Where to get lumber?

[d.asly]

Where do those of you who cut your own boxes buy your lumber?
And how much do you pay?
I was quoted such outrageous prices for 1x12 for cutting 9 5/8 boxes that it wouldn't pay off.

[randydrivesabus]

i bought a bunch of 1x12's from lowes...they were low grade and were stacked on a seperate cart in the store. i had to pick through the pile to find usable boards. it worked out to about $8 per deep for the lumber.

[honeyman46408]

"Menards" has 1" X 12" X 6` for $4.99 through today, thats where I get my stuff but it takes a lot of "picken" to find boards good enough to bring home.

[Ross]

I've never been able to beat Dadant (pickup) price for supers. Lumber is too high and I pay tax on lumber. Time is worth something. Buying 50 at a time and getting the price break is worth it.

[Michael Palmer]

Where do those of you who cut your own boxes buy your lumber?
And how much do you pay?

Find a sawmill, and buy their seconds. I get 1x12 pine for $.20/ft

[Jeffzhear]

Find a sawmill, and buy their seconds. I get 1x12 pine for $.20/ft

That's a great price...costs me more then that to cut it, but it is seconds.

[talkingamoeba]

In my case, I have a mill and cut my own logs and have a Farmi logging winch so every time I saw another board my per foot cost gets cheaper and the equipment is all depreciated on taxes so I'm probably only paying $18-$20 per board foot But as Michael Palmer states there are mills almost any where in the country if you look, where you can buy pine or spruce for very reasonable cost. Not to revisit the discussion of it being easier or cheaper to buy from the Bee suppliers, my own opinion is if I can do the work myself and end up with what I need, and I enjoy working with wood and I don't squish myself or remove any body parts, that works better for me than working enough hours at a sucky job to make the money it takes to buy store lumber or store hives, but that's just me.

[randydrivesabus]

buying rough cut lumber requires you to tool up to work it....not all the boards are uniform and many times the lumber is green. if you've got the know how and tools and time to deal with that then i agree that the local mill is the place to go. but it's not going to be just ripping and crosscutting but it will be planing and jointing in addition. and possibly stickering and covering while waiting for your lumber to air dry.

[Michael Palmer]

buying rough cut lumber requires you to tool up to work it..... but it's not going to be just ripping and crosscutting but it will be planing and jointing in addition. and possibly stickering and covering while waiting for your lumber to air dry.

Not necessarily. The seconds are planed. Suppose the mill has a 12' board. Near one end is a defect. A crack, a knot, a stain. Maybe the edge isn't straight, because the board jumped in the planer. If the mill cuts 2' off that end of the board, they have a good 10' board, and a 2' "planer out," or "short" that they sell as a second.

So, the seconds I buy are not rough, and require no extra work...except ripping and crosscutting.

[Ross]

Unfortunately, most of us don't have a handy sawmill nearby.

[randydrivesabus]

Not necessarily. The seconds are planed. Suppose the mill has a 12' board. Near one end is a defect. A crack, a knot, a stain. Maybe the edge isn't straight, because the board jumped in the planer. If the mill cuts 2' off that end of the board, they have a good 10' board, and a 2' "planer out," or "short" that they sell as a second.

So, the seconds I buy are not rough, and require no extra work...except ripping and crosscutting.

sweet. i need to find a mill like that around here. seems like with the cost of gas these days 'around here' is a smaller area than it used to be.

[riverrat]

Where do those of you who cut your own boxes buy your lumber?
And how much do you pay?
I was quoted such outrageous prices for 1x12 for cutting 9 5/8 boxes that it wouldn't pay off.

I get mine at lowes when it is on sale. You cant beat the bees supliers price on boxes. where you make the difference up is when you take the piece you ripped from the 1 x 12 and make SBB'S, top covers and other bee related items.

[Dale Hodges]

I go to a saw mill, the 1x10's are really 10" so I use them for deeps. I have to plane them down, but its worth the extra work. I usually come out in the 60 to 70 cents a foot range.

[Gene Weitzel]

I go to Home Depot and Lowes and sort through their shelf grade 1x12x12'. I can get two complete deeps from one 12 ft board, plus the ripping drops that I use for other equipment. With a little care when I cut, I eliminate most the knots and come up with a lot of select grade bodies, a few commercial grade and one or two economy grade. Average cost for the wood per deep is about $6.75. I buy enough wood to do about 30 at a time. With the use of sleds and jigs and a crown stapler (and the help of my two sons), we can cut, joint and assemble 30 deeps in about 4 hrs.

[danameric]

I've gone to menards and looked through their scrap board section. There were tons of 2 foot pine sections for 69 cents each last week. I made 11 mediums for the price of $19.64. I've also had minor success on junk days when everyone throws out their junk. I found several shelves with perfectly good wood in them to get 6-7 mediums out of.

[honeyman46408]

I've gone to menards and looked through their scrap board section. There were tons of 2 foot pine sections for 69 cents each last week. I made 11 mediums for the price of $19.64. I've also had minor success on junk days when everyone throws out their junk. I found several shelves with perfectly good wood in them to get 6-7 mediums out of.

AHHHH a man after my own heart

[Docking]

I watch the pallets at work. some come with 3/4 planed pine boards. I get those for free.