I would call a slab a thick piece of timber with little or no work. A plank would be some timber that has had work to make it into a rectangular shape.
Elm slabs valuation £?
- Thread starter nigenry
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
Then you need to do some research into the traditional foresters definition of slab wood.
TheTiddles
Established Member
I thought slab was the first cut to flatten a reference plane before plank sawing
I'd be interested in your thinking. That's c. 6cuft of timber, excluding the offcuts for £160, which is £26/cuft. Online prices seem to be in the £50+/cuft. So thought I had a bargin. Now worried I'm overpaying as my reference points are incorrect
MikeSav
Established Member
Slab/board, tomato/tomato 
MikeSav
Established Member
I think you had a bargain. If anyone gets their timber at lower prices (especially in plank form), then please share where.
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
It is.
Richard_C
Established Member
I suspect that the quality of each individual piece drives the price with things like this. You could do some sums and say I could get 'x' woodturning blanks from this, or whatever and they do have recognisable prices, or do some £ cu/ft sums but for a slab it's not a commodity but what the buyer will pay.
About 3 years ago I was in British hardwoods for some other stuff and they had some Yew slabs standing up by a wall. One, live edge both sides and about 50x14 inches, 1.5 ish thick had such wonderful grain and colouring I wanted it, almost instant coffee table. I think I paid about £50, but would have been happy to pay a bit more. Unlike the ones next to it, they were good but not special. My unplanned purchase spent almost a year hung on the wall in the hallway, partly to stabilise but mainly because it looked so good. Your Elm might be similar.
We stayed in a holiday cottage, designer-y converted black house, on Lewis pre covid. Upmarket by our standards. All the furniture there, dining table, side tables, kitchen worksurfaces, were from odd shaped slabs and looked brilliant. Maybe float it at a silly-high price and hope a trendy interior designer from Kensington swoons over it: you are not in a rush so you can always lower the price later.
About 3 years ago I was in British hardwoods for some other stuff and they had some Yew slabs standing up by a wall. One, live edge both sides and about 50x14 inches, 1.5 ish thick had such wonderful grain and colouring I wanted it, almost instant coffee table. I think I paid about £50, but would have been happy to pay a bit more. Unlike the ones next to it, they were good but not special. My unplanned purchase spent almost a year hung on the wall in the hallway, partly to stabilise but mainly because it looked so good. Your Elm might be similar.
We stayed in a holiday cottage, designer-y converted black house, on Lewis pre covid. Upmarket by our standards. All the furniture there, dining table, side tables, kitchen worksurfaces, were from odd shaped slabs and looked brilliant. Maybe float it at a silly-high price and hope a trendy interior designer from Kensington swoons over it: you are not in a rush so you can always lower the price later.
niall Y
Established Member
Many years ago, I would regularly buy timber from a yard in Norfolk. The building where the timber was converted, - an old aircraft hanger -was entirely clad in what Adam.W would rightly class as slabs. It was a site to behold
I wish I could buy planks/ slabs for that much .!
That’s cheaper than I pay for timber. I’ve recently paid about double that but for quarter sawn boards with one wany edge. So less wastage but not 50%.I paid £160 for these two (£80 each) a few months back on gumtree. 165" x 2" x 16-18". They had one edge already ripped off unfortunately. It was a good price but they had languished on gumtree for a good week before I bought them.
highwood122
Established Member
be nice to get your materials for nout
Similar threads
