£630 for a turning blank ? wow

[APH]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lignum-Vitae-Cylinder-14-dia-x-3-Woodturning-Blank/322437582611?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Not sure I've ever seen any blank offered at such a high price before; £632.10 for a 14" x 3' Lignun vitae blank.
Rare expensive wood for sure, but that's a lot of dosh.

[Lazurus]

Ah but will it sell..... then it becomes expensive, if it is not sold then it is worthless to the holder.

[bodrighywood]

Much better option here LOL

Pete

[GBF]

It has got to be a mistake

Regards George

[fuzzyturns]

Guys, you need to look at the dimensions properly: This is a blank with 14" diameter and 3 feet long, and according to the seller it weighs 129kg (that's almost 20 stone).
For starters, this would be an absolute rarity, as LV doesn't usually grow to this size. And then it's a lot of wood.

[seventhdevil]

lignum is expensive and the seller has got only a few left and they will not be getting more in for a few years i've been told.

whitmores are the people i used to get my cylinders from for my skittle balls but they were only 12x5" size wise and about £45 each when i stopped buying from them as the quality was not great.

i did buy one of those cylinders a couple of years ago but the customer paid for it and they were much cheaper at around £450 but i think we only bought a 12" cylinder at the same length.

no one is bringing anymore lignum in and that is why the prices are going up as there will be someone who wants one and they'll be the only place who has one so can command the price.

i should point out that this is not genuine lignum but the argentine stuff from the bulnesia genus. genuine is impossible to buy unless you find decades old stock.

the bulnesia species are 1-2' diameter trees so this is an average size for a mature tree and at 129 likos works out at about £4.89p per kilo which is how lignum is sold and sounds about right price wise.

genuine lignum can go for £7-10 per kilo. it can also be 1-2' diameter but the biggest i have ever seen is 18" wide and is usually nearer the 1' diameter as it's a slower growing tree and can take 300 years to get to 12" wide.


i am currently stockpiling genuine lignum for my pension and if the price is right i'll buy any old stock if i can find it. i think i'm up to about 1 1/2 tons at the moment.

[APH]

this would be an absolute rarity

The amazing aspect is looking at the photos. You can see four significantly bigger blanks around the one offered.

I wonder how much they actually have in stock.

What would you make from blanks like that ?

[seventhdevil]

i was using the one i bought to make these.

they are called cheeses and are about 3" thick by 10-12" across.

[fuzzyturns]

So what are they good for (other than as paper weights)?

[APH]

So what are they good for (other than as paper weights)?

VERY expensive paper weights at that.
At this price a 3" thick disk of that timber would cost £135. Given the difficulty of turning it should command a premium rate for working it, so would have to sell for an awful lot to make it profitable. Who pays £300 for a product like that ?

[seventhdevil]

i make the equipment for this place.
http://www.londonskittles.co.uk/

from memory the one i had was about 110cm long so we should get about 13 blanks from it and they bought it for about £450 as i said so each blank is only around £35 and i charge £30 to turn it.

i also make the pins which are made from solid hornbeam at 14 1/4" tall and 6 1/2" wide.

i even made the current frame that the pins stand on which you can see on page 4 of this thread on another forum.
https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/58060-all-my-woodwork-so-far/

[seventhdevil]

So what are they good for (other than as paper weights)?

VERY expensive paper weights at that.
At this price a 3" thick disk of that timber would cost £135. Given the difficulty of turning it should command a premium rate for working it, so would have to sell for an awful lot to make it profitable. Who pays £300 for a product like that ?

how did you work those prices out???

[APH]

how did you work those prices out???

14" long @ £632 = £45 per inch, so a three inch blank is about £135.
I'd guess time for acquisition, prep, turning, finishing, packaging then add overheads, profit and VAT should add up to around a final retail of £300 to a customer for a reasonable return.

[seventhdevil]

open your eyes mate, that's diameter not length.

it says it's 3' long so 3" of it is around £48.


as i said, they paid for the cylinder and i only charge £30 to turn one of those cheeses and it only takes me about an hour.

[APH]

open your eyes mate, that's diameter not length.
it says it's 3' long so 3" of it is around £48.

My mistake.

i only charge £30 to turn one of those cheeses and it only takes me about an hour.

Impressed if you can source/prep/turn/finish/pack in an hour and your overheads are so low you can make a decent profit for £30.