Thread: 6x1" and 3x1" river oak boards How much $ ?

If it is cupped and twisted, what is a ute load of fire wood worth?

Why bound to be all cupped up and twisted?

Why not have a look at the quality - could be q/s and if it's stable/dry then you are looking at a bit of a premium product....

One of those things where you have to take a look

$550 a cube if its premium

Thanks mate.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Why bound to be all cupped up and twisted?

Why not have a look at the quality - could be q/s and if it's stable/dry then you are looking at a bit of a premium product....

One of those things where you have to take a look

will do. could be right. suspect though it won't be q/s. but never know.

I'll have to make an offer on the day though. Like to have something in my head before I get there.

Originally Posted by chowcini

$550 a cube if its premium

$550 a cube ! Are you shore ? Seems awlfully low for premium river oak.

I know it isn't the same species, but up here we get $700 a cube for green 4x1 of general hardwoods - spotty, stringy, ironbark etc.

Is this river oak a 'good' timber or a 'bad' one? Haven't had any personal experience

Originally Posted by Sigidi

I know it isn't the same species, but up here we get $700 a cube for green 4x1 of general hardwoods - spotty, stringy, ironbark etc.

Is this river oak a 'good' timber or a 'bad' one? Haven't had any personal experience

I've only used a few boards of it myself, so don't know a great deal.

From what I've learn't its very, very hard timber. And apparently there's much drying problems. Twists up etc. I noticed a fair bit of movement going on in the stock I had.

But the grain is absolutely gorgeous. I would have thought it be worth far more than $700. Guessing it being tough to mill and all too.

Jake

one way to arrive at a fair price is to consider what will you use the River Oak for and what you would pay at a mill for timber intended for a similar use.
house frame timber will be priced differently to wide defect free timber suitable for fine furniture


you also need to have an idea of the amount of waste (unusable wood) you be buying.
if you'd pay $2000 a cube for wood with 10% waste, you might expect to pay <$1200 a cube for wood with 40% waste


also consider the amount of effort required to work the timber — as an example take the construction and finishing of a table
with an easily worked wood it might take you 15 hours to build and finish the table which you might sell for $1200
using River Oak it might take you 20 hours to build and finish the same table,
if you can sell this table for $1600 then the the River Oak is "worth" the same per cube as the easily worked wood
if you sell the River Oak table for $1200 (the same as the easily worked wood table), then the River Oak is only "worth" about 65% per cube as the easily worked wood

Jake with it being very hard and rather problematic to dry, but with the bonus of great looking grain, I'd say all three lead to a more expensive product, especially if the boards are in good condition.

Ian I see what you're saying with the waste factor - that makes sense.

You might get a lead by looking at Anagote's prices per superfoot for various timbers (river oak isn't listed).
Also why not ring Trend Timber and ask them what they charge for River Oak? Again not listed.

Does River oak have another name?

thanks guys. Makes good sense. I'd better have a good look at the stuff.

I'll call around a bit more Jeremy. Don't know if it has another name. Probably has besides it scientific name I'm guessing. They all seem to.

ta.

Seems to be river sheoak - casuarina cunninghamian. Here are a pdf and some links:
Casuarina cunninghamiana (River she-oak) - JCU
Casuarina cunninghamiana
Casuarina cunninghamiana

Personally I consider river sheaoak one of the bust australian furniture making timbers available. It has beautiful "oak" style lateral grain which goes almost translucent when polished and varnished/lacquered, The colour ranges from a pinkish straw brown to almost as red as redgum. When completely dry it does get quite hard but I find it is still fairly easily workable. I use a lot of it in knife handles. It is nowhere near as hard as desert sheaoak but is quite a bit denser than the sheaoak in W.A. which is not much harder than pine and which has less lateral grain which appears in larger cross grains.

It is a very nice timber and If the timber is in good condition and of decent sizes I would say that it should be on par pricewise with blackwood, reason however will say otherwise because blackwood is a timber wanted by every man and his dog and is in limited supply. Good river oak is in even smaller supply but for reasons escaping me is not considered as desireable. I feel that personally between 1200 and 1500 for reasonable quartersawn boards undressed would be fair. This means minimal distortion and no major imperfections.

IT IS A BEAUTIFUL TIMBER which is understated, underused, And underutilised.

thanks jeremy. give em a look

Quote:
I feel that personally between 1200 and 1500 for reasonable quartersawn boards undressed would be fair. This means minimal distortion and no major imperfections.

I'll use this thanks Travis. Keep him and me happy. ta.