Wood Price Inflation

[Blackswanwood]

I decided to sort my rather untidy accumulated pile of wood out yesterday and found a few surprising pieces that I had overlooked owning. Most surprising was a couple of walnut boards which were priced up from Jon Boddy which closed five (?) years ago at £12. I have some almost identical boards that I bought a few months ago from Duffield Timber ... £33. Has the price of wood increased substantially over the past few years?

In fairness I did find Boddy’s to be one of those places that if you rooted around there was always a bargain!

 

[Droogs]

I miss JBs

 

[Blackswanwood]

So do I. The family sold the company to some big outfit from the Midlands who I think bit off more than they could chew and went bust.

 

[Droogs]

believe it was allied timber

 

[D_W]

I decided to sort my rather untidy accumulated pile of wood out yesterday and found a few surprising pieces that I had overlooked owning. Most surprising was a couple of walnut boards which were priced up from Jon Boddy which closed five (?) years ago at £12. I have some almost identical boards that I bought a few months ago from Duffield Timber ... £33. Has the price of wood increased substantially over the past few years?

In fairness I did find Boddy’s to be one of those places that if you rooted around there was always a bargain!

Here in the states, walnut has gone up by a factor of at least two in the last 10 years. We used to get (relatively expensive) walnut about $8 a board foot when cherry was about $4-$5.

Cherry is still the same, but walnut seems to be widely available mostly in narrow boards. There is a canker going around here with walnut trees, but I'm not sure if that's the reason why. My neighborhood is absolutely loaded with cherry trees, but very few of size big enough to make commercial lumber and the younger ones seem to be getting obliterated by the peach borer, rotting from the center of the trunk section until the woodpeckers start to blast them apart (after that point, they either stand stripped or if they lean at all, break over at the stump).

 

[Hornbeam]

I used to buy most of my timber from JBT who were a really nice outfit to deal with. Just started using British hardwoods who were excellent probably even better than JBT were. Price inflation seems variable across different species but black walnut has gone up more than most.
Still after a trip to British Hardwoods last week I now have 3cuft walnut, 2 cuft ash 3 cuft oak for various projects as well as 10 sheets of different veneered plywoods from Bensons. Should keep me busy for a while when I am out of work to do at home during Covid 19
Ian