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Old growth Cherry, possible value?

8/27/17       
GW Member

Hello,

Trying to get an idea of how I should go about finding a buyer(s) for a large amount of cherry wood, that was taken down from an 1800's estate about 5 years ago and stacked in a basement. Should be fully dry by now. Many slabs that are 4 inch thick, 7ft long, 16-18 inches wide. Huge stacks of other various sizes. Many 10 to 12ft long at least.

Not a dealer or seller, just doing someone a favor.

Any help pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!


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8/27/17       #2: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
GW Member

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8/27/17       #3: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
GW Member

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8/27/17       #4: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
GW Member

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8/27/17       #5: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
EC Aumiller Member

Location would be a big help...

8/27/17       #6: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
GW Member

Wood is located in upstate New York, just outside of Albany.

8/28/17       #8: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
David R Sochar Member

Use a moisture meter so you can tell a prospective buyer what the moisture content is (MC).

Also, learn how to measure the lumber so you can describe the board footage of a thickness. [ 520 b/f of 4/4 Cherry, 7' to 9' long ] is a standard way of describing a stack of Cherry.

8/28/17       #9: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Gary

The thin stickers and totally enclosed room scared me immediately and then I saw the 9th picture. It clearly shows sticker stain and discoloration of the lumber. Both signs of drying too slowly. My fear is that more lumber farther down in the piles will be affected. If the lumber was air dried in a more suitable building and them moved to it's current location you may be okay.

8/29/17       #10: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Cherry100 Member

Thank you all for the great information. I had no idea what sticker stain was until today, so I will try to go through and see if there is any staining on other stacks.

If I simply list it for sale locally, could anyone place a rough value on the lot of it so my friend does not get taken advantage of? Of if there are no drying issues, what is the typical price per board foot for something like this, for the different thicknesses? Thank you!

8/29/17       #11: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Gary

Chances are that the cherry is "mill run" meaning everything that was sawn went onto the piles. Good boards, poor quality boards, sappy boards, properly dried and poorly dried boards, varying thickness and length and everything in between. There may be more lumber there than most people would want at one time. But then again maybe that will make it worth someone's time to look at.
That being said, I can buy 90% sap free, 4/4 kiln dried, select and better cherry for $3.75 bd. ft. If I were interested in the lumber I would look a little deeper into the piles and probably pay no more than $1.50 bd ft if it looked good.
Chances are someone will come along and want to pick the good boards out and leave the rest. Either don't let them do that or charge them accordingly.
The lumber is still worth less money to me than what I currently pay because it is not kiln dried I will have a lot of time invested in it.

8/29/17       #12: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Ed Member

In the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia (northern end) the MOST I would pay to buy the entire lot would be $1 bd ft
.
The moisture content will probably be 12-15% which means it needs further drying.

The boards are probably as Gary said... "mill run"...
The waste amount on mill run lumber is VERY high, making the actual cost of the usable lumber much higher.

We can get FAS kiln dried nice lumber for $4 a bd ft and there is very little waste...

In this area, if you take it in small quantities to an auction house you will get better prices, but a lot of work..

Try to find a woodworking club where some members may buy it and share it among themselves..

Good luck.

8/30/17       #13: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Keith Newton

I'm not sure why your calling this "Old Growth" because it doesn't appear to be, but you might list it on some classified sites, as well as craigslist.

Here is a link to another site where there are more small shop operators and hobbiest.

http://www.woodfinder.com

8/30/17       #14: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
chris

I wouldn't pay more than a buck a bf for the lot. The time alone of emptying the building, hand loading on a trailer then reverse when I got back might just be enough to break the deal. i pay $2.65 a bf for F1F cherry 90/80 color net tallied S2S to 15/16" delivered. The amount of production that could be done during the time it would take logistically would be large. Now that would be my situation...

I've had piles of lumber that I've reached out to woodworking clubs and offered a great deal. I did it 3 times. and the saying of 3 strikes and you're out applied. They tossed everything took the best of the best and then wanted a discount and left me with all the undesirable boards. There is a gold mine in there for someone, but it will take time to locate that someone and a lot of wasted time dealing with a lot of people trying to knock the price down and eating up your time.

8/30/17       #15: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Cherry100 Member

Thanks again for putting a value on the wood and offering some direction!

I was only calling it Old Growth because someone came and looked at it and said exactly that, due to the size, color, and how old it was thought to have been I guess.

8/30/17       #16: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
The Staff at WOODWEB

WOODWEB offers a spot to advertise all types of lumber and lumber products for sale - check out the link below.

WOODWEB's Lumber Exchange

8/30/17       #17: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
Gary

The thick lumber is worth more than the 4/4 per bd ft IF you can find someone who needs it and if it is in good shape and a good grade.

9/7/17       #18: Old growth Cherry, possible value? ...
WoodIsGood

I live in the Rochester NY area. And the above mentioned prices are correct for air dried wood at less than 10% mc, that I can back my truck up to and easily load.

I air dry all my lumber and, living in basically the same climate, I would doubt that wood is below 15% moisture unless you had a dehumidifier running constantly. Without a dehumidifier, most basements in our area are 20%-25% in the summer months.

There is almost certainly sticker stain, which would lower the prices. The 16/4 stock will be hard to sell, as there is very little use for it, and it will probably need 3-4 more years of air drying.

I'm not sure why this is considered old growth. The width's are not uncommon in this area.

If I were buying I would pay $1.00 a bf to have my pick, $.50 if I were buying the whole pile.


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