In article . com, RayV wrote:
Buddy of mine wants to build Norm's Cypress bench
http://www.newyankee.com/getphoto2.cgi?1203.jpg

So we went to the local store and they have some 8/4 Cypress with a
few knots roughly 8" and 8' long. He tells us it is $5.80 BF, we
thank him and head back to work.

I whip out my handy dandy BF calculator (OK MS Excel) calculate how
much, add 20% for miscuts and knots, add the 7% for or non-seatbelt
wearing governor and get ~$400.

Does $5.80 sound right for Cypress? I can't find an online price
without placing an order.

Sounds pretty salty to me. I get mine from these guys
http://hollingsworthlumber.com/search/44
and don't pay anywhere near that much, e.g. 2x8x8 for $19.92 = $1.87 / BF --
of course, Russiaville, Indiana would be a bit of a road trip for you. I can
leave after breakfast, and be back in plenty of time for lunch.

Pricing is location-dependent, of course, and there may not be any place in
New Jersey where you can buy cypress under two bucks a BF, but I've gotta
think you can find something better than $5.80 with a little time spent on the
phone. Even though cypress is a softwood, you'll probably have your best luck
with lumber dealers that advertise in the Yellow Pages that they sell
hardwoods. (Dealers that don't carry hardwoods frequently don't have any
softwoods other than spruce, pine, fir, and maybe cedar either.)

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.