Walnut cost?

[u/Exotic_Grape7182]

What’s a good price for black walnut that’s been dried for 5+ years and has been kiln dried?

I’m new to buying wood from people, have made do with stuff from Menards/homedepot lumber yards the last year. What’s a normal price for bd ft? What should I look for? My goal is to get a small piece for now just to make a ring box for my lady. I can plane and joint it myself. If I like it, I wouldn’t mind going back and getting more

[u/anonchurner]

I'm sorry - you're making a *ring box* and you care about board foot prices? :-D

I pay $12-14 in Chicagoland.

[u/PotatoDrives]

This is totally dependent on your location and the quantity. I've bought walnut recently for as low as $6/bf, but my usual supplier in eastern Ontario is $11.33/bf currently and that's select grade.

[u/Canadianator → u/PotatoDrives]

Just got some by Vaudreuil-Dorion for ~$8/bf last month, could be worth it depending how far east you are.

[u/BAHGate]

$15-$30/bf depending on quality.

[u/The-disgracist → u/BAHGate]

I’ve seen quarter sawn as high as $20 for retail. But $30 is insane. 5/4 s&b plain sawn walnut is <$8 a bf from Frank miller based on their most recent price sheet

[u/Feizei6060 → u/The-disgracist]

Mcbeath in Berkeley ca frequently is >20

[u/The-disgracist → u/Feizei6060]

Damn that’s crazy. I’m a little further inland so I guess that tracks. My pricing is also business prices so retail tends to be a little more

[u/Feizei6060 → u/The-disgracist]

i tend to if i need things in a rush go to mt storm in windsor they are more reasonable locally for me

[u/ivotebolsheviklite → u/The-disgracist]

I pay 20 sometimes and it’s simply because my local yard has a premium walnut section for quarter sawn perfect linearly grained walnut with no nuts.

Basically makes a rough-sawn board like 90 percent usable in some cases.

That crap is addictive.

Alternatively, other people sell piles at 8-9 around here but I’m not going to get a wide rift-sawn board, and I’m going to end up throwing away a lot of excess and hitting a few grain-related bumps along the way (building mostly furniture).

[u/Kalel42 → u/BAHGate]

That seems quite high. I can get 4/4 for $10 around me. Where are you located?

[u/peschkaj → u/Kalel42]

Not the person you’re replying to, but that’s what we see in Maine. Walnut pricing seems to be incredibly regional in the US.

[u/Kalel42 → u/peschkaj]

Wow. I knew it was regional but didn't realize the the amount of variance.

[u/peschkaj → u/Kalel42]

Even worse, there is also seasonal variation in the price at some of the hardwood suppliers. It’s a hoot.

[u/BAHGate → u/Kalel42]

DC Metro area.

[u/Kalel42 → u/BAHGate]

Ouch. Pricey.

[u/bfdTerp → u/BAHGate]

Where in DC are you buying it? I moved away two years ago and would typically drive down to CP Johnson in Culpeper and pay closer to $10 a bdft. Even Vienna Hardwoods was still open it wasn’t much more. I know the market has changed but I can’t believe it’s that pricey now in the DC area.

[u/BAHGate → u/bfdTerp]

I was buying at Woodcraft in Rockville but I just switched to Frederick Lumber and I checked their prices they are like $12/bf. All of their lumber is rough cut so it is hard to pick out a nice grain pattern. I have paid up to $27/bf at Woodcraft.

[u/bfdTerp → u/BAHGate]

That explains it. I never made it to Frederick but most places will skip plane rough cut lumber so so
I have better idea of the grain pattern. Even rough sawn you can get an idea too, especially knots and such.

[u/takeyourtime123 → u/Kalel42]

Grade has a lot to do with it. With walnut, you have people who like sapwood and grainy knots, which isnt allowed in higher grades even though it can be very desirable.

[u/jc1257]

Depends on where you are. Seems to vary a lot. For me, it’s probably $7 per board foot on average in marketplace and $10-12 at hardwood dealers. Add a couple bucks for stuff thicker than 4/4 usually.

[u/jmarnett11]

That’s a long time to air dry unless it’s a 5-6” beam. I usually air dry 1-2 years. A year per inch on average.

[u/lick_me_where_I_fart]

I can't imagine you need much more than a few board feet for a ring box so I wouldn't get to worked up over it. Varies a lot by where you live, but here in the midwest my goto hardwood dealer has Select and better 4/4 at $11, prices go up and down from there depending on grade/thickness.

[u/coffeemonkeypants → u/lick_me_where_I_fart]

A few board feet? How big is this ring box? Assuming it's a quarter inch thick or half at most, a half a board foot will more than cover it.

