SWAG requested (by math impaired person:>)

Nov 15, 2005 16 Replies

Hi guys, I'm going to be moving to Tennessee this summer, and that means moving my shop and my "stash" of lumber.



I need an estimate of the weight of the lumber to determine if my trailer will carry it.



The bulk of the wood is cherry, with a fair amount of walnut and a lesser amount of aromatic cedar. The gross dimensions of the pile are 7' wide by 12' long by 4'10" high. About 1/4 of the width of the pile is 8'3" cherry, the rest are about 12' long and consist of the above woods (the cedar will amount to 1.5 feet wide by 12' long and 4' high.



I understand that only a SWAG is possible with the information given, but the collective knowledge of this group has never let me down before.



Thanks in advance, Tom


That would be 11.5 m^3

With a *light* wood this is 6 tons, cherry is even heavier...

Wow... I guess my trailer doesn't have a chance! Thanks for your reply. Tom

You have about 420 cubic feet of wood. Cherry weighs about 35lbs per cu.ft, walnut 38lbs and cedar 24lbs. We'll use cherry for the average:

35 x 420 =14,700 lbs.

Hope it's a big trailer...

Now that we have that sorted out, I'll be over with my trailer in the morning to help get some of that dead weight off your hands.....

Bob S.

However, do the dimensions you provide include a solid mass of wood or is it separated with lathes? If so, the number calculated above would reduce significantly - but still a lot of weight.

What you didn't tell us is how far are you moving. If long distance, this might be more of a rental truck problem.

Ron

Hi guys, Thanks for the input... No stickers, just a plank to plank pile. And based on the answers so far, I guess I'll sell some wood. I'm in Englewood, FL. and got a deal on the wood. Anyone wanting to make the journey can buy some for $3.00 a BF. There are a few with ring shake and they'll be culled. The rest are in varying widths from 4" to 12+" all about 5/4 and between 8' and 12' (8's are all cherry). No pick and choose (if a piece is a stinker, it won't count), selling from the top down. It doesn't make sense to make a trip with nothing but the lumber... still have the shop and house contents to contend with! Tom

>

Don't forget - you're moving to TN. Lots of cherry, cedar and walnut to be found. By the time you figure what you paid for it, gas, etc., you might be losing money trying to move it.

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:08:24 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Thomas Bunetta" quickly quoth:

The answer is a resounding NO, Tom. Not in one or two trips. See if you can find a locally owned truck firm who needs LTL filler loads to that area or ask your moving firm for a big break in cost.

You have roughly 280 cubic feet of cherry/walnut and 72 c/f of cedar lumber. The cherry weighs 12,768 lbs and the cedar 2,768.4 lbs according to this calc:

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black cherry and red cedar weights.

It appears that the walnut is 4.8 lbs/ft, cherry 3.8, and cedar 3.1. Wood is DAMNED heavy.

G'luck!

----- = The wealth of reality, cannot be seen from your locality. =

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Thanks Larry... after moving it from it's present location I knew it was gonna be heavy, I was surprised at the weights posted here, though. What does LTL stand for? Tom

On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 05:24:17 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Thomas Bunetta" quickly quoth:

Less Than (a full truck) Load.

I hauled a ton of Jarrah up here to OR when I moved. If you think cherry is heavy, try to lift a chunk of jarrah some time. It's about twice as dense.

----- = The wealth of reality, cannot be seen from your locality. =

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Henderson, in Chester county. SW Tennessee... next summer. Tom

It started out as "ess than railer oad".

contemporary acronym expansions include: Less than Total Load Less than Truck Load Less than Truckload Lot

Regardless, the acronym describes a shipment that is not large enough to require a dedicated truck for shipment. i.e. something that can be combined with other "LTL" shipments, in filling up a _single_ truck going to that destination.

Trivia: for shipment by rail, the common term is "LCL" -- ess than ar oad. It similarly describes shipments that do not require a dedicated railroad car.

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