# (Sister Question) What is the most expensive wood that you know of?



## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

I posed a question asking about the rarest wood here:

What have you found to be the most expensive wood, that can be purchased, to be? I am not referring to anything finished, such as an expensive Federal antique, but rather lumber.

Is it the Kauri at $100/BF for the highly figured whitebait?

I'm guessing it's agarwood?

I am not planning on buying whatever the most expensive wood is, just posing the question.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

Prices vary quite a bit based on where you buy your lumber and how much you are buying. In my inventory the 3 most expensive woods are pink ivory, gabon ebony and amboyna burl. The other ebonies: (Macassar, brown, black and white) are a little less. African black wood looks a lot like ebony and it is a little bit cheaper than gabon ebony.

I pay around $90 - $100 per bf for pink ivory and gabon ebony. Amboyna burl is a little less (about $80/bf) The other ebonies and the African blackwood are all in the $60 - $80 range.

Woods like this are sold in relatively small pieces and I usually think in terms of cost per cubic inch.

FYI - I have some Kauri I bought for about $22/bf.


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## JuniorJoiner (Dec 24, 2008)

sandalwood, if you can find it. tends to be extremely expensive here.


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## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

The most expensive stuff will not necessarily be from some particular species. It will mostly vary by the figure. Some strange figure or burl can make even a commonly cheap wood become wildly expensive. Also, some of the really neat salvage lumber from lakes and such that are no longer available can be pretty unique and off the charts as far as cost.


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

Ebony is closer to 250 bucks for the board foot here… AU$100,000.00 for a cubic metre… that is 400 bf
I have some Huon Pine that was cut in 1902 and it is about $50 per board feet…
Personally I think you would like some concaberry or maybe some hairy oak or maybe some emu apple… lol


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## WoodLe (Sep 29, 2010)

Snakewood in small quantities runs about $600.00 a board foot at Amazon.com and Woodcraft.com I never saw a large quantity available, but I hope you could get it cheaper.


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## lanwater (May 14, 2010)

I agree with Larry. Ebony is about $165 a bf here.

I went down to buy some, I came outwithout any. Too expensive.


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

If I recall, ebony was around $121/BF here in Denver, pre-discount.

Wow, Rich, Kauri for $22/BF?! Was it a more straightforward, not highly figured lot? That's awfully affordable, relatively speaking.


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## gljacobs (Jan 16, 2011)

Rarewoodsusa.com has snakewood at like 300/bdft.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

Jonathan. - I bought a sample pack of Kauri. It's about 4 bf but none of the pieces are longer than 2', wider than 4" or thicker than 2". It's pretty dull stuff with very little grain. I paid $89 (plus shipping) for the pack. It came with 6 official looking certificates stating that this is genuine Kauri and some brochures telling the Kauri story. If I were to sell or give away something I make with it I would include a certificate and brochure. So far, I have not made anything with it.


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

I watch that tv show "Ax men" and see that Shelby fella getting 2 grand for a once sunken Cypress log that looked to be about 12 feet long and maybe 12-14" across…. still in log form. Whatever it sells for once it is serviced (whatever they do with them) would be interesting. Anyone know?


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