walnut burl by the ton

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I live in Reno. that is really not that far from Fresno. I e-mailed the guy and if there is enough interest in Black walnut burl I will try to work with him on selection of a slab or two. I already told him that any old slab will not do. I also asked about smaller pieces that still had remarkable figure and or grain. I know of one other walnut burl place even closer but have never been able to contact the owner.
 
Forget it. his reply was pretty short but he only deals in large quantity orders of slabs. so getting even one slab would be ignored. I was asking about small burls that are top quality as in music grade. He didn't even answer that question. Next.
 
Yes he is very tempermental, he was going to come up one time and do some trading with me but he wanted me to trade my AU burl for his stuff pound for pound. Then when I told him that there was no way I could do that he never showed or even called to say F off. Just my person experience with him. I was also going to give him the walnut burl I have for some of his olive burl.
 
There are so many people like him, in that field. I grew up having lots of interactions with loggers and foresters and so many of them are literally "bears"... [V]

I guess it's why everyone appreciate a good civilized supplier :D
 
Maybe it would be better to see the product at the place to see what is the size of a slab and how much each will cost then post here, looking at the photo look like burl slice ( better word than slab [:p]) are not so big or I need another pair of glasses[B)]:DBurl slice don't have to be cut out only for pen blanks, just my 1/2p
 
Serge, I was told the offer is only for "Bulk Purchases of Slabs" not sure how many slabs we could actually use but am pretty sure it would never reach the "Bulk" range :D
 
I emailed him and received the following response:

"Hello Roger, cost is $1.50/lb if less than 500 lbs. At 500 lbs cost is .85/lb Many of these slabs went to Geogria yesterday and were all 3" and thicker. I can provide the same for you as well. I also arrange pick up of your load. Thanks, Joey "

He also gave a telephone number which I am not posting. It might be worth checking out.

Best,
Roger GArrett
 
Hope this conversation did not get moved to anouther thread. I had an e-mail or two from others that have gotten farther on this than I did. Just some thoughts. 500 lbs is only $425 at $.85 ea. that is not much more than a drop in the bucket from what I have seen in group buys around here.
next would be freight in getting it some where to be cut into blanks.
This will probably get long, but is a pretty complete plan.
Fresno is 300 miles from me, 10 hours round trip.I can get a truck that can easily carry a 500 pound load but will add a $200 charge at least to the cost to do so. Half of that is the cost of gas alone. the other half is my guess at a truck rental for a day. I have no idea if freight charges would be a better or worse deal. As for cutting it up I have a grizzly 14 inch band saw with a 3/4 inch blade on it, time would be the big factor here and I would most likely need a new blade to cut up that much wood. mine is currently fairly new and good for about three sharpenings.
lastly is how much of this would then be bought by the group.
as a rough guess I will say 500lbs turned into pen blanks, bowl blanks, and bottle stopper blanks cost a grand total of $600. (trying to think about taxes etc). But how many actual blanks woudl we end up with?
I have heard in the past that even wood that is hand selected for pen blanks looses about 20% due to not being good enough. all the wood could be sold as pen blanks but would have to be graded as to grain quality etc. does anyone have even a guess at how many blanks you can expect to get from 500 lbs of walnut? It is a pretty light weight wood from what I have had in the past. Also anyone have any idea how much time to expect to be able to get it cut up. I tend to devote a lot of time to this sort of thing once I get started, as in 3 to 4 hours a day.
I would hope to be able to drive down there and hand select slabs to get the highest yield of top quality blanks but still there will be a ton of duds.
Most of this amounts to one simple thing. "Risk" without knowing the total cost or the total number of blanks, there is no way to know the final cost per blank. time to re write how a bulk buy is done. And i am really happy to try and do that. Basically my idea is an investment type idea. Only problem is this investment is guaranteed to only break even at best. and it still runs the risk of loosing money. not exactly a buy now type of thing.
5 investors at $120 ea would generate the cash to get the job done. I am willing to be investor 1 (understand a lot has to be worked out at the other end of this deal as well)
So if i can get 4 more people to raise ther hand I will try to work things out with the supplier. if you are interested but don't want to put up the whole 120 out of your pocket you can arrangeany side deals with other members on your own. I am trying to limit how many people I have to answer to to 4. So if you want to find 4 other people that will each pitch in 24 bucks that would really bring the risk factor down a lot.
Finally when all is said and done you can get your money back as the wood sells. I would say you can get it in wood as well but if everyone wanted only wood then there would be non to sell, and how many of you want 100 lbs of wood. but in reality you can get at least some of your money back in wood plus the cost to get it to you (postage)
you all totally confused yet? OK will let me kep trying.
An even better idea woudl be someone that is closer does the picking up and cutting. but basically that is my only better idea.
I think it best that if you are willing to be an investor that you e-mail me. I will set up an e-mail account for us to communicate through as my usual e-mail has lots of spam problems. and we can move forward from there.
Finally at this time I am only looking for 4 more people willing to put up $120. I will then start trying to work out the details with he supplier. Do not send me money util I tell you to I have tons of details to get nailed down on this idea. also if anyone wants to find out what freight from fresno CA to Reno NV would be please do so and let me know.just might be cheaper. I ahve a commercial address it can be delivered to if that brings the cost down.
For pens and bowl blanks I also think the burls would be a better way to go but that is a different plan.
 
