Carving Material Price Comparisons

NOTE: The following information may not be accurate. Check with the supplier for current and correct pricing. This is only intended to provide an overview of the relative cost of carving materials. The pricing was done in Mar/Apr 2003 ($US).

I did this project to get some idea of the relative costs of the materials that were available to carve with. Personally, I was amazed to see that the range of prices was from about $.06 (with shipping included) to over $.50 PER SQUARE INCH!!! In the tables below, it's that 4th column of numbers you want to look at.

The calculation I used was basically...

(pennies per square inch) = (price in pennies) / (width) / (height) / (qty per package) ...where the (width) and (height) are in inches. If you know shipping costs and/or sales tax, they can be added to the (price in pennies) before doing the calculation.

I present it here in the hope that you find some value in it. Once you find a product you're interested in, you should enter it's name into a good search engine (like www.yahoo.com) to compare sources and current prices.

Nasco (www.nasco.com) - Shipping is not included in these prices. Just for an idea, I bought qty 2 of the 12x18 Safety-Kut on 3/25/03 and was charges $9.05 for shipping. This means that the in-hand price of the material will be 5.56 pennies per sq. in.

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 4x6      1     1.60    6.66    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
 6x12     1     3.75    5.21    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
 9x12     1     5.80    5.37    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
12x12     1     6.50    4.51    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
12x18     1     7.50    3.47    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
18x26     1    19.30    4.12    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
26x30     1    29.15    3.73    Safety-Kut block (3/8")
 3x4      1      .65    5.41    Softoleum block (1/4")
 4x6      1     1.20    5.00    Softoleum block (1/4")
 6x12     1     3.10    4.30    Softoleum block (1/4")
 9x12     1     4.00    3.70    Softoleum block (1/4")
12x12     1     5.70    3.95    Softoleum block (1/4")
12x18     1     7.55    3.49    Softoleum block (1/4")

Stampeaz (www.investorsnet.com/stampeaz/) - shipping will be extra. I did receive an e-mail stating that "...get 4-5 sheets of PZKut into a Flat Rate envelope for $3.85 to anywhere in the continental USA."
```
size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
10x4.75   1     5.00   10.52    PZ KUT (1/4")
 4x6      1     7.00   29.16    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")
```

Michaels Arts & Crafts - I walked into a local store and got these prices.

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 4x6      1     5.49   22.87    Speedball Speedy Stamp (pink, 3/8")
 7x11     1     9.99   12.97    Speedball Speedy Cut (cream, 3/8")
 4x6      1     3.99   16.62    Speedball Speedy Cut (cream, 3/8")
 3x4      1     1.99   16.58    Speedball Speedy Cut (cream, 3/8")
 5x7      1     4.49   12.82    Speedball mounted linoleum
.9x2.4    1     1.29   59.72    General A1 Eraser
.9x2.4    1      .99   45.83    General Factis Eraser
 1x2.25   1      .79   35.11    Sanford MagicRub 1954 Eraser
 1x2      1      .79   39.50    Sanford Pink Pearl Eraser

Pearl Arts and Crafts - I walked into a local store and got these prices.

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 1x2      1      .56   28.00    Pink Pearl Eraser
.9x2.4    1      .54   37.50    Mars Plastic (white w/raised markings)
.8x2.4    1      .48   25.00    Alvin Erase-clear 1410AE (white)
.9x1.6    1      .63   43.75    Factis Black Eraser
6.75x11   1     7.64   10.28    Speedball SpeedyCut (cream, 3/8")
 4x6      1     4.24   17.66    Speedball SpeedyStamp (pink, 3/8")
2.5x5     1     3.60   28.80    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")
24x36     1    50.92    5.89    unmounted linoleum
 8x10     1     7.44    9.30    mounted linoleum

AC Moore Crafts - I walked into a local store and got these prices.

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
.9x2.4    1     1.09   50.46    ProArt Soft 3088 (white)

Office Depot - I walked into a local store and got these prices.

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 1x2.25   3     2.49   36.88    Sanford MagicRub 1954 Eraser
 1x2      3     1.59   26.50    Pink Pearl Eraser (bevel)
 1x2      6     2.49   20.75    NoName Eraser (multi-color, bevel)

Staples Office Supplies

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 1x2.25   3     1.68   24.88    Sanford MagicRub 1954 Eraser
.9x2.4    4     2.56   29.62    Mars Plastic (white w/raised markings)
.8x2.4    2      .99   25.78    Staples Tech Erasers (white)
 1x2      3     1.39   23.16    Staples Pink Wedge Eraser (bevel)

Jerry's Artarama - http://www.jerrysartarama.com (thanks Gramaberti) - shipping extra: $9 for $0-$49 order, $11 for $50-$74 order, etc

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
2.5x5     1     3.29   26.32    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")
 4x6      1     5.49   22.87    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")
 9x12     1    19.99   18.51    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")

Hobby Lobby - http://www.hobbylobby.com (thanks Gramaberti) - shipping?!? I could not find the items below on the web site

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 4x6      1     7.99   33.29    Staedtler Mastercarve (3/4")
6.75x11   1     9.25   12.45    Speedball Speedy-Cut (cream, 3/8")

Dick Blick - http://www.dickblick.com - shipping extra

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
 4x6      1     1.08    4.50    Soft-Kut (1/4")
 6x12     1     2.88    4.00    Soft-Kut (1/4")
 9x12     1     4.18    3.87    Soft-Kut (1/4")
12x12     1     5.58    3.88    Soft-Kut (1/4")
12x18     1     6.78    3.14    Soft-Kut (1/4")

Currys - http://www.currys.com (Canada) carries Soft-Kut, and Softoleum. It mentioned that the Softoleum came in both 1/4" and 3/8" thicknesses?!?
Hobby Lobby - http://www.hobbylobby.com (thanks Gramaberti) - shipping?!? I could not find the items below on the web site
```
size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
1.5x1.5   27   27.00   44.44    Staedtler Mastercarve class pak (3/4")
```

Home Depot - what I found at a local hardware superstore

size"   qty/pk  $US  cents/sq"
  6x6      1     .91    2.53    red rubber sheet (1/16" thick)