Thread: whats your thoughts..good value?

Just my mental calculations on this - others will know better and might correct me so I too will learn more

4in = 100mm, 2in = 50mm.

Each lineal metre of this is 1/200th of a cube (cubic metre).

Figure a cube of material around $2000 (Jarrah isn't hard to get, though I am stabbing in the dark at this value, it's a fairly generic number for ordinary timbers).

Thus, 1/200th of a cube is worth around $10.00. If your 3.9m length is $25, that's under that price.

Working the math another way, your 1m of material will cost $6.25, this multiplied by 200 = $1250.00 equivalent for a cube.

Given the timber is recycled, and thus has nail holes and other "problems", that's not a bad price IMO, *BUT* only if the pieces are in reasonable condition, and you have a use for the material (otherwise, it's a shelf-filler).

Recycled floor joists - beware of nails, and old holes where nails were.

The 4 x 3's are likely to have been bearers supporting the 2 x 4 joists and will therefore have nails only every 1800mm or so. The usable timber recovery from them will be very significantly higher than the joists. Now, if you could find a use for the joists with the nail holes in situ?

Originally Posted by Tonto

This has just been offered up should I jump at it? Is it value for $$?

Second hand jarrah floor joists. 14 @ 4x2 Inch x 3.9m and 6 @ 4x3 Inch x 3.9m. $25 each

If you want to know rough cubic meter prices so you can compare

Length x Width x Thickness x M3 price

3.9 x .100 x .050 x $1300 M3 = $25.35

3.9 x .100 x .075 x $850 M3 = $24.86

With something like this though its more about someone having pulled it out from where ever it was and having it ready for you to load and go. Its cheap compared to new clean stuff .

And pricey compared to being in the right place at the right time helping out someone maybe ,on a building / renovation site and just saving it from the bin.

If you save how to calculate the prices though , you will soon start to learn how to spot the bargains.
Try converting what you see for Radiata pine at Bunnings compared to online auction prices for packs of the stuff. Or what you see pine for at old style builders outlets . Its pretty amazing !

Rob

Ah, yes the mysterious 2 by 4. One would expect 50.8 by 101.6. But no! A 2 by 4 is really 38.1 by 88.9.

What is going on? New math? NO! The 2 x 4 terminology is BEFORE milling. After milling the size is 1½ by 3½. Buildings built before the turn of the previous century actually used real 2 x 4 and are a real nightmare when trying to remodel, enhance or generally do an add on.

Also, I think that lumber mills have gotten better at processing raw timber so that they don't need ¼ of of each face of the 2 x 4 and the excess can be added into other cuts from the same log. It all means more profit.

BTW - It seems that all of the 2 x 4 in the home centers (Lowes or Home Depot) are from the exact center of the log. When looking at the end grain, there is almost always a full circle of the tree rings.

Originally Posted by rrich

BTW - It seems that all of the 2 x 4 in the home centers (Lowes or Home Depot) are from the exact center of the log. When looking at the end grain, there is almost always a full circle of the tree rings.

Yeah, that'd be because they're cut from shrubs not trees, there never was a log. You know they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel when there are bark inclusions on your 2 x 4.

Interesting - I just bought some silver ash from Monaro timbers. the 6 x 1s (rough sawn) are the full deal or a little more, even though they are fully seasoned. Obviously, some millers make allowance for shrinkage.

I've seen pine mills spraying milled timber to keep it wet and stop it warping before it's wrapped and delivered to the shops for some poor unsuspecting sucker.

Originally Posted by rrich

Ah, yes the mysterious 2 by 4. One would expect 50.8 by 101.6. But no! A 2 by 4 is really 38.1 by 88.9. .........

Was talking to an old cadger awhile back and he reminded me that up untill the 1960's houses were routinely framed with green, rough sawn hard wood - Tas oak, jarrah, depending on where you were.

Then CSIRO proclaimed that dry timber was essential and that framing could be lighter and why not dress it.... so the 4x2's were planed down to 38 x 88 and we still use that dimension.

If the story's not true, then it should be.

In Tonto's case, those jarrah pieces look old enough to actually be 4x2's, not metric short-changing.


Cheers

Graeme