We sell rough-sawn hardwood lumber cut at our own mill from local Missouri logs. You can buy boards from what's in the yard, or give us a cut list and we'll saw to your sizes. Lumber is sold by the board foot. Tell us the species, thickness and amount you need, and we'll quote it.
Species and thicknesses on hand
What's in the yard changes as logs come in and wood sells, so the best way to find out what we have is to ask.
Rough-sawn hardwood is usually sold in quarter-inch thicknesses, written as a fraction:
| Called | Rough thickness | Common uses |
|---|---|---|
| 4/4 ("four quarter") | 1 inch | Shelves, furniture parts, trim, siding |
| 5/4 | 1¼ inch | Tabletops, stair treads, sturdier shelves |
| 6/4 | 1½ inch | Table legs, benches, thick tops |
| 8/4 | 2 inch | Legs, posts, heavy tops, trailer decking |
| 12/4 and up | 3 inch and more | Slabs, mantels, timbers |
Rough-sawn boards come straight off the saw at full thickness with saw marks on the faces. When you plane them smooth, you lose about ⅛ to ¼ inch, so a 4/4 board usually finishes around ¾ to ⅞ inch. Order a little thicker than your finished size.
For how each species saws, dries and gets used, see Missouri wood species.
Green, air-dried or kiln-dried: what you're buying
Before you buy any lumber, ask how dry it is. It changes what you can build with it.
- Green lumber is freshly sawn and full of water. It's the cheapest and easiest to nail, and it's what most barns, fences and rough outdoor projects are built from. It will shrink and may twist or cup as it dries, so build with that in mind.
- Air-dried lumber has been stickered and stacked outside, under cover, for months or longer. A common rule of thumb is about a year per inch of thickness. According to MU Extension, air-dried lumber in Missouri levels off at about 12 to 14 percent moisture content.
- Kiln-dried lumber has been dried in a heated chamber down to the 6 to 10 percent moisture content that wood reaches indoors in Missouri. That's what you want for furniture, cabinets and flooring. We don't have a kiln today, so we don't sell kiln-dried lumber. Our kiln drying page explains our plans.
If you buy air-dried boards for indoor furniture, bring them inside and let them sit in the room where they'll be used for a few weeks before you build. A moisture meter is cheap and takes the guessing out of it.
Board feet explained
Hardwood lumber is priced by the board foot. One board foot is a piece 12 inches long, 12 inches wide and 1 inch thick, or 144 cubic inches of wood.
To figure board feet: thickness (inches) × width (inches) × length (feet) ÷ 12.
A few examples:
- A 1-inch board, 8 inches wide and 10 feet long: 1 × 8 × 10 ÷ 12 = 6.7 board feet
- A 2-inch board, 6 inches wide and 8 feet long: 2 × 6 × 8 ÷ 12 = 8 board feet
- A 6 × 6 beam, 8 feet long: 6 × 6 × 8 ÷ 12 = 24 board feet
Rough lumber is measured at its rough size, before planing. When you plan a project, add about 20 to 30 percent for waste from knots, checks, end trimming and cutting around defects.
How much to order. Add up the board feet in your parts list at rough size, then add the waste allowance. For a project where color and grain should match, like a tabletop or a set of cabinet doors, buy it all at once, ideally from the same log. Boards from different logs of the same species can look quite different side by side.
Custom cut lists, beams and trailer decking
If you need sizes you can't find at a lumberyard, we can saw them. Common orders at a sawmill like ours:
- Trailer decking. Thick hardwood planks cut to your trailer's length. Oak is the usual choice. Tell us the length, width and how many planks.
- Fence boards and barn siding. Board-and-batten siding, horse fence boards and rough-sawn siding for sheds and barns, often green.
- Beams, posts and timbers. Square or rectangular timbers for porch posts, pergolas, headers, benches and mantels. See mantel beams and timbers.
- Matched boards from one log, if you need color and grain to match for a table, cabinets or shelves (ask).
For a cut list, tell us the species, the thickness, width and length of each piece, how many, and whether you need it dry. We'll tell you what we can saw and when. For help choosing species and thickness for outdoor work, see our guide to rough-sawn lumber for trailer decks, barns and fences. If you want quarter-sawn boards, read flat-sawn vs quarter-sawn oak first; quarter-sawing yields narrower boards and takes longer.
What to look for in rough-sawn boards
Rough lumber from a sawmill isn't graded and sorted like lumberyard stock, so look boards over before you buy. Check the ends for checks (cracks) and plan to trim them off. Sight down each board for bow, crook and twist; a little is normal in rough stock and planes out, a lot doesn't. Pale sapwood along an edge is fine for barn work and some furniture but may not suit a walnut tabletop. Small tight knots are usually sound; loose knots and bark pockets are not.
Lumber prices
Prices depend on species, grade, thickness and how dry the wood is. Walnut often costs several times as much as red oak, and cherry costs more than oak too; thicker and wider boards cost more per board foot; air-dried costs more than green.
Our pricing page shows typical national price ranges for rough-sawn lumber and what drives the price.
Get a Quote
Tell us the species, thickness and amount you need, or send your cut list, and we'll quote it.