Estate sale - lumber by the pound?

[sawdustmaker]

Saw this on a Craigslist ad: WALNUT LUMBER (Approx. 35,000 bd ft) Lumber Air Dried & in Storage for 50 years Saw Mill Cut Into 2" & 3" Slabs also 1" & 2" 1 x 6 -- 2' Planed weigh's 8 lb

NOTE: Lumber will be sold by the # (pound)

WALNUT LUMBER (50 Years in Storage) (3) Pile equal 27,000 bd ft plus lumber in out buildings approx. 8,000 ft All in 12' or larger 1", 2" & 2 ? Inch Thick 300/400' Aromatic Cedar (1 Pallet)

Don't quite know what to make of it. I've never heard of wood by the pound. Moisture content would be one unknown. I'd be tempted to bid if I had a reasonable guess of lbs/bd. ft.

sezs 38 lbs/cubic ft. = 38/12=3.166 lbs bd. ft.

Anyone / everyone?

[Leon]

Typically small chunks are sold by the pound.

[Ed Pawlowski]

They give the approximate board feet so you know what the value of the lot is if the entire lot is being sold. Perhaps the auction people don't know how to compute board feet and figure smaller lots are easier sold by the pound. Using your figures you have a good approximate translation and can figure what you are willing to pay.

Given the 50 years in storage, unless it is a very damp area it should be no more than average. Given 50 years in storage, I'd want to see just how good it is. Improperly stored, lots can happen.

[woodchucker]

Certainly I've never heard of by the pound. But it's an estate sale, not a knowledgeable vendor.

[woodchucker]

yep, I had a guy who was selling his dads stuff. The walnut was about 24 wide, and stored on the concrete. There was tons of stuff on it. I didn't think it would be any good and we could not get the stuff off, just too much. He wanted $300 for the boards (2). I passed figuring that they were crap after being on the concrete. You need to take a look at a few different pieces from different areas and see how they look.

[sawdustmaker]

Leon wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Here's the link

[John Grossbohlin]

Not sure how you could reasonably judge the price per board foot under those conditions... maybe nobody else can either and you can get it for $.10/lb. !!

The two band saws look interesting... the one looks like it might be a 36".

[Lew Hodgett]

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38 lbs/ cubic ft sounds about right.

My guess is this is being driven by the auctioneer.

A fork lift and a scale is a lot faster than than a tape measure and a calculator.

Lew

[dpb]

...

Reasonable guess I'd reckon...

The "1 x 6 -- 2' Planed weigh's 8 lb" doesn't make much sense, though; that'd be roughly double the density it would seem. Wichita ain't that far away, however...

[Bill]

I strongly suspect you'll find that you'll get a better price on it by buying it by the pound (or stack, or pallet-load, or whatever!) :)

Bill

[BenignBodger]

I've certainly bought wood by the pound but it has always been exotics like ebony, pink ivory, African blackwood, rosewood and the like in small turning or carving blanks. Walnut by the pound sounds crazy to me.

[Just Wondering]

I think if the wood has been in storage for 50 years it's a safe bet that the wood has dried out in that time.

[John McCoy]

BenignBodger wrote in news:n1t44h$hr4$ [e-mail]:

That's what I was going to say - by the pound is how turning blanks are often sold.

35,000 board feet is a hell of a lot of lumber. I wonder if they intend to sell it all in one lot?

John

[Martin Eastburn]

[Sonny]

Walnut is susceptible to powder post beetles.

Green walnut, especially if it still has the bark on it, is susceptible to other boring larvae/worms within the bark and sapwood. Case in point: M y latest trestle table project has what looks like PPB holes in the table t op boards' edges, and does have other larger larvae holes in the rootball s tock. Actually, when I was router-planing the rootball stock, I exposed se veral live large larvae, still within the wood. You can see those larger larvae holes and channels in the pics, in the outer edges or sapwood of the rootball stock:

c/

My rootball stock had been left out in the field for 2 yrs, before I though t to collect and use it for the table leg units, so the bugs had lots of ti me to get into that wood.

The log stock was milled shortly after the tree was felled, but the tree wa sn't in the greatest of shape when felled, so I'm not sure when the PPB-loo king holes were created in that stock.

Sonny

[dadiOH]

Lawsy, looks like dry land teredo holes :) Doesn't look bad though, sort of in character.