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General Forestry => General Board => Topic started by: dustyhat on May 18, 2017, 06:49:34 PM

Title: Old barn lumber
Post by: dustyhat on May 18, 2017, 06:49:34 PM
Just wondering if its a big business in your area? around here, i here of money being payed as high as 2 dollars a foot. seems like alot are doing it and thieves are really into it around here . do any of you guys have markets ?
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: POSTON WIDEHEAD on May 18, 2017, 07:50:43 PM
Quote from: dustyhat on May 18, 2017, 06:49:34 PM
Just wondering if its a big business in your area? around here, i here of money being payed as high as 2 dollars a foot. seems like alot are doing it and thieves are really into it around here . do any of you guys have markets ?

Yes it is a big business in my area.......uh.....for 1 guy. (not me).
There is one guy in my area that buys barn lumber from West Virginia and anywhere else in that area.
Takes his trailer and brings a load back. Grades it and puts bands on it. He also buys old doors and beams.
People in Charlotte, N.C. buy the hound out of it.
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: Kcwoodbutcher on May 18, 2017, 10:30:50 PM
Around here it goes for 3 to 6 dollars a lineal foot. Doesn't mater if it's 6 inches wide or a foot. I run a lot of it through a heat treat cycle in the kiln. Got a load ready for treatment on Saturday.
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: reedco on May 19, 2017, 12:53:18 AM
          Lots of snow fences being recycled into houses at more than new boards.
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: Brad_bb on May 19, 2017, 09:58:08 AM
I've been a buyer for the last 2 years.  There are a lot of factors involved.  What kind of wood, sawn or hewn, condition...  I buy from 4 different people.  How lucrative it is depends on the barn, your equipment and how fast you can sell it.  You get a barn that is all sawn pine(not heart pine mind you), versus a hewn oak barn in good shape and there is a very big difference in value and sale-ability. Hewn white oak beams with a good hewing job can range from wholesale pricing of $2.50-3.50 a BF to retail at $8 a BF.  Now if you price on the high end, you're probably not going to sell quickly or sell much at that price, especially when there is competition around.  If you want to move it and move on to the next barn, you need to price wholesale if you're not prepared to have a retail location to display what you have and wait for that retail buyer.  Sawn hardwood interior boards that are 5/4 which I find often, go for $2-$2.50 a BF and can go for more if very wide and in good condition.  There are often a few specialty boards in a barn that were ladder parts or feed trough parts that can be unique pieces to sell for a little more.  Rafters aren't as desirable to people due to all the nails - too much de-nailing.  Floor joists sometimes for the same reasons.  Admittedly I've de-nailed a lot of both though. You have to have the fortitude for it.  Siding all depends on condition.  Faded red paint sells better.  More care must be taken as siding can be more brittle and crack if you haven't developed a good method to apply even pressure to remove the board.  Cutting the nails would save more boards.  As I said, a lot of the value depends on the barn you choose.  Don't take down any old barn unless you have nothing else to do.  Figure out an approximate value and know if it's worth your time and equipment.  One guy that I actually sort of got him started taking down barns, is really cheap and won't outlay money to rent a boom forklift.  It's partly because I think he's bad with money and lives hand to mouth.  So he takes them down all by hand, which is a lot of labor.  I think he'd do a lot better cleaning out the inside, removing the siding, then renting a boom forklift to get the roof off quickly and safely and using it to get the frame apart and down.  Also note that you should not pull a barn over and risk cracking beams.  Then they are worth far less.  Prime beams you should try to remove pegs and see if you can get it apart without too much trouble.  It takes a little experience.  For example if you have a 24 foot tie beam, that is a dimension that could be used without re-cutting joinery and it a good length for reuse in a home. If not, then cut with chainsaw right at the joint as cleanly as possible. 

Boom forklifts are expensive to rent for just a couple days.  You can save a TON of money on rentals by doing a longer term lease like 6 months or a year is better.  That also means you need to have barns lined up to take down, a crew helping, and storage for timber/lumber as you sell it.  This also means, as a real business, you need to know where to advertise to find those customers. 
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: dustyhat on May 19, 2017, 11:44:12 AM
This is very interesting specially since i live in old tobacco barn country and get people all the time when im working on a boundary of timber ask me to push one over the hill or pay me to burn one in the winter .just last week i was ask to push a 16x12 building over in a brush pile. and you should have seen the one i burned a few years ago 8x8 hand hewn beams some 40 feet long and loaded with hewn feed bins it was 40x50 all went to wast. seems like im going to have to make some contacts.
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: Brad_bb on May 23, 2017, 07:38:58 AM
Looks like you burned money!
Title: Re: Old barn lumber
Post by: woodworker9 on May 23, 2017, 08:21:36 AM
A local retailer of old barn boards, beams, antiques, etc.....just expanded from a 6000 s.f. space to about a 15,000 s.f. space, and it's completely full, floor to ceiling, with truckloads sitting out back.  They are getting anywhere from $6 to $12 per board foot and up (not a misprint) for stuff I've been throwing in the burn pile for 30 years.

It seems to be all the rage right now, and everybody around wants barn slab tables, barnwood walls, barnwood bathrooms, and anything else you can think of made from barnwood.

The thing that really blew me away on a recent trip to their store, just to check it out and be informed, was that they are selling 12/4 slabs of live edge maple, white and red oak, cherry, walnut (especially walnut) that are 6' to 10' long and reasonably wide for anywhere from $900 to $1800 EACH!  That makes a 40" diameter log (pretty common around here) selling retail in the neighborhood of $15K to $20K, when all is said and done.

I would guess that 2/3's of these slabs were marked "SOLD."  When I asked about a couple of nice walnut slabs that were (average) 30" wide, marked at $1800 apiece, I was quickly and clearly told that the prices were as marked and were not negotiable.  They were selling them as fast as they could cut them, according to the person speaking to me.

Amazing........