Could I sell my oak?

[Gary S]

Evening all,

Last year I had an oak tree felled in my back garden (it was messing with the foundations of the house so the tree had to go unfortunately). Since the insurance company were paying, I decided to pay to have someone round with a mobile saw mill (in other words a HUGE bandsaw!) and cut the oak down into planks for me.

I now have about 50 planks of 6.5" x 1.25" x 9 foot oak - come July it will have been seasoned for a year and should be down to about 15% moisture content (give or take).

I also have some 2" thick planks, including two 13" x 2" x 9ft long. This will probably take another year to season to a reasonable level of MC.

My question is this:

I have too much for my own use, so how would I go about selling this timber and what kind of value do you think it would have? Obviously I would not expect to receive the same amount as a timber yard, but a good quality english oak must be worth at least £20 per cubic feet in anyone's book?!

I know some of you may reply saying "if it's from a tree in your back garden it's full of nails and it's probably warped, twisted and only good for firewood", but trust me this isn't the case! It was milled by a professional and has been stored properly (ie covered and protected from rain and sun but open to allow air to circulate).

Any thoughts / offers / suggestions gratefully received!

Kind regards

Gary

(I'm in Hertfordshire)

 

[JFC]

How much for the lot ?

 

[wizer]

if JFC doesnt take the lot then i'd probably be interested in a few boards

 

[Alf]

Gary, you've got somewhere to store it it seems? Keep it, matey. It's not likely you'll be getting any more of your own-milled oak again now, is it?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with Alf - there is no rush to use it up and oak is amongst thr most beautiful wood in my opinion

 

[Gary S]

Thanks for the responses - there are a few reasons why I'm keen to sell some of it:

- My garden isn't that big and I just about got permission from 'err indoors to stack up a tree in the back garden, so keeping it there for too long isn't much of an option...! (by the way, what does "SWMBO" stand for?!)

- My wife is two weeks away from giving birth to our first child, so the extra money will come in handy!

- It would take me years and years to get through all of it, so I'm keen for some of it to go to a 'good home'!!

The boards are cut square all edges so there's no sap wood or bark on the planks. So, on that basis, it's probably best for me to name a price per cubic foot and see if anyone's interested?

The average price for waney edge boards for oak seems to be about £35 per cubit foot. For PAR oak it's closer to £100. Since my wood is neither waney edge or PAR I would guess that a fair price is about £50 per cubic foot (ie about half the price of PAR). This would put a 6.5" x 1.25" x 9 foot board at about £25 which seems reasonable to me?

Obviously any buyer would need to come and collect or pay for delivery!!

If anyone is interested it's probably best to PM me - I don't mind it being on the forum but maybe other people don't want to see it?!

 

[Scott]

(by the way, what does "SWMBO" stand for?!)

She Who Must Be Obeyed!

 

[Gary S]

(by the way, what does "SWMBO" stand for?!)

She Who Must Be Obeyed!

Love it! Having a pregnant wife turns her more into a SWMBDO ("D" = Doubly!!).

 

[Scott]

Having a pregnant wife turns her more into a SWMBDO ("D" = Doubly!!).

Tell me about it!!! Mine is at the hormonal stage at the moment too! :roll:

 

[DomValente]

:

- If anyone is interested it's probably best to PM me - I don't mind it being on the forum but maybe other people don't want to see it?!

Er, I did PM you at 07:30 Gary

 

[Gary S]

:

- If anyone is interested it's probably best to PM me - I don't mind it being on the forum but maybe other people don't want to see it?!

Er, I did PM you at 07:30 Gary

Just spoken to you on phone - didn't get a chance to call until lunch time (some of us have day jobs that tie us to a computer screen all day you know! )

 

[Scrit]

The average price for waney edge boards for oak seems to be about £35 per cubit foot. For PAR oak it's closer to £100. Since my wood is neither waney edge or PAR I would guess that a fair price is about £50 per cubic foot (ie about half the price of PAR). This would put a 6.5" x 1.25" x 9 foot board at about £25 which seems reasonable to me?

