I was a timber merchant in Ireland for twenty five years.
It all comes down to supply and demand. Hardwoods can be hand selected if you are willing to take the time and travel then turn and pull your own boards. The problems start when the supply is dwindling and there is no fresh stock, it becomes a sellers market. In Europe ?generally, the hardwood supplier has no one he can return it to, as it was shipped into him and bought on irrevocable letter credit i.e. your supplier pays for it once it is loaded on the ship in the country of origin.Therefore he will keep shoving it out there until somebody accepts it.
It can be further complicated with ?kiln drying too quickly to get it out on the market.
The softwood mills who produce planned timber for the smaller guys to resell, generally will make a monthly allowance for twists and warps, but they never want it back, the seller gets a credit, then discounts it out to cash customers.
Definitely, the more noise that you make, the better ?quality you will receive.
Trevor Lusty
Ireland
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