Well I found this guy on craig's list who mills wood wiith a bandsaw mill selling some cherry cheap.
He had several stacks cut that were well worth the price, but not as wide as I woulld have liked and some sapwood ect and he was selling the whole stacks.
Then he said he had some 5/4 which I could pick through for $2.20 a foot. It was really nice, wide and with really nice color. I didn't want 5/4, but this was some special wood and I went for it, buying 150 bf with some short but nice pieces thrown in for free.
Then he showed me the bottom part of the tree (6 feet long) he has cut the 5/4 from and which was big, but had a rotten center on one end. I asked if he could cut it up 4/4 for me. He could, no charge for the wood, but $65.00 per hour for milling. I found another 4' section of the tree in the firewood pile and asked if he could cut it too.
OK, so it took us 3 hours to cut it up, I figure I conservatively got 150+ board feet of which 100 is furniture grade and the rest will be small stuff for boxes ect. Cost me $195.00.
Sorry for rambling.................the conundrum is whether to pay more for primo lumber or do what I always end up doing, getting a mixed bag for cheaper and having to fight through the defects?
Just wondering other people's thoughts on the subject of lumber procurement?