Just for information, I own a couple of portable sawmills and I belong to a forum of owners of these types of mills. I have offered to purchase quarter sawn hardwoods from them, at what ever price they want to set within reason, and all I get is grief from them about it. I have managed to buy a few blanks of wood from a couple of them, but for the most part they act like I am asking for inriched plutonium to be used for jock itch.
Here is a quote from one of them that has sawn over a million bdft of wood with his mill:
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*my statement to them:
Most wood workers want quarter sawn wood because it is less likely to move due to heat and humidity changes, thus making a stronger and more stable woodworking project.
*Their reply:
I guess the many thousands of bf of kiln dried oak I’ve sold over the years must have gone to guys that only thought they were wood workers.
The amount of quarter sawn oak I’ve had inquiries about and actually sold totals less than a thousand board feet. It’d surely not add up to 1% of the total.
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I guess you can see the sarchasim in the post and their thinking. Most of these guys are sawing woods for around 20 cents a bdft, and at that rate they have to saw fast to make any money. I have beat myself to death to try to explain that they would saw less and make more money if they cut good woods specifically for the Musical Instrument builders, but it is like beating my head against a wall.
Unfortunately, my back has gone out on me and one wrong move sends me to the hospital to have spinal injections. It isnt a pleasant thing to experience. My sawmills are sitting here rusting away.
If I lived in the northeast of the USA, I would consider purchasing a portable mill and sawing wood specifically for the luthier market. We all know what kind of money luthiers pay for woods. Here in the southeast, we dont have alot of woods that are suitable for instruments. The northeast is loaded with all kinds of good woods, and most people will give you logs to saw up if you will haul them off. SOme will even haul the logs to you just to get rid of them.
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