Average $$$ Per Board Foot For 8/4 Mahogany

[jay5]

I have been trying to source some hardwoods locally and have found a place in my area recently but I am a little unsure about whether the prices areent a bit high. They have some nice 8/4 mahogany but they want $12.60 a bdft. Does that soung high? Guess I was just curious what you guys pay locally. How about maple? This place lists 5/4 at $8.

[westhemann]

i get honduran mahogany at about $9 a b/f

maple about the same as you.

[Demian]

i get honduran mahogany at about $9 a b/f

maple about the same as you.

←

What is b/f ? because I get hoduran mahogany at the same price for 300mm x 300mm x 1" thickness. (raw wood)

Demian

[jmrentis]

The place I get wood from sometimes is called Cut and Dried Hardwood and they sell 8/4 African Mahogany for $7.94, and Honduran for $8.99, I never realized my place has normal prices, I always felt they were high besides certain woods like purpleheart, but I guess I was wrong they have pretty good prices now that I look back. For hard maple 5/4 it's $7.33. I have the price sheet and it has all the prices for the figured maples which is considerably higher, like 4/4 spalted is $13.30, and 4/4 birdseye is $15.87, 4/4 curly is $13.10. Jason

[Doc]

I'm guessing none of you are buying from a wholesaler who sells to the trade. I just bought 8/4 walnut for, if my memory isn't failing me, $4.96. Honduras Mahogany was running maybe $7.75 for 8/4. This is kiln dried and less than 10%. Maple was the most expensive thing there in 8/4 dimension and it was running about $8.25.

I bought 350 bf of 4/4 hard maple at $3.86 bf and maybe 15% of it was medium to heavy striped figure. I got one stick of birdseye.

I do usually buy a total of 150 bf at a time. Any time I have to buy some 4/4 for a job I pick up a stick or two of thick stuff and stick it in the rack.

This is all FAS and undressed. If it's dressed it's maybe +.50 for s2 and +$1.00 for s4.

Oh, a bf is a board foot. This is 12"x12"x1".

FAS is "firsts and seconds". This is the best grade of commercial lumber. It has a limited number of knots and flaws.

S2 is surfaced two sides. S4 is surfaced four sides.

[westhemann]

I'm guessing none of you are buying from a wholesaler who sells to the trade. I just bought 8/4 walnut for, if my memory isn't failing me, $4.96. Honduras Mahogany was running maybe $7.75 for 8/4. This is kiln dried and less than 10%. Maple was the most expensive thing there in 8/4 dimension and it was running about $8.25.

I bought 350 bf of 4/4 hard maple at $3.86 bf and maybe 15% of it was medium to heavy striped figure. I got one stick of birdseye.

I do usually buy a total of 150 bf at a time. Any time I have to buy some 4/4 for a job I pick up a stick or two of thick stuff and stick it in the rack.

This is all FAS and undressed. If it's dressed it's maybe +.50 for s2 and +$1.00 for s4.

Oh, a bf is a board foot. This is 12"x12"x1".

FAS is "firsts and seconds". This is the best grade of commercial lumber. It has a limited number of knots and flaws.

S2 is surfaced two sides. S4 is surfaced four sides.

←

i am not too broken hearted.by those figures it looks like i overspend by about $10 a year(a busy year)

i think i will be okay.

the guy has the best selection of honduran mahogany,walnut,alder,and maple that i have ever seen.plus other special stuff here and there.

the guy also loves wood and loves to talk about it...the very first time i went in there and he found out what i wanted it for,he showed me everything he thought i might like....he spent about 30 minutes just showing me where the good stuff was hidden.

nice guy...sometimes it's nice to just have good service

[jmrentis]

i am not too broken hearted.by those figures it looks like i overspend by about $10 a year(a busy year)

i think i will be okay.

the guy has the best selection of honduran mahogany,walnut,alder,and maple that i have ever seen.plus other special stuff here and there.

the guy also loves wood and loves to talk about it...the very first time i went in there and he found out what i wanted it for,he showed me everything he thought i might like....he spent about 30 minutes just showing me where the good stuff was hidden.

nice guy...sometimes it's nice to just have good service

Agreed. Also it's nice to be able to see what you are buying, there are only 3 real hardwood shops near me, that sell instrument quality wood, that is kiln dried to 6-10%. All three sell the wood surfaced at least two sides, some 4. Rockler occasionally has some rough stock for a few cents cheaper but not much and it's not really worth it.

Yeah there might be a place that has a cheaper price(although not near me) by a little but not close enough to drive to so shipping, or the price of gas would make up the difference and more. And being able to see the woods in person makes a difference for people that just build a few guitars, all 3 places near me have a great selection of exotics and rare woods so being able to see the actual pieces up close their colors and weight/tone helps a lot.

I usually go to cut and dried hardwoods because I can get what I want in certain sizes and they don't charge for cuts, but they are usually a few cents more than Frost and much more than Rockler, all 3 are good though. At frost though you have to buy the boards whole, which sucks for me as I don't need 10-15 foot planks of wood for one guitar, I won't be building much so I would have the stuff for 20 years and the $ is also a factor. And their selection of exotics is smaller, although they have a better selection of figured maples. Anyways I'm happy with my wood places, although when I find something nice and a good price I will buy it especially if I can get some really good pics, but I only buy single pieces usually so I know what I'm getting. Such as Rich, I got a few very nice pieces from him.

But I'm sure if I was building a lot of guitars there would be some prices, but for just one guitar here or there I don't know any and I feel the prices are fair for what I'm getting. Honestly I don't know how this turned into such a long post! Thanks for the tip though. Later. Jason

[Mattia]

Interesting...if I've got my bf to m3 conversion right, I get Honduran for about 10-12 dollars/bf (plus 19% VAT on all of these prices, mind), hard maple for maybe a tiny bit less, and there's only 4/4 stuff available here, Walnut runs about 12 bucks (US, Euro Walnut's even more expensive), but the African Mahoganies really are quite cheap, with Sapele, Sipo and Khaya all running about 50-60% of Honduran prices. I think the Swamp Ash I got was a touch more expensive than the Honduran mahogany. Haven't priced Alder, Limba (white, don't have black. Another place does, but charges by the piece) is cheap, same price as the African, so maybe 6 bucks per bf or so. Living closer to Africa has some advantages there, I suppose. Anything charged by the piece rather than simply volume, ie the stuff that's pre-cut for sepcific purposes, or particularly nicely figured stuff (although it's generally not a patch on what specialist suppliers have) and not the bit you find when diggin through piles of stuff, costs a hefty amount more. This is the reason I never get the official 'body blanks' the local yard has. They're beautiful pieces, often as not, generally 1 piece, but they cost as much as StewMac's would after international shipping, and they're generally hugely oversized (lots of wasted wood). Much more fun to sift through the boards, find one you like, and buy the whole thing. Sure, that's 2 or 3 bodies in one board, but there ya go.

And here was me thinking prices were realtively much higher. I mean, they are for what you guys consider native woods (maple, walnut), but they're not too bad for mahogany, all things considered.