# Walnut prices?



## planepassion (Nov 24, 2010)

18 months ago, I purchased some walnut at $7.50/bf. Last weekend I priced some walnut at the same shop in Fort Collins and it was priced at $11.50/bf. Has there been some cataclysmic event or surge in demand that has driven up the price of walnut in your area?


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Not in my area. I usually buy my walnut rough and dry, I never pay more than $3.00/bdft. and I always shave a little off the end with a block plane to see what I'm getting before buying.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Had a sawyer & forest ecologist tell me that the price of standing walnut had doubled in about a year and was now costing more than cherry. A lot depends on location, too. A lot of the in demand walnut is from Missouri and eastern Kansas, due to the coloring, so how far it has to be transported is a big factor.

Lucky for me, living in Kansas, can usually get walnut for $3.25-4 a bd/ft.


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

Yeah, I used to get it for $6.75/bdft and now they are charging $9-10. All for rough cut select & better.


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## WoodChips_Mac (Jul 26, 2012)

I bought straight from the mill here in central NC, got about 55 bdft for $45.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

I think you have to consider a few things that are happening that is going to make lumber, just like food among other things to go way up in the future. The drought in CA is not helping as it is causing a lot of stress on nut trees and other crops. Money printing, low interest rates and hunting money has caused a lot of well to do folks to remove their money from banks in anticipation of another failure (with bail-in procedures in place) and invest in diamonds, arts, collectibles, real estate and such. The lumber warehouses are doing the same thing in their anticipation. On top of that, there seem to be a big push towards doubling the minimum wage very much like the politician and government workers from judges to prosecutors have managed to double their salaries in the past 6 months or so. All of these are indicative of an inflation anticipation which devalue the currency and creates a cost push toward tangibles. So, in essence, folks who have cash are getting rid of it knowing it is about to lose its purchasing power and buying things that they anticipate will maintain their wealth. Thus, supply is getting squeezed and demand is going up. If we encounter another recession/depression all those investments will dump and flee to other things causing a flood of supply. So, it all depends on your personal perspective as to how things will end up economically in the next 3 to 5 years.


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## jmartel (Jul 6, 2012)

MrJinx, most other wood hasn't seen that much of an increase in price, at least where I've bought my wood from. It just seems to be Walnut. So, those probably aren't the main reasons for it.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

$8.15 a board foot for 4/4 FAS ( First and Second ) in Los Angeles, CA.

Seems to be a steady price.


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## MrFid (Mar 9, 2013)

This came up a little while ago on the website for a lumberyard I use on occasion: The State of Black Walnut. Maybe it is a local thing… I'm in the Boston area (which I see you aren't).


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## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

Walnut is expensive here in CO, usually around $8/bf. Some places to try near-ish to Denver:

Frank Paxton Lumber Company
Austin Hardwoods
Consolidated Hardwoods
TC Woods
Stan's Hardwood Lumber
Woodcraft
Rockler


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## dschlic1 (Jan 3, 2013)

Here in west central Florida rough sawn walnut 4/4 is $8.75/bf 8/4 is $10.50/bf


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

Jmartel,
Understand what you are saying. I just wanted to give an investor's point of view as it relates to price action. As we all know, walnut, compared to most lumber in USA is like Tiffany# (41 at the low of 2010- high of $85 today) compared to Wal-mart# ($49 at the low of 2010- high of $78 today); ordinary v.s luxury. I bought $2000 worth of walnut last year for $2/B/F. I have to pay over 35% to buy the same thing today. Take a look at this historical chart of the largest timber company# with more than 6 million acres of timberlands in 19 states. $7 in 1991 and $42 today. My point is that inflation, although a horrible thing, for elderly and poor, is a much better option than deflation. So, the question is, if we are going to experience inflation as we have after every recession, in the next 3-5 years expect price of everything including lumber to go up especially as soon as companies initially smell it coming. If we go through another deflation within the next 3-5 years, what good is $.20/BF walnut when we live in a Mad Max scenario. 
I used to work in a gas station in 1979 and remember so many people saying "if gas goes to a buck, I selling my car and walk to work or ride the bus". 3 months later, they were filling it up at $1.15 thinking it will go higher next week. In deflation the opposite happens. Everyone sits on the sidelines waiting for it to go lower; not a good scenario.


