Is pine wood cheap or expensive?

Answer 1

I've got to give a qualified "it depends." Steve Wall Lumber (http://www.walllumber.com) sells inch-thick furniture-grade white pine for $1.25 per board foot and inch-thick yellow pine for $2.20 per board foot. He has #1 Common red oak for $2.10 per board foot and #1 Common poplar for $1.30 per board foot. So...in that range, hardwood is about the same price as pine.

Now if you REALLY want to get outrageous...he's also got inch-thick bocote or wenge for $14, inch-thick kingwood or tulipwood for $25, a couple of things that cost $16, some zebrawood for $12...so I would say hardwood is usually more expensive than pine but not always.

At the very top of the scale is Lignum Vitae, the heaviest wood there is. A piece 3 inches square by 18 inches long is $31.70, and it's very rare because it's a threatened species. Before it was threatened, it was THE most popular wood for making policemen's batons probably because you only have to conk someone in the head with a lignum vitae baton once to get your point across.

Answer 2

It's inexpensive for several reasons:

• Pines are plentiful
• Pines are fast-growing and quickly-available
• Pine wood is a softer wood than many other woods
• Pine wood requires less working to create planks because the trees are relatively straight with fewer large branches

Answer 3

its normally cheap