Cherry Prices?

[klklimes]

I'm planning to make 2 or 3 bookcases. I would really like to make them out of Cherry but the plans call for 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood (both sides visible), 35 board feet of 4/4, and 1 sheet of 1/4 plywood (1 side visible).

So far I've seen prices of the 3/4" Cherry plywood at around $96 and 4/4 lumber running at around $4.50 per board foot. At these prices, it'll cost me almost $400 apiece just for the wood! This is in east central Iowa. Most of the stuff I've built lately has been out of oak. Have I just had my head under a rock or is Cherry this expensive everywhere else too? Walnut plywood is about the same price although the lumber is around $4.00/bf.

Kevin

[WORSS]

Sounds about right to me. Good wood is very expensive!

Bill

[Edwin Pawlowski]

WW is not a cheap hobby. I guess it depends on what you are comparing it to. You can buy bookcases for less than $100 that will hold books.

I paid over $300 for wood to make a Tudor style bench. I could buy a bench that would hold my butt off the ground for less than $100. I later saw the same bench in a retail store for $1000; then I felt better about what I did.

Just check the price of cherry ply at my local dealer. $96.60 a sheet here in CT. 4/4 Cherry is $6.10. MDF is only $20 a sheet ;) Ed [e-mail]

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Those prices are comparable to CT.

Barry

[BUB 209]

I don't think they're using up all the cherry pywood in Iraq. Hey! I just thought of a corny joke: What's Saddam Hussein thinking right now? Answer: This time last year Iran Iraq. Sorry.

[Bob G]

=================================== I filled my lumber racks with lumber and even purchased a 12x16 foor shed and filled that sucker with lumber BEFORE I retired...But now 5 years into retirement I am darn near out of material... Those prices are pretty close to what I will have to pay shortly...I cheated on an entertainment center I build last year and used a lot of good plywood that I had to stain and used walnut face frames etc... Honestly the agrivation with using stains was not worth the money I saved... although It did come out just fine... BUT I can see me with a shop full of equiptment and absolutely no lumber nor money to purchase lumber in another 10-15 years... IT is a problem...

Bob Griffiths

[RKON]

I was planning on having woodworking as a hobby for when I retire in 20 years. Should I start a special investment plan for funding my wood supplies at that time? ;)

Rich

[Phisherman]

[Mike Alexander]

Just before Christmas, I picked up a few 8'x4' sheets of 5/8" VC G2S cherry plywood for CDN$60/sheet (~US$40) at Rona's (a Canadian version of the BORG). They normally don't carry cherry ply at all, but they brought in a special shipment. Hopefully the weather will clear up in the next day or two so I can take my trailer over and pickup some more.

...Mike

[HDHendrick]

Here in Texas, I'm paying $97.22 for 3/4" A1 lumber core plywood, and $54.88 for 1/4".

Your 4/4 prices are lower than mine, however.

[Donnie Vazquez]

If I were you, I be slowly refilling the shed with cheap green lumber now. Hopefully it'll be dried out by the time you run out of your other stock.

[Mike Schwarz]

I've got some air dried cherry in your area I would sell cheap. There is about 200BF (rough estimate) of it and I'll take $250 for the lot. It was cut in 1999 and stickered in a barn up until last week, now it is on a hayrack and being moved about the farm. 4/4 and 8/4 random length/width/grade. Cash only, and you have to do all the loading yourself.

Located near Calamus.

E-mail me if you are interested.

Thanks, Mike