Trying to understand the wood market

[MOtrooper]

I'm fairly new to this and therefore am quite ignorant. I've been buying up some blanks from the classifieds section (taking some of the good HRB, sorry). I'm wondering how the exotic wood market works. When I look at the larger pieces of rare lumber they are outrageously expensive. Surely people aren't taking a loss when I purchase from them. Do most people buy larger quantities and rip it down? It seems like for some woods the bigger the piece the more expensive it is per square inch (Amboyna, HRB, snakewood, etc). Most other exotic woods are cheaper when you buy per board foot. I have noticed a lot of the sellers are near the west coast (WA, CA, AZ) but some are not. It seems like there is no rhyme or reason to who offers what and where they are located. Someone help me out so maybe I can buy a bunch of HRB for dirt cheap :biggrin: Thanks!

 

[Fibonacci]

For a lot of woods, the larger pieces are harder to come by, so they cost more.

Especially for burl, you get an exponential price increase with size. If you take a chunk of tree and cut out the largest single piece you can get in a lumber shape (rectangle, whatever), then you can cut up the remaining pieces into successively smaller parts until you get pen blanks, which are basically scrap in the lumber market.

Everything costs a lot because it is exotic, but the smaller pieces are less valuable because they are as much a byproduct as anything else.

 

[MOtrooper]

For a lot of woods, the larger pieces are harder to come by, so they cost more.

Especially for burl, you get an exponential price increase with size. If you take a chunk of tree and cut out the largest single piece you can get in a lumber shape (rectangle, whatever), then you can cut up the remaining pieces into successively smaller parts until you get pen blanks, which are basically scrap in the lumber market.

Everything costs a lot because it is exotic, but the smaller pieces are less valuable because they are as much a byproduct as anything else.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I phrased the question wrong. I am wondering more about the suppliers. Basically, how can members here sell their product fairly inexpensively and still turn a profit? Are they purchased as blanks or larger quantities?

 

[SteveG]

Just an example: one board foot of fairly sound wood will yield about 25 typical pen blanks. At $5 per blank, that is $125. So if someone buys one bdft at $60 per bdft he will double that amount by selling those blanks. Lumber prices, blank prices and yield will, of course, vary.

 

[Longfellow]

All my blanks are cut from locally salvaged wood. My shop is in my garage, so minimal overhead, and I am retired living on a fixed income. So the little bit I make selling blanks just keeps me from having to seek help from my children to survive. Most times it helps bail them out after they spend more than they make.

 

[nativewooder]

The "wood market" is helter-skelter unless you purchase on a container basis. Over the years I have noticed that as long as there is a newbie bidding on wood, the price will become astronomical. I have learned to settle for what I can get if I think the wood is worth it. The name of the wood doesn't mean as much as how it will look when it is finished. Other than purchasing particular pieces for particular pens, I make do with the wood salvaged from past hurricanes. (It's free!) Most of the wood sold on this site is usually a pretty fair price.

 

[toddlajoie]

I have a feeling that a sizeable percentage of pen blanks are cut from left-overs from other cuts, or from pieces that are too small for other uses. a 6-12 inch piece of a board left over when cutting a larger board to size cane yield several blanks. A 1 inch strip ripped off a wider board to bring the width down to what is needed leaves a few pen blanks. a 3/4 inch slab cut off to square a turning block might not be good for much other than a few pen blanks... Better to get $2-3 for something than toss it in the wood stove...