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## NoThanks (Mar 19, 2014)

Just paid 8.80 bdft for some "select 10" or wider" boards.
Usually a little higher bdft because of the wider widths (only because they can)


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## daddywoofdawg (Feb 1, 2014)

Two things that have gone on I feel is fuel to move the boards,make,etc have gone up and the sawyers want more to make a living.plus there is a demand now for walnut, I have seen a lot more walnut made items in the last couple of years, call it a trend. so those factors make prices go up.


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

Here in Ohio, we have a fungus blight affecting Walnuts - "thousand cankers disease" spread by beetles. Shipments of raw lumber are quarantined in some counties - heat treated (kiln dried) lumber with all bark removed can be transported as well as veneer and finished products. The beetle and disease had spread to Indiana as of last week. That might be causing the price of lumber to rise in your area. Hoping my two 25 year old trees are safe, but since the disease was identified in a neighboring county, it is only a matter of time before it gets here, doubt the trees will make it to 40 years. I really love black walnut.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

Could be to the the current " Thousand Cankers Disease" and were losing trees.

http://www.aces.edu/ucf/BlackwalnutThousandCankerDisease.php


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

The veneer log buyers are paying a LOT for walnut veneer logs so sawing these same logs into slabs results in some very pricey slabs.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

Actually, I believe the spike in price is due to the export market. I have had several recent calls from Chinese lumber brokers wanting me to saw walnut and fill shipping containers. Simply put, demand is up,and with the increase in demand is an increase in price. Simple economics.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

The price is high on walnut, because it is super awesome!


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

Black Walnut is outrageous here. $8.00 and up. I've got a friend with a cabinet shop who saves his cutoffs for me and has sold me a few boards at his price. If I didn't have him for a source I couldn't afford it.


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

It seems that prices are high enough to attract the criminals - in the suburban city where I live someone recently stole a large black walnut from a neighborhood park - sawed it off at the base, left the limbs and branches and took the trunk. Parks Department estimated the value of the wood at several thousand dollars. The city has been cutting down ash trees that were killed by Emerald Ash Borers so neighbors did not think anything was wrong when the work was being done. They called the city several days later to ask when they were going to clean up the rest of it. Save the trees!


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

A few weeks ago in this area drug dealers stole a tow truck and a flatbed and chainsaws. Then they cut walnut trees off of private and public property, used the trucks to load and transport the logs and then sold them to a mill. They were caught a few days later and had a check for $2,000 on them. They were going to use the money to buy drugs to sell.


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## ChipByrd (Feb 14, 2013)

About $5-6 a bf in West Michigan


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## logboy73 (Jul 23, 2009)

Sorry, but some of these responses are way out in left field and are in no way, shape or form grounded in the current state of the industry or market. One of the main drivers of current walnut price hike is the export market. Specifically, the Asian export market. Typically the rates for walnut saw logs range around $3-5 per board foot, with veneer logs being double that. Ive had numerous parties tell me Walnut veneer buyers are paying $15 per board foot for logs being exported to China and Japan. There are mills around the walnut belt of Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri that are packing containers full of walnut logs, limbs and all, and shipping them overseas. You can go on Craigslist in Nebraska and find ads that say, "Do not sell your walnut logs to local mills for pennies on the dollar. I am a direct link to China." Obviously paying more than double the normal price drives up the price for everyone else. In the last few months Ive had brokers quote me $7 a board foot for logs, which is crazy because I can buy kiln dried walnut lumber for that price at my local building supply store. As a little guy, Ive had to jack my prices just to compensate for what I'm paying for logs. In short, this is economics 101.


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## Gentile (Jun 3, 2013)

Sears-Troxell has always been high, price wise. They do have a good selection though. Every time I've gone there, they've had what I needed.


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## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Around Louisville, lumber is cheap, but walnut goes for double what cherry does, and the wood often isn't particularly clear.


