

[farmerjohn]

Hi All,

I have the opportunity to buy some nice straight Ash, Cedar Of Lebanon and maybe some Laylandii.

I will be milling the timber into wide boards for table tops,
what sort of money per hoppus foot are people paying for the odd large stick with easy access from a tree surgeon, I want a fair price to both of us so we can hopefully do more business in the future with other timbers.
A cost per hoppus foot for the following would be handy, both for large logs 40” + DBH and 10ft long.

And smaller like 24” DBH 10ft long

 

Oak,

Ash,

Cedar of Leb

Laylandii

 

PS what is Laylandii like milled? I am interested in its visual appearance, and its properties. I have firewood quite a bit in the past as I have been told its all its good for and even then it spits. Recently I have been told to plank it and it us usable as cladding as it is similar to WRC (I am very sceptical of this).

Thanks, John

 

 

[timbernut]

Don’t know about prices but leylandii is very durable

[Squaredy]

2 hours ago, farmerjohn said:

Hi All,

I have the opportunity to buy some nice straight Ash, Cedar Of Lebanon and maybe some Laylandii.

I will be milling the timber into wide boards for table tops,
what sort of money per hoppus foot are people paying for the odd large stick with easy access from a tree surgeon, I want a fair price to both of us so we can hopefully do more business in the future with other timbers.
A cost per hoppus foot for the following would be handy, both for large logs 40” + DBH and 10ft long.

And smaller like 24” DBH 10ft long

 

Oak,

Ash,

Cedar of Leb

Laylandii

 

PS what is Laylandii like milled? I am interested in its visual appearance, and its properties. I have firewood quite a bit in the past as I have been told its all its good for and even then it spits. Recently I have been told to plank it and it us usable as cladding as it is similar to WRC (I am very sceptical of this).

Thanks, John

 

 

Well I can only give you an idea of what I pay, which may vary depending on local demand and so on.  Also a lot depends on delivery or whether it is feasible for a timber lorry to pick up a full load.  I am often offered single stems where the value is zero not because of anything wrong with the stem, but because transport for a single stem is costly.

 

Oak can be anything from £3 to £7 or more depending on quality.  A forest grown first length of Oak free of knots or other faults over 2ft wide could be regarded as planking quality and may give lots of high quality boards.  A knotty field grown piece could give some characterful slabs but value would be near the bottom of this range.

 

Ash that is bendy or knotty is firewood value, or a top quality clean stem without serious shakes will be maybe £3 to £3.50 per cube.  Personally I like olive colour in the middle but many mills will devalue logs with this characteristic.

 

Cedar of Lebanon is a difficult one as the logs are almost always knotty and never come up in large quantities as they are a park tree not a forest tree.  So if they are not really knotty maybe £3 per cube.

 

Leylandii you should be able to pick up for a low price, maybe £1.50 per cube, or just firewood price, though as you say it is not the most sought after firewood.  As for qualities I agree it is durable and it is in fact a good quality light weight but strong timber.  In my opinion it is superior to Western Red Cedar, but sadly most stems we are likely to come across will be knotty and fast grown (also true of WRC of course).  The grain is subtle certainly not dramatic, and it has a lemony smell.  If you are offered clean stems of any size then buy them as they should be cheap and useful.  Don't expect to have hoardes of customers asking for them however! 

 

I would rate clean Leylandii timber as excellent for outdoor construction, doors, windows and more, but most woodworkers will not appreciate this.

 

I hope this helps.

[farmerjohn]

23 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Well I can only give you an idea of what I pay, which may vary depending on local demand and so on.  Also a lot depends on delivery or whether it is feasible for a timber lorry to pick up a full load.  I am often offered single stems where the value is zero not because of anything wrong with the stem, but because transport for a single stem is costly.

 

Oak can be anything from £3 to £7 or more depending on quality.  A forest grown first length of Oak free of knots or other faults over 2ft wide could be regarded as planking quality and may give lots of high quality boards.  A knotty field grown piece could give some characterful slabs but value would be near the bottom of this range.

 

Ash that is bendy or knotty is firewood value, or a top quality clean stem without serious shakes will be maybe £3 to £3.50 per cube.  Personally I like olive colour in the middle but many mills will devalue logs with this characteristic.

 

Cedar of Lebanon is a difficult one as the logs are almost always knotty and never come up in large quantities as they are a park tree not a forest tree.  So if they are not really knotty maybe £3 per cube.

 

Leylandii you should be able to pick up for a low price, maybe £1.50 per cube, or just firewood price, though as you say it is not the most sought after firewood.  As for qualities I agree it is durable and it is in fact a good quality light weight but strong timber.  In my opinion it is superior to Western Red Cedar, but sadly most stems we are likely to come across will be knotty and fast grown (also true of WRC of course).  The grain is subtle certainly not dramatic, and it has a lemony smell.  If you are offered clean stems of any size then buy them as they should be cheap and useful.  Don't expect to have hoardes of customers asking for them however! 

 

I would rate clean Leylandii timber as excellent for outdoor construction, doors, windows and more, but most woodworkers will not appreciate this.

 

I hope this helps.

Thanks a lot for all the info, very useful. When you say that cost us per cube, instead of per hoppus foot?

If so how do I work out a cost per cubic foot of timber in the round please?

Thanks, john

[Squaredy]

19 minutes ago, farmerjohn said:

Thanks a lot for all the info, very useful. When you say that cost us per cube, instead of per hoppus foot?

If so how do I work out a cost per cubic foot of timber in the round please?

Thanks, john

Sorry John I didn't mean to be misleading.  All the prices I quoted were per hoppus foot, which is of course most of a cubic foot, hence I was saying per cube.  My error, as long as you can work out hoppus feet that is all you need.

[farmerjohn]

cheers squaredy much appreciated.