I called Joey, He has no problem with coming down there and selecting slabs. he does have slabs graded for quality witht he price going up per pound depending on quality. He quoted me a price that goes as high as $1.50 per pound. He also has select small pieces as much as $6.00 a pound.I did some weighing of some Black walnut blanks I have and get about 12 - 3/4 X 6 inch blanks per pound, allowing for waist I will make it 10 blanks per pound making 5000 blanks from 500 lbs. Even at the $1.50 per pound, $200 to get it to Reno, cutting it into blanks etc allowing for about 20% waist. this works out to about 3.5 cents per cubic inch or $.21 per blank. Joey thinks it will be $200 or less to have it trucked to me as well, but I can't hand select the slabs that way.
 
Daniel I would be in for US$ 120.00 if you don't mind, we will discuss shipping to me later, I think we got a good opportunity here to get some quality walnut I trust you that if you hand pick you will choose the best, all say 5000 pen blanks may be less if you cut same bottle stopper blanks and bowl blanks

edit: Thanks for your time
 
Sory for laging here folks. got real busy at work the last day or so. But am on vacation for the next week.
Darley you are on my list as the second investor. I am sure we can get something worked out on shipping that will not bankrupt you.
I also have two other possibles so I might have 4 of the 5 investors at this time. I also recieved a shipping quote from joey from fresno to Reno of $160 but that requires that he selects the slabs. He sent me 8 photos of what he considers good wood so I will post those later when I have been able to size them for this forum. they look pretty good to me for the price.
 
I would love to be in on this one, $120 is reasonable, but not in the budget right now. Anyone here want to split that into 4 with me and go at $30 each. Reply here & PM me.
 
Daniel,
I would be willing to be an investor for this one. You have always run a great deal for everyone and I will be willing to put up some cash. I am allergic to Walnut, so I would only ask for a small amount. I will PM you later for deails.
Thanks, Johnnie
 
You guys should check out his ebay store at the link below. He gives dimensions and weights so you can calculate the number of blanks you can get. I've bought some redwood slabs from Arcata CA and this stuff is soaking wet and weighs a ton when they pull the stumps and slab the wood. In fact I have a 4x6ft red wood slab under my bed I've been drying for a couple years. I'd guess you'd get half a dozen blanks from a pound of wet walnut. I used the weights and dimensions from the second link.

Calculated another way, I think the slabs in the second link add up to about 3.9bf and weigh 19lbs so that would be about 5 lbs per board foot, so at a $1 per pound (assuming you get a better price than he's offering on e-bay) you get $5 a board foot. Guess that's a pretty screaming good deal since a board foot of clear walnut will cost, what $6?? But you still have to dry it without it curling up like a pretzel then mill it down for use..... Hmmm lots to think about, I'll be losing some sleep tonight!

I'm down in LA and was thinking of driving up to Fresno and scoring some walnut slabs for myself but I'm booked till the end of April.

http://stores.ebay.com/Fruitwoodz_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ0QQftidZ2QQpZ2QQtZkm

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-PC-BLACK-WALN...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
 
I had a whole ong message I thought I sent but now it is missing. bummer. anyway
here is the list of investors
Me - full share
Darley - full share
El Mostro - full share
Ron Schmitt - working on a gorup to take a full share
Jarhead - full share
I would like phone numbers for everyone but Darley. I have lots to talk to you about. as far as this particular buy goes I am getting the trip planned, pretty much waiting for Ron to get his group together. and I will be sending out notices for payments.
Pay pal would be fast but cost extra, about $4. mailing me checks would be slower but free. I sort of hope to get this done in the next week but it doesn't have to be.
I think that the we need to go to e-mail to finalize everything for the sace of this thread.

For everyone else. Joey has a lot of stuff available. including some to die for pieces of marbled walnut.
he also has a long list of other woods he sells.
these are not at 85 cents a pound. the marbled walnut he showed me was 4 lbs and sold for $50. It was worth every penny. I am trying to organize just how to get info on all this to the group. I want to taek some pictures while I am there and then be able to give you all an idea of what he has at what prices. I also asked him to post some of his best pieces here in the business classifieds. here is the list of woods he sent me that he sells.
lychee, coffee wood, olive blanks, purnama, pistachio,
plum, eucalyptus burl and others.
I hope to take this a lot farther than just this one group buy.
 
I have been a bit slow on this as I have had these for a few days now. forgive me I am working on a computer that will barely run the internet much less edit photos etc.

So I am pretty sure there are a few people wondering just what will we get for our 85 cents a pound.
these are pictures Joey sent me as examples of what he has. all of these are at the 85 cent a pound price.