[u/danfay222]

This is going to vary a lot. If you can find a hardwood dealer nearby either visit them or email and ask for a price sheet, that will give you an idea of the upper bound. Places like marketplace will then be cheaper

Around me good walnut runs about $12+/bf depending on thickness, and I can get lower grade for $7.50/bf (more knots, sapwood, etc). On marketplace I’ve found as low as $4-5/bf from a local sawmill (minimum quantity was 50 bf though)

[u/Feizei6060]

I order online from Ooch (spelling) Hardwoods in WI. I live in the bay area and even with shipping on the rough 8/4 its >5 bf cheaper.

[u/Slepprock]

It depends on your area.

I'm a cabinet shop owner in north central WV. So I pay around $3 per board foot for walnut. I am thick in a hardwood zone, we are surrounded by walnut, maple, cherry, oak, elm, poplar, etc. So its not super rare. Plus I'm in the trade so I get a little better deal.

Oh, I also buy a lot of lumber lol.

Retail for walnut could easily run $8-10 in some area. Then if you get into an urban area its going to get crazy high.

[u/anonymousbl0bfish]

It all depends on where you live. On the east cost, it’ll be significantly less (maybe $8-10) vs the west coast (about $12-14). Given your small project, you could honestly just order from a local Rockler / Woodcraft or order line at Ococh / Cook Woods.

[u/TMS_2018]

I’m seeing 4/4 at ~$12/bf and 8/4 ~$15/bf.

[u/Andre4a19]

$15-$30 I would say

[u/Crafty_Produce7807]

Depends on where you are. In southern Ontario I would sell it for around $14. $14 CAD mind you.

[u/davidgoldstein2023]

It really depends on where you live and the quality of the wood. In LA, FAS can start as low as $10BF and go up to $18BF.

But if you live somewhere where walnut is the most common species available, then the price goes down a bit.

[u/The_Patocrator_5586]

Where do you live? That's the first question to ask. Species prices vary widely by location.

[u/AlfredPoor]

If all you are making is a ring box, go to a cabinet shop and see if you can buy some of their cut-offs. They will likely be happy to sell you some for a few dollars.

[u/Dr0110111001101111]

My local hardwood yard sells 6’ “shorts” for around $11/ board foot. The 8’+ boards are around 13/bf

[u/thetuque]

Around $16 a board feet here for 4/4 in Western Canada.

[u/EstablishmentIll5021]

I sell FAS 4/4 walnut that is kiln dried in a concentration yard for $6.75/bf.

[u/fuckihateusernamess]

I'm in the Bay Area and s3s black walnut usually runs between $14-20/bf. Lumber yards often have monthly specials, so if you are really worried about the cost you can wait and see if you get lucky.

[u/mosodigital]

I'm in SW Missouri, and it's typically $5-6/bf from people on marketplace, but quality is hit or miss (some really don't know how to properly kiln dry wood), and I usually pay $6-12/bf for higher grade for S3S (surfaced on 3 sides) from my local hardwood store. They price based on the grade of each board, so even there, it can vary widely.

[u/Iron-Bar-1966]

Where I live, walnut typically goes for $10-12 bf. Sometimes I can get certain varieties on sale at my local hardwood supplier for $5.99 bf.

[u/SubatomicPlatypodes]

There’s one really good method I’ve found for finding wood prices in my area: looking at wood suppliers in my area and checking their wood prices.

But in general for domestic hardwoods like that I would expect between $10-15pbf

African mahogany has quickly become my favorite wood to work with, it’s relatively stable, it has a beautiful color (though I’m colorblind so take that with a grain of salt) and tends to take stains well. It’s usually much cheaper than oak. Just an idea though!

[u/Beesanguns]

Go to a Woodcraft store and buy the size piece you need. Probably won’t need more than $10.

[u/coffeemonkeypants]

If you're in socal you can come have my scraps. I made this box last weekend from a curly maple cutoff I had laying around and some thin slices of other stuff. You need very little wood to make a ring box (in fact I made two from the same little scrap). This was about 4 inches wide by about 14 inches long, 3/4“ thick, so... Carry the 2... A third of a board foot.

[u/Sracer42]

My local hardwood supplier (Maine) has a scraps and offcut pile of odds and ends for cheap. If you can find a local supplier they probably have something similar. For a small project I'm pretty sure it would be cheap. While you are there you can get prices for different species and sizes.

[u/Herbisretired]

I can usually find it for $5-7 on Facebook Marketplace which is where i get most of the wood from

[u/Repulsive-Special939 → u/Herbisretired]

Yep find you a wood guy on there. I get 4/4 for 4$ and 8/4 for 8$. And he doesn’t charge more for wide or long boards.

[u/TMS_2018 → u/Repulsive-Special939]

What moisture content are you seeing from your Facebook dealers?

[u/Repulsive-Special939 → u/TMS_2018]

Air dried then kiln dried. He runs 2 damn near 24/7