# My latest Maryland Cork order



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Hi Folks,
I have seen a few questions about cork recently and thought I would let you know about a different option. First off, let me say that Maryland Cork is not for everybody, as you will see. There are lots of good places to get smaller amounts of cork, some of which even have pictures of what you will buy. If you are doing ONE build and don't plan on doing anymore anytime soon (or don't have a ton of space to put the excess, go with one of the other options, several of whom support this board.

If, however, IF you:

1) would like to have some choice in which piece of piece of cork you use in a specific situation 

2) might be building a few (or lots) of vivs in a soonish time frame

3) might like to have something to trade with other hobbyists

4) have plenty of space to store the cork

then read on...

Maryland Cork is a great operation that I have ordered from several times. They are maybe the only place that still imports cork (all cork is apparently imported into the US, mostly from Portugal) in large amounts. They supply most of the places that sell cork.

The ordering procedure is a little unusual. Basically, they sell roughly the same volume of cork in every order (at least that you or I are likely to place). This is because they only ship by the box. As you can see in the following picture: 



this is the box. (The T square is 2ft x 18 inches.) Every box I have ever ordered from them is this size (roughly 3ft x 18in x 18in). You are charged for the shipping and the weight of the cork in the box. You have a little bit of choice in the kind of cork that comes in the box. You can order "small rounds", "medium rounds", (I assume large rounds are available but the medium is too big for my purposes), "thin flats", and "thick flats." You can divide the box up into halves, at least. I usually order "small rounds" and "thin flats" because I mostly use flats for cracked cork mosaic backgrounds. 

Here are some pictures of what was in my order:








According to the invoice, this order contained 9 pounds of "thin flats" and 16 pounds of "small rounds." The former were $3.45 a pound and the latter were $4.45 a pound. The shipping cost me $76 to Colorado, which seems to be on the pricey side for shipping. I mean that it just seems to cost more to ship to Colorado, in general, not that Maryland Cork padded the shipping. There was also a $5 box charge.

I included shots of the cross section of the flats so you could see how thick they are (1.5" ish). The "small rounds" were about 50% larger in diameter than what I usually get from these guys. 

The total for this order was $183. This works out to about $7.20 per pound for the cork. This is the most expensive order I have placed, for whatever reason. Usually, they are around $130 to $150. 

HOWEVER, this is a huge amount of cork. It will probably take me a very long time to go through it. There are enough flats in there that I could probably do 5 or more 18x18x24 tanks with cracked cork mosaics. I bet I could decorate more tanks than that with the rounds, depending on how I use them. Let's say it's roughly 6 or 7 18x18x24s-worth of cork. So, less than $30 per tank (assuming you are going all-in on pure-cork decorating ;-) I think that's not too shabby.

I think I will probably hold onto any cork that I buy in the future. After chatting with the folks at Maryland Cork, they say that they are the last company in business that does this because it is getting harder and harder to get cork at all. Like tree fern fiber, I think the days of getting inexpensive cork maybe drawing to a close. It is not an environmental disaster (like tree fern harvesting may end up being), since the cork trees grow their bark back, but it only happens every 7 years and they are harvesting faster than it can grow right now. 

So, I just wanted to give everybody a heads-up on the state of cork right now. There are several other cork threads with good information, but I thought I would let everybody know how things were as of last week. 

Let me know if you have questions.

Mark


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## Freddie9990 (Apr 23, 2018)

Interesting read. Thank you


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

I've visited MD Cork more than a few times and the amount of cork they have is amazing. What I found unusual is that their number one customer is Hollywood-- explosives to be exact. When you see an explosion on tv, it likely is ground up cork.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

It is cheaper than my latest order, which came to just under $9/lb. shipping included. I agree that cork is only going to go up- look at Amazon and you'll see the people who sell it there have been upping the price and dropping the quantities. Folks like Glass Box and Pangea still have pretty reasonable prices for smaller quantities, but I bet that once they sell out of their current stocks, you'll see an increase there as well. I think it is wise to stockpile now. Great haul Mark!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you can go to them in person and are willing to purchase 150 lbs of cork then they will often let you pick through boxes that are already opened there (and seeing the machine that they use to convert the bark into pressed cork for things like decoys is impressive). 

some comments 

Ed


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

On prices of cork increasing: Pangea recently (within the last couple weeks) instituted a 25% price premium on bulk cork rounds under 5" diameter.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

@ Ed and Scott - I am envious that you guys are able to go to Maryland Cork and check out the operation/choose your cork!

@Socratic Monologue - That doesn't surprise me at all. I think that everybody will have to go up on prices over time. I think I will be holding onto my cork for the foreseeable future...

Mark


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

It was a little bit of a sensory overload. At some point I'd like to make another trip there. 

some comments 

Ed


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## jeffkruse (Jun 5, 2018)

I just placed an order with them. $3.95 a pound for thin flats and $4.95 a pound for small rounds. I bought 9#'s of thin flats and 16 #'s of small rounds. Shipping to FL is $60.


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## jeffkruse (Jun 5, 2018)

BTW, I ordered on Monday and received my package on Wednesday! The flats look great. The small rounds may be a touch large but I did not specify the smallest of the small rounds. I just said small rounds. They will work.


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