Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Stuart Noble wrote:
I can get oak for less than that..a lot less.

Its about £30 a cubic foot. That's a raw lumber price at say 25mm
thickness (planed to 19mm) of around 75p a sq foot. Or maybe £7.50 a
square meter. OK sawing and planing takes it up a LOT, but not that
much.


But oak isn't to everybody's taste aesthetically. Visually I find it a
bit bland (yes, even quarter sawn), plus it reminds me of schools and
official buildings.

I also wonder if this cheap oak TNP goes on about is available in the same
widths as was common with Victorian pine? Narrower just doesn't look right
in many rooms. And of course T&G will be narrower by nature.

Its available in whatever width you want. Ive got 3" wide stuff, 4", 5",
7", 9"..as I said, I bought a job lot of beaded 19mm t&G. If I want
plane planks I mill off the edges. When I have designed the bookshelves
I will go and get it machined to order into the correct sized planks.
Extra wide stuff is more expensive, because it has to go across a whole
tree bole, but there you are talking 20" and upwards.

Good wood is NOT expensive, or not as expensive as people think it is,
and the people recycling Victorian pine, are laughing all the way to the
bank.

By and large they buy cheaper and sell dearer than the timber machiners
do for new wood, and the only downside is they lose the odd cutter blade
on a nail.