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## BroncoBrian (Jan 14, 2013)

Brad - if you are interested in some material, send me a message. I live in Monument. Will be flying out to western NY in May and driving back a load os wood. There is a lot of Maple, Walnut, Chestnut, and Ash. Probably some oak and other stuff will be mixed in there. Going to get as much as I can but will not use it all. There is a sawyer who is will to mill some of it for trade but I expect to still have some stuff available if interested.

Having friends and family with barns from the 1800 era is a good things. But they are coming down and I am getting to take a good bit of it.


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## TheGreatJon (Jan 9, 2015)

I go to a local urban sawyer near me and he has walnut at $6-8 depending on thickness. I keep expecting it to go up because he has been complaining that he can't keep any walnut stocked. He says that demand has gone up a lot in the last year or so.


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

Mr.Jinx, I don't mean to offend, but that is some of the most off base economic reasoning I've heard in a long time. I didn't check your facts because even if people are moving capital towards durables, it doesn't support the observation that walnut prices are going up much faster than other wood. In general wood doesn't make a good store of value because of the storage costs and low ROI if stored for longer periods. I also don't think your facts would stand up to checking. Anyway didn't want to start an argument, but you may want to rethink what material you are reading. I like your woodworking better.


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## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Why invest in Gold when you can be even more secure by investing in walnut?


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

I will take gold over walnut any day - gold won't rot or burn or be eaten by insects, is more portable and more malleable so you can do more with it. 

I remember reading an article in the local news thirty years ago about a man who retired and bought 10 acres of farm land in a neighboring county with the intention of planting walnut trees for his children/grandchildren to harvest in 40 years. Most of that county has now been developed for residential housing so I doubt the tree farm is still standing. I joke that my two 25 year old trees are a retirement investment but really they are just to provide me with materials for a project to be completed after I retire.

Seriously I think a LOT of factors are contributing to the price increase: greater demand (particularly in foreign markets), decreased supply (thousand cankers disease, deforestation), higher costs for harvesting milling and transporting, general economic inflation, and old fashioned profiteering. So the next obvious question is "Are Walnut Lumber Prices a bubble that will burst anytime soon?"

Thanks posting a great forum topic.


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## splintergroup (Jan 20, 2015)

About $5 bdft in Albuquerque, NM (which is generally expensive compared to elsewhere). This is for FAS from Indiana.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

Tim, 
no offence taken. Just think if you had bought PCL 24 years ago, your investment would have increased by 600% excluding their dividend. All I am saying is, we are either going to have another bout of inflation coming soon or go into another deep recession. Thanks for the complement on my woodwork.


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## PhillipRCW (Dec 9, 2014)

I honestly would just put it to a demand and need for other markets that is driving up prices. Walnut is huge right now, worldwide. There's no denying it. And if I could find a way to buy from my local saw mill at $3-$4 a bf and fill a container and sell at even $8 a bf I would do it in a heartbeat. People are making money and it drives up the cost for everyone else. Simple economics.


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## LiveEdge (Dec 18, 2013)

I thought about this thread this week. I don't usually work with walnut, but bought some for a small furniture project. It was $10/bf for 5/4 steamed. That's getting up there for a domestic wood. I can buy highly, highly figured maple (see recent projects) for the same price.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

mrjinx notwithstanding, I have also seen a dramatic rise in walnut pricing, but only at the lumberyards where it is kiln dried.

When I stepped back and went to the boys out in the Smokies, (I live in SE Tennessee), although I heard stories about helicopters GPS locating large walnut trees, I have been able to buy some top quality wood at the $2.50-2.75 bd. ft. price. Just not kiln dried. I have some beautiful 1 1/4" thick planks, 15-18" wide stacked right now in walnut that I recently picked up for just $2.50 a bd. ft.

But, that is not to say that walnut is not in demand.
Here is my opinion - walk into any furniture store and tell me the OVERWHELMING color wood you see. Dark…

I have heard that a lot of larger cutters who do have access to walnut are shipping a lot of it overseas, especially China where a lot of this furniture is made. From there, it might be veneered up and used sparingly, but dark is back.