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Ron is still looking for a couple of people to jump in with him at about $30 a person, I think.
 
Originally posted by Daniel

Ron is still looking for a couple of people to jump in with him at about $30 a person, I think.
Click to expand...
Yes I am, 2 more @ $30 for what looks to be a great opportunity. If you want in, speak up now so we don't have to keep the rest of the group waiting.
 
Originally posted by RonSchmitt

Originally posted by Daniel

Ron is still looking for a couple of people to jump in with him at about $30 a person, I think.
Click to expand...
Yes I am, 2 more @ $30 for what looks to be a great opportunity. If you want in, speak up now so we don't have to keep the rest of the group waiting.
Click to expand...

Ron,

I can paypal you $30 and join in with you if you like. PM me if it's a go.

Best,
Roger Garrett
 
This whole idea is pretty much getting made up as I go. For several reasons some things I wrote in earlier posts no longer apply. I have a real thing about doing what I say so I tend to remember exactly what I said. anyway, as far as a group buy and the restrictions about not making a profit on them. that will only apply to buying the slabs. what happens to this wood, wether it gets resold or at what price will be up to those that get it. This means the investors can take there share and resell it at a mark up if they choose. Sorry for the change but it never really set right with me that I am trying to tell others what they can or cannot do with the stuff they bought. I hate to change my word as it usually leaves someone shafted. Forgive me if this was a curve ball for you, I am flying by the seat of my pants right.
As far as the investors are concerned, the deal is still the same. you can get your return in wood or get your cash back after the wood sells at actual cost.
Ron is offering you the chance to get 25 lbs of really nice looking wood for $30.
 
well I gues that will teach me to not wait to hit the send button. I knew you al woudl come through.
I will be in contact with all the people that are in for payment etc as this is a go.
for those of you that are in. the only price I do not have a quote on is the truck I need to rent. if there is a problem with that I will let you know by e-mail. any and all details will get worked out so please let me knwo if you are thinking of anything. I really hope to do this this week as i am on vacation and a drive through the scaramento valley would be a real refresher.
 
Originally posted by Daniel

Anyway, as far as a group buy and the restrictions about not making a profit on them. that will only apply to buying the slabs. what happens to this wood, wether it gets resold or at what price will be up to those that get it. This means the investors can take there share and resell it at a mark up if they choose. Sorry for the change but it never really set right with me that I am trying to tell others what they can or cannot do with the stuff they bought. I hate to change my word as it usually leaves someone shafted...........
Click to expand...

I didn't read anywhere that there were limitations on what we did with the purchase once we purchased it. It has looked like a typical group buy all along - a bunch of people purchasing from a commercial source through one person who set it up. Seems fine to me! :D

On the other hand - like all group buys (like with pen kits for instance) - whatever happens to the purchased product following the official group buy - well, that's up to the purchaser.

I think you're ok David - thanks for setting this up!

Best,
Roger Garrett
 
Roger, I had mentioned that the wood would be cut up and sold by me, or something close to that. as this has progressed at least two people want there full share in wood. So I am not sure how much of this is even going to be resold. Just second thought that I better not assume what other people have planned for there slabs. I hope to resell some of what I get, probably most of it at a non profit but most people are smarter than that with there money. so far it looks like about 300 lbs of it of it is simply going to get shipped as slabs to somebody else, probably more. O hasven't heard back from one person as to just how much wood he wants but he does want some. as it is now I may have less than 200 lbs to even offer as blanks of any kind. and that does not reduce it by the bowl blanks that will come out of it.
 
I would be interested in a small purchase of $30 or $40 or a small slab that I would cut myself to save someone the time if the oportunity presents itself.
 
John, I know there will be at least some blanks offered out of this. as it is now about 190 lbs of the wood will stay with me. It looks like the rest is going to the investors.
most of them want slabs and intend to get the best use of the wood they can as in bowl blanks or other larger projects from as much of it as they can. I will use at least some of my share for peppermill blanks. Some will become bowl, bottle stopper and other project pieces. I hope to start a thread that lets people ask for what they want out of it.
 
Serge, Thanks buddy, hope you had a great time. I double checked my sent messages and couldn't find the ones I thought I had sent you. At any rate all is good a the moment.
This is all so fun there has to be somethign illegal about it[}:)]
here is the lates chapter in the story.
I pick up the rental tonight at 8:00 Will leave Reno around 5 a.m and expect to be in fresno around 10:00. Do not expect to here from me tomorrow either on the forums or by e-mail.
Thursday I will sort out the slabs, take pictures of each of them, and send each investor pictures of there share. I also plan to get pictures of other things Joey has to offer while I am there in the interest of doing more group buys.
As for the investors. I will use the photos of your actual slabs to work with you on just what to cut up, how to cut it up, what to sell, at what price, and what to ship to you. So till I actually have the wood in my greeeeeedy little hands, there is not much more to do. except say ROAD TRIP! I am so looking forward to this. My wife and three kids are going with me so it is a group buy / family day out.:D
 
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