****ing hell. Had a addition / outdoor kitchen I'm getting worked up but at this rate I'm going to have to scrap it.

Have a pile of ten various long pieces out back behind the dumpster. Friend glanced and said they could be gone by dinner time for $300 easy. Avoiding Craigslist as I want the back to remain 'hidden' to riff raff.

Going to swing by Harbor Freight on the way home, get cheap circular saw and cut them in eight foot long pieces +/- and find a place where no one will see them.

Thank goodness we have a medium sized dumpster and not many people take our alley.

At the BORG, in the middle of the woods of deep East Texas, just a few miles from a mill, sits piles of Swedish 2x4s.

Really?!?!? Prices are now so high it's cheaper to import dimensional lumber from Nordic countries?!?!?!

lb3 said:

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At the BORG, in the middle of the woods of deep East Texas, just a few miles from a mill, sits piles of Swedish 2x4s.

Really?!?!? Prices are now so high it's cheaper to import dimensional lumber from Nordic countries?!?!?!

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Even if you could get that pine cut and sawn for free, unless you've own a kiln you're staring down 20-24 months to air dry a rough cut 2x4. And by the time you could build a kiln, your gambling the demand is still there for you to pay it off.

I stumbled across an interesting situation from Home Depot. I bought a half truck bed full of "crap" lumber from a few Home Depot's. There is a section in the back (might have to ask "the guy" that works there, there is always a guy that knows where this is and sometimes it's behind the store) you can buy all of it for 50% off if your willing to stick to your guns and bargain. They won't sell a 2x8x10 for 50% off, but they will sell a 2x8x16 thats kinked on the end for 50% off if you bargain for the entire stack of wood at the same discount. You just have to ask. I had one employee sell me 10 2x8x16 off the rack for half off because he was out of 2x8x12. I'm not going to argue. Load it up.

It's called the cull cart. It's everything that people are going to continually pass up and they want to get out of the store. You can get split bags of sand, sacrete, and other stuff cheaper that way too.

one MEEN Ag said:

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lb3 said:

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At the BORG, in the middle of the woods of deep East Texas, just a few miles from a mill, sits piles of Swedish 2x4s.

Really?!?!? Prices are now so high it's cheaper to import dimensional lumber from Nordic countries?!?!?!

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Even if you could get that pine cut and sawn for free, unless you've own a kiln you're staring down 20-24 months to air dry a rough cut 2x4. And by the time you could build a kiln, your gambling the demand is still there for you to pay it off.

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Yeah. Most people, especially those over on B&I board, think it's just setting up some saws and can't understand why "the market" and supply/demand laws aren't driving production up. They don't realize there's rough cutting, drying, planing, and grading before you get to the big box store. It's not a cheap investment, and it's not something that happens overnight.


Here's a good article I posted over there on why new mills are not going to come online to meet demand.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/despite-lumber-boom-few-new-sawmills-coming-11621243982?mod=flipboard

I was doing some back of the envelope calculations the other day about setting up a saw mill. And it was eye opening just how 'cheap' a 2x4 is pre-pandemic. If you're a one-man lumberyard trying to make money sawing up pine trees into 2x4's, you're way better off sawing them wide plank, thick cut, and hoping to get someone to make furniture out of it.

The only other option I could see is selling dimensional lumber directly to the public and getting a good following. Especially if you're in an area that is far from a big box store and you could sell it a little underpriced, but ensure its straight and its closer.

You do it and let me know where to pick up my 2 x 4's.