Retail reference ranges for kiln-dried 4/4 hardwood in the US, early 2026 — the "is that quote sane?" table, not a live ticker. Your yard's number moves with region, grade, thickness and how the market's feeling this quarter.
| Species | $ / bf low | $ / bf high | 100 bf budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red oak | $4.00 | $7.00 | $550 |
| White oak | $6.00 | $11.00 | $850 |
| Hard maple | $5.00 | $9.00 | $700 |
| Soft maple | $3.50 | $6.00 | $475 |
| Black walnut | $8.50 | $14.00 | $1,125 |
| Cherry | $5.00 | $9.00 | $700 |
| White ash | $3.50 | $7.00 | $525 |
| Hickory | $3.50 | $7.00 | $525 |
| Yellow birch | $5.00 | $8.00 | $650 |
| Poplar | $3.00 | $5.00 | $400 |
| Basswood | $2.75 | $5.00 | $388 |
| Beech | $4.00 | $6.00 | $500 |
| Eastern white pine | $2.00 | $4.00 | $300 |
| Southern yellow pine | $1.00 | $3.00 | $200 |
| Douglas fir | $2.00 | $4.00 | $300 |
| Western red cedar | $3.00 | $6.00 | $450 |
| Redwood | $5.00 | $9.00 | $700 |
| Spruce (SPF) | $1.00 | $3.00 | $200 |
| Red alder | $4.00 | $6.00 | $500 |
| Sapele | $7.00 | $11.00 | $900 |
| African mahogany | $7.00 | $12.00 | $950 |
| Teak | $20.00 | $35.00 | $2,750 |
| Purpleheart | $8.00 | $13.00 | $1,050 |
| Ipe | $9.00 | $15.00 | $1,200 |
Cross-checked July 2026 against published dealer price lists: Johnson Creek Hardwoods (sawmill-direct, IL), CR Muterspaw Lumber, Alderfer Lumber, Country Concepts and Woodworkers Source (retail). Ranges span sawmill-direct to city-retail FAS — softwood and exotic rows are approximate market levels. Updated yearly; treat as a sanity check and price your actual cut list in the board foot calculator.
Every line on a dealer's board reads like "4/4 Red Oak, FAS, S2S — $5.85/bf". Decode it left to right: thickness in quarters (4/4 = 1″ rough), species, grade, surfacing, price per board foot. Four levers move that number:
Tally your cut list, add 25–30% waste for furniture-grade work, multiply by the range above. A 60 bf walnut dining-table build at $9–14/bf budgets to $540–840 in wood before glue and finish — knowing that spread before you fall in love with the design is exactly what this table is for. Softwood framing budgets run off the chart instead, since construction lumber sells by the stick.
Hardwood grows east of the plains and dries near where it grows, so every mile west adds freight to a heavy product. Add local demand (coastal furniture markets), yard overhead, and how much surfacing is bundled in, and a 75% regional spread on identical FAS red oak is normal, not a ripoff. The grading language itself is standardized by the National Hardwood Lumber Association's grading rules — FAS, F1F, Selects, #1/#2 Common describe clear-cutting yield, not beauty — which is what makes phone quotes comparable across state lines in the first place.
Practical buying order: price the cut list at your local yard's numbers with the calculator, ask what grade the quote assumes, then ask what the next grade down costs — furniture parts under 6 feet often nest beautifully in #1 Common at a 30–40% discount. That one question routinely saves more than any coupon.