Long board or blanks

Webb

Webb

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Let’s say there is an 24”x6”x3” piece of clear walnut with no visible imperfections. No splits, pith, knots, or bark intrusions.

As a seller, what brings the best price, whole, sliced into boards, or cut into bowl blanks?

As a buyer, what would be your preference?
 
That is a loaded question. Each answer reflecting the end use. The other influence is shipping. Over 22 or 23" inches triggers more costs with USPS. At a craft show or fair, not an issue. I could see that wood being a few bowls and call blanks just as easily as balasters. Best of luck.
 
A cutting board maker surely don’t want it cut into pen blanks
 
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  • #4
Mr. Peet said:
That is a loaded question. Each answer reflecting the end use. The other influence is shipping. Over 22 or 23" inches triggers more costs with USPS. At a craft show or fair, not an issue. I could see that wood being a few bowls and call blanks just as easily as balasters. Best of luck.
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I'm not thinking about shipping. The imaginary piece could have easily been 18" in length. When you look on line, thick bowl blanks command a much higher price per board foot. Probably due to they are free from imperfections unlike lumber and harder to find 3-4" thick chunks of wood. Just guessing.

One of the companies out there was in the low teens for lumber and low 40's for decent sized bowl blanks of walnut.

I guess it really is a loaded question. Sellers want the highest they can get and buyers want the lowest they can pay. I'm just curious as to what people want.

In a way, I guess it's like diamonds. A large single diamond is worth more than several smaller ones of same caret weight.
 
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Webb said:
Let’s say there is an 24”x6”x3” piece of clear walnut with no visible imperfections. No splits, pith, knots, or bark intrusions.

As a seller, what brings the best price, whole, sliced into boards, or cut into bowl blanks?

As a buyer, what would be your preference?
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Excluding shipping costs:
As a seller, I would think that selling as pre-cut spindles, bowls, platters, pen blanks, etc., would yield the highest margins.
As a buyer, I would like the full piece. I can cut it myself into whatever smaller size I want.
 
Webb said:
I'm not thinking about shipping. The imaginary piece could have easily been 18" in length. When you look on line, thick bowl blanks command a much higher price per board foot. Probably due to they are free from imperfections unlike lumber and harder to find 3-4" thick chunks of wood. Just guessing.

One of the companies out there was in the low teens for lumber and low 40's for decent sized bowl blanks of walnut.

I guess it really is a loaded question. Sellers want the highest they can get and buyers want the lowest they can pay. I'm just curious as to what people want.

In a way, I guess it's like diamonds. A large single diamond is worth more than several smaller ones of same caret weight.
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need more info- Is it dry? You say you are not thinking about shipping. You have to. If you can get a large flat rate game box (lfrgb) It costs $30+ to ship anywhere in CONUS. Less than 6 bd ft fit but make it 6 bd ft. shipping adds $5 a bd ft. So if I can buy walnut for $15 a bd ft locally, as a shipper I have to entice buyer to buy for over $20 a bd ft or make my walnut cheaper. Mailing plain wood is a very difficult sell. Now add figure rarity etc and possibilities open up. Now if you sell a crate full of lumber shipping price goes way down. Not many crate buyers here. Mostly figure or rare hard to get wood buyers here. A figured bowl blank is a lot more salable than a plain one. and a lot more money.
 
Well, clear walnut bowl blanks don’t go for much here in Europe. Whereas a board of that size would go for much more. Shipping would be far higher though.

Are you certain this ain’t a gauging interest post?
 
What rule did he break. Is this an offering. Got mods to make that choice. He has no price no pics but just honest questions.
 
Webb said:
Let’s say there is an 24”x6”x3” piece of clear walnut with no visible imperfections. No splits, pith, knots, or bark intrusions.

As a seller, what brings the best price, whole, sliced into boards, or cut into bowl blanks?

As a buyer, what would be your preference?
Click to expand...
Based on your example - 3 x 6 x 24".......

As a seller, probably sells a little easier for me (to turners) as 6 x 6 x 3" thick bowl blanks ---- (4) of them to sell. I know some turners don't have bandsaws, etc. and they prefer bowl blanks ready to mount on the lathe.

As a buyer, I'd prefer the whole piece so I can do what I want with it. As a turner, I'd probably use it as bowl blanks too, but 3x3 spindles are also desirable.
 
Excluding potential shipping costs, I would always want the larger piece. Sure I would probably cut it into turning blanks, but I still do some flatwork and could find many uses for it.

Uncut would generate a (theoretically) lower price, but it is also less labor/costs for the seller.
 
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  • #12
I’m just curious and wondering why a 3” bowl blank is listed at over $40/BF and 1” stock is less than $15/BF from a supplier.

One reason is I can resaw some 12/4 into thinner boards and it looks like I’ve diminished the value. For example, I’m building an outfeed table and needed some 2.25 boards. I did a resaw on a board that was just over 2.25” thick and had almost zero waste. But, if I were to cut it into blanks and sold them, I could have bought 2 to 3 times more 1” thick boards

I’m not trying to gauge interest. I’m scratching my head and wondering why a thick chunk commands such a premium.
 
Webb said:
I’m just curious and wondering why a 3” bowl blank is listed at over $40/BF and 1” stock is less than $15/BF from a supplier.

One reason is I can resaw some 12/4 into thinner boards and it looks like I’ve diminished the value. For example, I’m building an outfeed table and needed some 2.25 boards. I did a resaw on a board that was just over 2.25” thick and had almost zero waste. But, if I were to cut it into blanks and sold them, I could have bought 2 to 3 times more 1” thick boards

I’m not trying to gauge interest. I’m scratching my head and wondering why a thick chunk commands such a premium.
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I’ve always heard it was due to the longer processing time to dry a thicker board and take it to market.

No matter if air drying or kiln, it has to sit longer. The longer it sits, the mill has to sit on it, and they don’t make money until it’s sold. So, they make up for it, by charging more.

It gets more crazy with 4-5” bowl blanks. The thicker cuts also contribute to higher risk of “cracks” and end check waste.
 
Smaller boards / blanks without defects are easier to come by and therefore more common than a larger turning blank or boards without defects.
 
Mike1950 said:
What rule did he break. Is this an offering. Got mods to make that choice. He has no price no pics but just honest questions.
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I was curious. I know that the rules on this site are interpreted loosely which I appreciate but I couldn’t help but wonder.

Had I been certain I would have used the report function. I definitely did not use it here.

With the further information from webb I now know he does not own the piece. Therefore being completely within the rules. Before there was too little Information for an affirmation of possible suspicions.
 
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