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  1. #1
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    Question Structural pine from Bunnings?

    The Bunnings website is listing structural pine as a special order (in my area, Sunshine Coast). Is this something new? I just want to build a rough work/craft table and need cheap lumber, but Bunnings seems to have removed the cheapest stuff from stock and all you have is DAR and Porta stuff, absurdly expensive.

    Prices are so high at Bunnings these days that I'm starting to wonder if the great Aussie public is being tapped to pay for Wesfarmer's misadventures in the UK.

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  3. #2
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    I have yet to see any Bunnings store with untreated structural pine in stock, this across a few stores in the Hunter & Sydney regions, and over a minimum 2 year timeframe.

    I'm beginning to think it's a fairy-story, told to kids, without a grain of truth in it.

    I too would love to get some (provided it's not a potato chip in terms of straightness) for some projects I have in mind too...

  4. #3
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    May 2011
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    Murray Bridge SA
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    Pine is in short supply EVERYWHERE, I needed 40 lengths of 75X32 for a project, but can only get a 1/4 total of that from the now 3 suppliers in town. A couple of builders have basically stopped working because of the short supply, there are several concrete slabs down for houses that have been down for several months with no work done, because of short supply.
    Even our local salvage yard has trouble keeping up with demand of USED pine. Our local M10 store has stopped stocking any timber because of short supply.
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  5. #4
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    Thanks for the feedback guys. I see someone else has asked the identical question already here.

    Makes me wish for the days when I could wander into a Home Depot in the US and buy lengths of 2x4 (90x45mm) for about $2.99 each (back in 2007). I hear prices for timber have gone up in the US too ... a Covid consequence perhaps.

    Not sure that to do now, was thinking of building this:


  6. #5
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    Jan 2014
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    According to my local Bunnings, all structural pine is treated. The only untreated pine is non structural and is, in most cases, s$#t.

  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lappa View Post
    According to my local Bunnings, all structural pine is treated.
    But not all CCA treated, right? Other forms of treatment are more benign, eg permethrin (Hyne blue) or bifenthrin (Hyne red).

  8. #7
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    Feb 2006
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    Perth
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    To anyone complaining about the price of pine I say - try buying a mill and finding a place to located it, getting hold of a decent logs, sawing them up, put the lumber through a kiln OR renting a space and waiting for it to dry, throw away the pretzels, resawing and dressing to size, more storage, etc and then come back and tell me how easy it was and how you did it cheaper than what it costs from a hardware store?

    Compared to the above, pine is dirt cheap. I have plenty of access to pine logs but it's one timber I rarely mill because I can buy it far cheaper from hardware store.

  9. #8
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    Albury
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    Unfortunately when too much market power is concentrated in the hands of a few large retailers, and the demand for treated pine is 10 times the demand for untreated, those large retailers cease to stock the untreated stuff. Because of the reduced demand from the retailers the sawmillers stop supplying it. The retailers and sawmillers then blame each other for the lack of supply and the consumer, you, are stuck with what the giant retailer wants to sell you. Companies the size of Coles, Woolworths and Wesfarmers bastardise every market they come into contact with.

  10. #9
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    Jan 2021
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    Redland Bay QLD
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    Not news to me. I'm building a Moravian workbench from laminated 90 x 45 DAR pine. I scrounged half the timber from the 5 nearest Bunnings stores and had to order in the last 13 pieces. I ordered 20 which took 3 weeks to arrive and from which I rejected 5 outright for twists and of the 15 I took (2 spare), 5 were bent but not badly. Shocked at the price.

  11. #10
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    We’ve just put back a big job because our usual suppliers (North Shore Timber and Hudson’s) have told us they can’t get packs of 90x45 for 6 to 8 months. Bushfires, COVID-19, and the first home owners building grant have increased demand to a point where they can sell stuff they don’t even have in stock yet. We just received a massive order of LVL’s that was placed 4 months ago.

  12. #11
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    I heard that the MDF mill management in Oberon are quite concerned about ongoing supplies of pine. Apparently the 2020 bushfires destroyed a huge area of Pinus Radiata forest in the western foothills of the Snowy Mountains.

    This may account for current shortages although I might have thought imports from NZ might ease any supply problems here, albeit at a higher price due to freight.

    mick

  13. #12
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    Apr 2006
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    Hobart
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    Last time I was at Uptons they had good stocks of pine - both radiata and baltic. [They trade as both Uptons and The Bunker.] Almost always beat BigChains on both quality and price, and their staff know their products.

    From memory, they have branches in Noosa and Beerwah - worth a phone call.

  14. #13
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    Jan 2009
    Location
    Adelaide
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    The entire world is facing a timber shortage at the moment. Structural pine in Aus is typically 75% locally sourced and 25% imported (mostly from the US). Now that the US is also having a shortage, 25% of our supply is gone. Adding to our own shortage.

    Timber suppliers are now at a point where they are not providing clients with lead times for structural pine. Even for national residential builders.

    Almost all structural pine will be treated in some way, usually H2 for termite resistance etc. LOSP, H3, CCA are others.

  15. #14
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    Apr 2018
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    T2 is the bright blue treated structural pine you see at Bunnings and most timber yards. You don’t see the untreated stuff because it isn’t any cheaper and the builders prefer the T2

  16. #15
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    St Georges Basin
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    See if you can pick up some pallets. For a cheap workbench they would be alright.

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