So around me, white oak? I can get top grade, air dried over a year for about $1.25 a bd. ft. Some of the oak cutters actually quit cutting oak, since it is not in demand right now.
Walnut and any other dark wood, different story.

All these things run in cycles. Five years from now, we will see light furniture again, and pricing will follow.


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## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

I'm amazed at how much prices vary by region. I get cherry for $2.50 and walnut for $4/bf-a was at Highland in Atlanta the other day and cherry was $8.90 and walnut somewhere Aron's $11-12/bc. While I do buy from sawmills locally and that would account for some difference, that's a big gap.


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## LiveEdge (Dec 18, 2013)

> I m amazed at how much prices vary by region. I get cherry for $2.50 and walnut for $4/bf-a was at Highland in Atlanta the other day and cherry was $8.90 and walnut somewhere Aron s $11-12/bc. While I do buy from sawmills locally and that would account for some difference, that s a big gap.
> 
> - CharlesA


I agree walnut is more because I'm out here in Oregon. But how much would this cost you?


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## Ocelot (Mar 6, 2011)

Whatever it costs, it's worth it! That's awsome!

At a nice local place, walnut is $6 here

... but I know others that sell it cheaper. I bought 185 bf for $350 (air dried) a couple years ago.

I think the resurgence of dark furniture sounds like a good theory. I've also read that boat-builders are getting away from Teak because it's astronomical - and are turning to walnut, but I doubt that would have much impact.

-Paul


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

Live Edge - I can't even get that around here. Flame, yes. Quilt, no way.


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## bearkatwood (Aug 19, 2015)

The quality seems to being getting lower as well. I deal with walnut a lot (it is my favorite) and the prices have just been going up and up over the last few years. I think we need to make African mahogany more popular so the prices will go back down.


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## sawdust703 (Jul 6, 2014)

Out here in the middle of the US, ya can't find walnut unless its 2" thick, 18" wide, & warped like nobody's business! White oak? Folks look at ya like ya fell out of your tree! I'd sure like to get my hands on some of both that's workable. I'm getting several requests for projects in both woods, but am unable to get it. Being a scroll sawyer, I'm a little picky about the lumber I buy for my projects.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

Sawdust, here is what I mean by oak not selling around me:

http://chattanooga.craigslist.org/mat/5237063876.html

This guy is in my town, and actually shut down his saw for a while.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fnr/fnr-148.html
http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/uploads/forestry/hardwoods_ira.pdf?amp;tabid=1244


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## sawdust703 (Jul 6, 2014)

Mr. Tennessee, any way of convincing this fella you know of to load that walnut on a semi, & bring it out our way? Looks like good wood, & well looked after. No doubt he'd get his asking price. I'll bet, as we speak, I could give you a phone number or two of a couple lumber yards right here locally that would take some of it.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

Sawdust, that is oak he is trying to sell, not walnut. And no, they don't deliver!

There used to be three of these guys here locally, now I only know of one that is active. Now if you can land a cherry, walnut or other fruit tree, it sells quickly. Spalted maple also goes fast.


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## sawdust703 (Jul 6, 2014)

Really? Same goes out here. Most any type of hardwood. Oak isn't quite as popular as walnut & cherry, or even maple, but its the idea of how hard it is to get a hold of here.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Jan 31, 2014)

Dang, I'd love to be able to buy maple like that around here.


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## sawdust703 (Jul 6, 2014)

Pardon me Mr. Tennessee, I didn't mean to get your dander up. I was just making a suggestion. And My mistake for calling it walnut, my apologies.


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## Shadowrider (Feb 2, 2015)

Sawdust where are you at? (if you don't mind me asking)

I'm in central Oklahoma and I'm almost afraid to go check some of the lumber yards that we have left around here for fear of dying of sticker shock. Seems all there is is retail sellers anymore. I can't even find any good lumber core ply to make nice cabinets and furniture out of anymore. The box stores here only have poplar, pine and red oak. That's it. And it's too dang expensive and warps like nobody's business when you start cutting on it. I'm tempted to rent a trailer or box truck and drive east…


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## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Drive to southern Indiana/Louisville area. Plenty of varieties at really good prices.


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