Word for lumber/wood quantity?

[ilikethai]

Hello what is the word for lumber in large quantity size in Thai and how much?  They like to say "q" to describe the quantity.  I would like to know

what do they mean by that.  Is't cubic size?  like 1meter x 1 meter pile of woods?  How long of a 2x10cm of "1 q" of  wood would this be?

Edited March 5, 2021 by ilikethai

[canopy]

A lot of terminology working with lumber. English has many classifiers like a school of fish, a cubby of quail, a pride of lions, and so on. In thai likewise there are also many classifiers. The classifier for number of boards sounds like the english word pan (แผ่น), as in frying pan. So you would say sip pan if you wanted 10. Cost is sometimes calculated by sawn board feet which you can look up how that is calculated. Length is sometimes measured in sawk (half meter units). Face dimensions are often inches (niew).

 

For logs the classifier is tawn (ท่อน). Larger quantities of logs are sometimes sold in cubic meters. Lengths are typically 6 meters.

 

I would recommend getting familiar with the terms your supplier uses and stick with those terms to avoid any confusion.

 

For large quantities you should definitely, absolutely for sure buy logs and get a portable saw mill to make the lumber--the price will be astronomically cheaper and quality of lumber can be way higher. The middle men in Thailand mark up the prices a fortune and the quality of milling is poor. They typically eyeball down a band saws with no fence and the wood ends up curved and wonky, especially as they are drinking whiskey as they go along.

 

 

[ilikethai]

thanks for the reply.  but the people over in udon say "q" i was going to ask them how many and how much but I was afraid they'll jack up the price for being a novice. so does this mean it's 1 meter by 1 meter

[canopy]

Ah, I thought 'q' was a variable, not a word. I suspect they are saying 'cube", not 'q' which is the Thai short hand way to say cubic meter. That would be 1x1x1 meter. To be safe, you should not ask the price or be there when it is asked. Tell a thai that might passably buy some wood what you want and have that person ask the price. Otherwise it's ripe for double pricing. Payment should be by cashiers check along with a signed order form in Thai so records are available if they don't deliver.

 

[ilikethai]

thankyou!  so basically it's not that much.  They want 9,000 baht.  the guy that went with me had no clue.  even villagers don't know.  the ones that know are the owner or the shop employees. the thing is if I ask around almost of them will want commission.  so is this normal for them to sell in "cube" 1x1x1

[sometimewoodworker]

14 hours ago, ilikethai said:

thankyou!  so basically it's not that much.  They want 9,000 baht.  the guy that went with me had no clue.  even villagers don't know.  the ones that know are the owner or the shop employees. the thing is if I ask around almost of them will want commission.  so is this normal for them to sell in "cube" 1x1x1

That is a tiny order, the costs around udon for that kind of order are usually  given as X per metre with X being dependent on spices and board size. In all the good timber yards the stock is rough sawn and they will run it through the plainer for a very small extra cost, this is well worth the extra as once a board is run through if large defects are found you can reject that board with no problem. You will also be able to get them to go through the stacks with you so you can avoid boards with defects you care about like, but not limited to, splits, banana shapes , twisted, spalted, large knots etc.
 

You don’t say which yard you are looking at but a few km out of Udon on the RHS of Nittayo road opposite a U turn is a timber yard with an excellent huge  selection. AFIK I have never had a markup added in any timber yard. I’ve just checked with SWMBO and she agrees we’ve never been given a foreign up charge.

Edited March 7, 2021 by sometimewoodworker