Cost of Cherry

Profound.

I'll bet it has more to do with the cost of food, shelter and clothing in the areas where the two are harvested.

Windsor Plywood here in Saskatoon has steamed cherry for under $8 CAD / bf.

djb

Jerry:

Over the last 3-5 years, the price for cherry (everywhere) has increased dramatically. There are at least two major reasons for the increase.

First, there was severe, if not complete, reduction of logging of cherry from the Allegheny National Forest in PA due to the work of conservationalists. Not sure if there was a specific endangered species, or just an across-the-board environmental concern. Reference:

In Pittsburgh, the S4S rate for cherry is around $6/bf and rough is about $4.50/bf. If you find a small mill, you can get deals as low as $3/bf on rough. At these savings, you can justify a planer/jointer if you do a lot of work with cherry.

These rates are *more* than mahogany and walnut, again because demand is high and supply is low. In Pittsburgh, shipping isn't much of an issue.

I suspect if you're going to use a signficant amount of cherry, it may make sense to have it shipped to you and optionally, buy it rough and finish it yourself. One advantage of planing/jointing yourself is you can take your nominal 4/4 cherry to 7/8" rather than what appears to be the going rate of 3/4".

~Mark.

I retired in 1998 with about 2000 BF each of Cherry, Walnut, and Poplar stashed away....

Today I am down to about 500 or so BF of each of them...

BUT after reading this thread I am really shook up so to speak...

Hell in another few years I guess I will have to start working with number 2 common pine or give up eating and paying my property taxes...

Kind of depressing honestly... Have Tools, Have Time, Can not afford lumber....

Bob Griffiths.

Exactly. I predict in 5-10 years or so, cherry will be out of vogue and the price will drop. There has been a race of cherry-oak-maple prices over the last several decades and I predict this will continue. As a woodworker, I'll select the less popular hardwoods to get a better price yet still I create a quality piece of furniture that will hopefully out live me. Many won't do this, so the cost will continue to rise. Similar to the cable TV prices are soaring up past $50 a month all because people just continue to pay it.

Don't have to stop harvesting cherry, just the stuff that shades its seedlings, and the supply will drop.

Woody wrote in news:43oee2-cqi.ln1 @news.woodwrecker.com:

Had not checked in a while so I just called my supplier (Northland Forest Products, Manassas VA). Current price for 4/4 cherry is $5.45/bf. So if you are paying $7-9/bf I feel sorry for you.

increase.

Concern has slowly been changing from preserving individual species on a piecmeal basis to preservation of specific environments. Thus there is some degree of movement to leave more woods untouched, even though the trees therein are not scarce.

One problem with second growth in general and back cherry in particular is that the first trees to colonize open land branch out close to the ground and so produce knotty twisted wood.

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 02:58:40 GMT, the inscrutable "Deborah Buerfeind" spake:

Or Cut and Dried Hardwoods on Cedros in Solana Beach. Excellent selection of good woods.

The other Larry previously from the Sandy Eggo area.

Sounds like a good opportunity to start a small business... Make money while enjoying your hobby...

You don't live here, where the poplars (real ones) and cherry run neck and neck in any clear spot.

BTW, the only way I know of "preserving" anything is in some fluid like formalin. Anything else is just some short-lived human's pipedream.

Thu, Feb 17, 2005, 10:20am rg327_remove snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.net (Bob=A0G.) claims: Have Tools, Have Time, Can not afford lumber....

That's why they invented pallets.

JOAT Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.

- David Fasold

Either that or learn to scrounge like the rest of us. Perhaps now's the time to start working on those small projects?

--RC

A similar but different problem. We don't keep stock from older projects lying about at work and much of it goes to the dumpster, or worse some fellow employee. As it is I've said I won't buy any lumber until I've used up all that I've rat holed. I can't stand the thought of ever retiring because I might miss something good.

Have Tools, have lumber, cannot afford time.

UA100

The trouble with starting it as a business is that too much of your time gets sucked off on other activities that are't part of your hobby: distribution and display, advertising, marketing. However, you can minimize these distractions that don't make sawdust, and maybe make enough to keep buying cherry.

Steve

Spill!! Where? I'm in Sarnia...

Rob

===================== LOL.... I can only tell you that my TIME is not all that great either,....amazing how fast the clock can move once you retire... BUT it sure beats the hell out of working....

Bob Griffiths