Author Topic: Where to Find Cheap Hardwood (Read 874 times)

CrufflerSteve · « **on:** April 06, 2005, 06:17:54 AM »

I'm putting my Hern Coehorn mortar together and I've been calling around for hardwoods and its going to be expensive. The base is 31" long, 9" high and 15" wide. For best strength I'd laminate a bunch of pieces together. I have basic woodworking equipment, table saw, jointer, planer & such.

I'm near Denver, far from all those nice hardwood forests. I don't think a softwood will work well. Some of the cheaper hardwoods like poplar are also pretty soft. The problem is that hickory & oak tend to go for $3.50 a board foot.

I just wondered if other group members have found cheap sources.

Steve

GGaskill · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2005, 08:02:27 AM »

New wood is expensive these days, but shipping it would add to the cost even faster. Maybe you can salvage enough wood from pallets to make the mortar bed.

CrufflerSteve · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2005, 09:46:25 AM »

In the good old days I had a friend who was a building contractor. I was able to get into some of the wholesale places and built some nice cabinets pretty cheap. Unfortunately, he has retired and moved so I'm stuck with retail.

At lunch time I went to the place in town that has the best selection and prices for retail hardwood.

They had some wormy soft maple for $2.37 a board foot. It didn;t look great but I could make the interior of it and just have the two exposed side pieces of the good quality stuff which is about $4.00 a bf.

They had some ash which looked good at $3.34 a bf for 4/4 and $3.76 a bf for 8/4.

Steve

Double D · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2005, 02:11:38 PM »

My son was cutting down some oak trees in his front yard. I asked for the 8 ft butt log. I paid the local Tow truck driver $30 to haul the log over to the little custom saw mill operation. I paid the saw mill $35 to cut the log up with nothing less that 2 inches thick. I got 750 bft. I paint the ends of the planks with paint and put in under the house for a year. Those little 10 inch you guys got entering the cannon contest came from that.

I cut one board up for the cannon contest. I sent one 8 ft by 10" board to Idaho for a trade. I sent a second 8 ft by 10" board to Idaho to pay for hauling the first board. I have one 8 ft by 10" board out inthe shop for my 6 pdr Coehorn. I have 7 8 ft boards left. One 12 inch wide, three 10 inch wide, two 8 inch wide and one board 8 inch wide but 1 inch thick.

The only thing I did wrong was I didn't take the other two 8 ft logs that came out of that tree.

Check with tree trimming outfits and see if you they will get/give/ sell for case of beer a log. Then look for custom log cutting/sawmill operations and have them cut the stuff for you.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2005, 03:13:16 PM »

Quote from: Double D

.... Check with tree trimming outfits and see if you they will get/give/ sell for case of beer a log. Then look for custom log cutting/sawmill operations and have them cut the stuff for you.

Right on the money! It is the local guy that is in business because he'll do something the big guys won't or will deliver at a cheaper price!

Find a couple of local guys that have a small (sometimes portable) saw mill. Then go looking for trees - there are folks that PAY for trees to be removed. Folks that get paid to remove trees need to put the trees they haul off somewhere - might as well be you.

Articifer Tom · « **Reply #5 on:** April 07, 2005, 11:55:50 AM »

If you have a industrial park near by ride though and check there dumpsers especially on new construction sites seen some good dimenional oak tossed out. If you cannt find get estimate weight and cost to have shipped from Pa i got some oak can part with alway keep couple hundred b'ft drying . White oak 2.00 bft about.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2005, 01:19:47 PM »

Quote from: Articifer Tom

If you have a industrial park near by ride though and check there dumpsers especially on new construction sites seen some good dimenional oak tossed out. If you cannt find get estimate weight and cost to have shipped from Pa i got some oak can part with alway keep couple hundred b'ft drying . White oak 2.00 bft about.

FWIW -

The average wooden pallet (made of 2 2x4's and a bunch of 1x4's) weighs 13 pounds. Usually made of oak. Not cabinet grade, but serviceable. I used to know how many BTU's that was and it would take about 430 pallets to heat my house for the season. That figures to 3 or 4 a day.

Most companies PAY to have them hauled off.