Sorry to disillusion you but round here (in the Mid Pennines) sawn W/E 1.25in oak runs about £24/cubic foot, trade + VAT (which I reclaim), 2S/E is about £39 (even John Boddy are only quoting £26 and £43 respectively as of yesterday, and Boddy's are normally nowhere near the cheapest) so £50 seems a tad high especially as that's an air-dried price (presumably 16% in about 18 months time) whilst the stuff I'm talking about is kiln finished to 10% RH. Green sawn I generally get for arpound a tenner a cube. All I can say is you folk down south must be rich......... :wink:

Scrit

 

[WellsWood]

All I can say is you folk down south must be rich......... :wink:

Scrit

Hmphh! We wish!!

But most suppliers seem to think that way so we get charged accordingly.

 

[ike]

£50 a cube does sound too high but fair play if someone is willing to pay you that much. Last time I enquired in my neck of the woods, dried oak was between £25 and £35 a cube.

Ike

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Gary,


Seems like you had no trouble selling it then!

You can never have enough Oak. What you don't have enough of is storage space! What you have too much of is spousal interference. You should see the stack of timber my wife puts up with. When she gets miffed, I make something nice!!!

Also, I have to agree with the consensus on price.
I find that woodwork magazines seem to quote these high prices for oak etc. I don't know why that is. I can buy English oak, inclusive of VAT, at around £28.00 per cube, and that's for a 'centreboard' cut

As for it being the most beautiful timber, I love the aroma when it's worked and it looks nice when it's finished as light oak. However, for beauty I prefer walnut.

Anyone agree?

John

Happy Chipping
John

 

[Benchwayze]

All I can say is you folk down south must be rich......... :wink:

Scrit

Hmphh! We wish!!

But most suppliers seem to think that way so we get charged accordingly.

That's London waiting time I guess?

For home-grown timbers though, there are some reasonable suppliers if you cast around. Depends on how far you wish to travel. Which has to be taken into consideration, when thinking about prices. Wish I could convince the clients!

John

 

[wizer]

like i said earlier. If you are selling this by the board, let me know a price per board and i'll come and pick a few up if the price is right.

 

[ByronBlack]

ditto!

If you're selling by the board, I would definitly be interested in a couple.

 

[Gary S]

Right! Let's put this one to bed...

Just to recap - I didn't get much change from £1,000 to have the mobile saw guy spend two solid days milling the timber for me (plus hiring equipment) so I'm not trying to sell it off to make a fortune, I'm just trying to recoup some of money I spent on the tree.

When I buy timber as square edge boards it costs me about £75 per cubic foot for european oak (Interesting Timbers) - more if it's planed. Waney edge boards are about £35-40. I appreciate that tradesmen who buy hundreds of cubic feet, live outside the south east and have been in the trade for years can get it for £20 - lucky you, Scrit, I'm very jealous! :wink:

But please don't say "it's only worth £20" because TO ME it's not - I couldn't replace my English Oak for European Oak for three times that price! I guess that's the issue here - it's only worth what someone will pay for it, but I know what I have to pay to buy my timber!

If anyone can name a company that will sell me square edge hardwood for anything near £20 per cubic foot then PLEASE let me and everyone else know!! I'm sure I wouldn't be the only person interested...

The reality is for me (and many other hobby woodworkers I guess?) that reasonably priced timber is not easy to come by, so I don't want to sell myself short on something that you can't pop into your local yard and buy - English Oak.

I will eventually use it all making bits and pieces for SWMBO and friends / family, but I was hoping to clear some space and recoup some of my costs by selling a percentage of my 'stash', and maybe help out some fellow woodworkers in the meantime with some reasonably priced timber.

So here we go (rant over! :roll: ), I've priced up what I've got and what I need to sell it for to make it worth selling - any less than this and I'd rather just keep it. Please don't bash me for this - if you think it's a rip off then OK you're not interested, but if you think the prices are reasonable then drop me a line.

All timber is square edge all round, and has been air dried. I'm going to check the moisture content this weekend but my guess is it's down to about 15%. Some of the 6"x1.25" boards have some sap wood and this would be reduced in price accordingly...

I have about 70 of 6"x1.25"x9.5' = £20 each

I have 4 of 14"x2x9.5' = £75 each

I have about 30 of 3"x3"x9.5' = £24 each

I have about a dozen 2"x2"x9.5' = £11 each

This works out at £40 per cubic foot - half the price I have to pay for European square edged timber. IMHO square edged English Oak is worth that - so anyone that agrees get in touch! :lol:

Looking forward to the abuse that will no doubt follow this...

 

[milkman]

You could try the Carpenters Fellowship forum, they are oak framers but there maybe a market for oak boards as cladding