Thread: timber slabs

Originally Posted by weisyboy

i have bought a cs mill and was wondering about the price of timber slabs in the following timber types and weather it was worth trying to sell some.

camphor laurel
red ironbark
Grey ironbark
blood wood
spotty gum
Grey gum
???? gum (aka blood gum, sugar gum, crap gum)
spotty gum
tallow wood
stringy bark
wattle
box
and mango

rough estimate would be great if any one can tel me or if you could give me some links

Weisyboy...
Forumites would be grateful for all the above timbers if priced between $3.00 and $4.50 (max) per Lm... We'd pay the postage - of course...
cheers
Jedo

Weisy,

The timber is worth whatever you can get anyone to pay for it. If you hope to sell to people in the known there's a bit more to it than just slabbing the timber.

Two important variables need to be taken into account are how it is sawn and drying.

Quarter sawn pieces should fetch more and you should charge more. Hence you should clearly ID these pieces or even look to extract as much quarter sawn out of logs as possible (probably not worth it for most logs when CS milling)

How and for how long it is dried is another.
Even if a tree has been down for many years it will still have a lot of water in it. A green slab should be worth considerably less than one that has been carefully dried maybe using a solar kiln. If you store your slab outside in a pile to dry this won't be as good as inside clamped together with suitable spacers to minimize warping

Resawing or reslabbed after an initial drying priod can also optimise the $$.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ok, in water street Toowoomba they have a similar range of species and maybe 100- 150 slabs in stock. Prices range from 70-100 bucks for the smaller slabs to over 400-500 for figured hardwoods like regum or ironbark. The prices were set to species in some way but all the slabs are different sizes.

I've done the maths and if i can get $1 / sqft (my maths aint good but i think thats $10.50/ sqm) for 2" slabs i can make a profit. thats $6/cubic foot ($200/cubic meter) i think.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

I've done the maths and if i can get $1 / sqft (my maths aint good but i think thats $10.50/ sqm) for 2" slabs i can make a profit. thats $6/cubic foot ($200/cubic meter) i think.

Let me assure you that your maths aren't much chop. The work involved would mean you're working for virtually nothing, even if you cover costs, which is doubtful.Average slab prices are between $1000 and $3000/cubic mete, As John says, that depends a great deal on whether they are dry, how big they are and to a lesser extent on the species. Camphor is worth bugger all, for example, whilst something like red mahogany or red ironbark is worth quite a deal more. For average small slabs I charge about $50/lm, whilst for large (wide) ones, i charge up to $500/lm (dry). Average price is somewhere around $100/lm. I do hope this helps, as you'll soon get sick of undercharging. One other thing to consider is that you will not be able to get usable full-width slabs from the centre of the log, as heart-shake will cause problems. Therefore, those slabs have to be re-ripped to turn them into boards, adding yet more work.

To make the point totally clear, at $200 a cubic metre, I'd take all you can produce and I'd stop slabbing altogether.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

and mango

There is a slab of Mango around 3000 x 1000 x 50 natural edge, sanded and polished beautifully, at the Woodworking Warehouse here in Melbourne for $4500.

Its a stunning plank of wood and would make a table to die for

But i do think its a bit xxxy. What to the slab blokes think?

Originally Posted by Exador

Let me assure you that your maths aren't much chop. The work involved would mean you're working for virtually nothing, even if you cover costs, which is doubtful.Average slab prices are between $1000 and $3000/cubic mete, As John says, that depends a great deal on whether they are dry, how big they are and to a lesser extent on the species.

To make the point totally clear, at $200 a cubic metre, I'd take all you can produce and I'd stop slabbing altogether.

i can cut an average of 90 sqft (8.36 sqm) of timber in an hour . and if i charge $90 an hour for myself and my saw. thats $1/ sq ft (10.50 sqm) and if the slabs are 2 in thick (50mm)
then that is $6/ cubic foot ($210/ cubic metre) am i right.

and as far as i'm consernd its not as hard as my day job

and keep in mind I'm not going to be making a living off the slabs joust some extra money on the side.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

i can cut an average of 90 sqft (8.36 sqm) of timber in an hour . and if i charge $90 an hour for myself and my saw. thats $1/ sq ft (10.50 sqm) and if the slabs are 2 in thick (50mm)
then that is $6/ cubic foot ($210/ cubic metre) am i right.

and as far as i'm consernd its not as hard as my day job

Well, your day job must be bloody hard yakka.

As far as the calculation goes, you've not valued the wood itself at anything at all. You've also not allowed for the time taken to acquire the logs, set the thing up, handle the slabs (you'll need a second person or some kind of lifting device), store the slabs (you'll need stickers), dispose of or at least handle the waste if you plan to use it in the garden. If the logs are from street trees or backyard trees they will likely be full of metal and other objects, which does nasty things to your chain.

Even if it's only a hobby, you need to make your efforts worthwhile.

i an a fencer

we have a property coverd in trees and i am good friends with the local treeloper so i get logs off him for free but i see your point maby i will reconsider my price i only worked that out roughly and verry quickly.

but thanks for the advise. it is much apreciated.