Holly Lumber

[magellan44]

Hello all,

I have to ask, what is the going price of Holly Lumber in the Carolinas? I live in Pittsburgh PA and have a place in Myrtle Beach and of course I'm always driving between the two during the year and thought about the Holly Lumber because recently I had to acquire some and it's out of hand up here. $28.00 per board ft. I've always heard that Holly grows in the Carolinas and in Virginia. Here in PA we really only have Holly bushes and not trees. I have to be honest I've been woodworking for 30 plus years and have never seen a Holly tree, at least I can't remember seeing one.

Well, just curious about the going price in your areas.

thank you
Ben

 

[DaveO]

Holly boards are hard to come by due to the slow growth of the tree, and it's hard to find trees with good sized trunks. It is generally sold as turning stock, or narrow boards for inlay work. Holly should only be harvested in the winter to avoid blue-stain. I had a hard time finding any on-line pricing for holly 4/4 stock, but the going rate is around $18-22 a BF. I have some large Ilex opaca trees on my property, but the trunk diameters might be only 10-12", which by the time you remove the pith and the taper, you aren't left with much stock to make boards out of.

Dave

 

[pacific493]

I have heard prices in the $10-12 range, but that was a while back.

I picked up some holly a few years back for $1.50 a board foot, but it hadn't been handled well and was stained (it did have some nice spalting, though). It's too bad it hadn't been treated right because it must have been a massive tree. All of the boards I got were 10-12" wide.

 

[SkintKnuckle]

Give Wall Lumber a call, they have if from time to time. The prices I've seen there when they have it were less than those posted above, but the boards weren't nearly as wide, most of what I've seen there was about 4 to 6 inch, and only 4/4

 

[Matt Furjanic]

Dave O is spot-on with his info on holly. I have an inlay business for which I use a lot of holly, and am always looking for quality stuff, but it is extremely hard to find in clear and white stock. I have been from one end of NC to the other and rarely do I find unstained holly. Cutters and suppliers will tell you their stuff is white, but in 9 out of 10 cases, it is not. The trees must be cut in the dead of winter and immediately cut and put in the kiln. If not the sugars inside the wood start to ferment and cause the blue, green or gray staining. The wood on the outside may appear white, but once cut, it is frequently stained under the surface. When you buy a piece of holly, you have to cut into a sample piece and look at the long-grain wood on the inside. My advice is to not buy a piece of holly unless you can get your hands on it and cut it to look under the surface. If you don't mind the staining, I have a lot of it I will sell you cheap. Also, the trees have limbs all over the place and never have straight and limbless trunks. Therefore expect a lot of knots. Matt...

 

[saw4you]

I have about 6000 b/f of holly, boards as wide as 14", I had 4.00 b/f on it but I have been selling alot for 2.00 b/f. Send me a PM if you are interested

Jack

 

[magellan44]

Fellows,

Thanks for the info, I've not used Holly before so I was not aware of its properties of staining. That's interesting to know. The piece that I did acquire was about 4ft long and 5 inches wide but was pretty clear. Actually very clear. One of the fellows on Sawmill Creek invited me to come to his shop and pick out a piece to use. I was building a Cremation Urn for a friends wife and this one fellow stepped in and gave me the piece I needed to do the accents. Very nice of him. Now that I have used it I believe I'd like to use it more often in other projects as a detail accent.

Is it true that it grows more in the Carolina's that other places in the east? Is it the sandy soil?

thanks guys.....

 

[mkepke]

Hello all,

<snip> I have to be honest I've been woodworking for 30 plus years and have never seen a Holly tree, at least I can't remember seeing one.

Ben, this is for you. This is one of the holly trees growing in my backyard. I'm not sure what species of Ilex it is, probably American. They seem to grow well in central NC - but what doesn't !



-Mark

 

[magellan44]

Thanks Mark,

Yea, I'm pretty sure I'd remember a Holly that big. Like I said we pretty much have ornamental bushes up here as far as I can see. I even spoke to a good friend of mine that's a tree cutter and he said the same thing that he's only come across a few trees in all his years of logging in the Pittsburgh area.

Ben