The price for a sq. ft. of veneer can be a bit misleading.
With crotch mahogany, for example, you normally want the "rooster tail" running down the center of each panel. So the pieces have to be at least as tall as the speakers. And many times, they are quite a bit taller. If they are not twice as tall, you can only get one panel out of each sheet. So they are not only more pricey per sq. ft., but there can be a lot of waste as well, further increasing the cost. Most of the time, you will need 8 - 10 sheets (regardless of the length) to use this type of veneer.
Some burls and crotches are only available in very small sheets. So you need many of them and there is a lot of labor involved stitching them all together.
Some trees are small, so sheets are very narrow and you need quite a few for each panel. Others are large and there is a good deal of waste.
The only way you can tell for certain is to know the exact size of each sheet. From there, you can determine how many sheets are required and how many sq. ft. it comes out to.
You normally want about 20% extra as well, just in case the veneering process goes south and you need to re-veneer a panel or two. You certainly wouldn't want to run into a problem and find that that particular batch of veneer is no longer available.
As you can see, it is a little tricky...
- Jim
Hi Jim,
You may be addressing this in general rather than to my comment. I'll clarify though, that I'm not thinking in terms of calculating wood price from the square foot price from sellers. I'm using it more as a relative value. If crotch mahogany costs ~1000 on HT2-TLs with hardwood plinth and baffle, black limba should be half that or less (assuming the $1000 is all material and not labor as Chris indicated) and cocobolo, at $12.50, nearly twice as much. I realize it is variable with how much wood needs to be obtained based on the widths, lengths, and patterns available. Just trying to get some kind of bench mark. Though, from your comments, it looks to be even more variable than I assumed!
.......Peter
