What to do with the trees?

   / What to do with the trees? #1  

dmccarty

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Last spring we had a wind storm that brought down three oak trees somewhat near the house. One tree is firewood size, roughly 15 inches in diameter. The other two are something else. Some of the largest trees we have. One is close to 34-36 inches DBH and has a good 40-50 feet of straight trunk. The other tree is maybe 32ish inches DBH and has 40-50 feet of trunk. Really sad to see them down.:mad:

There was one other HUGE tree and yesterday I finally found the time to see if the tree was still up. And it was not. Looks like the same storm blew it and a couple more trees down. Its either oak or hickory and it is 36 inches DBH with 50-60 feet of straight trunk. Really stinks to see that glorious tree down. It took down another oak in the 30ish DBH size.

We timbered in 2000 but kept the area where these trees are located out of the contract to keep these old trees around. :eek::(

Anywho they are down. The ones near the house I have been topping and was going to cut up into firewood. :eek: Don't like it but what else to do with it? The one tree near the house has to have at least 10 cords of wood in it and there are three trees down. We burn 3-4 cords a year so there is 6-7 years worth of firewood. And that is not even talking about the trees we just found! AND we have four 24ish DBH oaks that have died that need to come down.:mad::mad::mad::mad::eek::eek::eek:

So what to do?

The market a few months ago was only $200 per 1000 board feed. The big trees will produce almost 1000 board feet but I have no way to get these trees in long lengths out of the woods. So selling to a mill is out?

Make firewood? What a pain that would be. The rounds would be very heavy and even with the splitter used in the verticle position its a lot of work. And it just seems horrible to turn these into firewood.

Make lumber?

To make lumber I would have to get a sawmill. Went through this calculus years ago and a decent mill is more money that I have or would want to spend if I did have the dollars. PLUS these trees are not easily accessible so even getting portable mills to them is not easy.

Which leaves me with the Alaskan type mills.

But what to do with the wood? The oak is likely stained at this point and even if it is not the wood will have to be dried and then what?

I don't have time to make furniture.

Try to sell the wood?

Or do I make timbers out of this stuff and build a barn? And oak post and beam barn?

What to do? I'm leaning towards making beams and building a barn...

Ideas?

Later,
Dan
 
   / What to do with the trees? #2  
Call a close by sawmill and ask them what to do. Most rural sawmills deal with this type of call frequently. They'll probably refer you to a local logger.
Personally I'd be happy with the firewood. For the Alaskan sawmill setups the log needs to be on level ground, and you need a chainsaw with a long bar. You'll also want a "ripping" chain for your saw.
Split seasoned oak is going for a premium around here, I'd sell some wood for a few $.
 
   / What to do with the trees? #3  
"The market a few months ago was only $200 per 1000 board feed. The big trees will produce almost 1000 board feet but I have no way to get these trees in long lengths out of the woods. So selling to a mill is out?"

So if I add my zeros you're looking at 200,000$ worth of timber. You would be a fool to do anything but cash in here. We use helicopters to hoist trees out of the woods in the NW and for just a couple of trees, you could skid them out with a bulldozer or a good logger will have a way. There is no reason that the trees are stuck in the forest. They'll need to be cut down to log truck length and 36" diameter is child's play for a real logger. The log trucks hold an 8' wide load of logs and there have been more than a few "one log trucks".
 
   / What to do with the trees?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Slacker said:
Call a close by sawmill and ask them what to do. Most rural sawmills deal with this type of call frequently. They'll probably refer you to a local logger.
Personally I'd be happy with the firewood. For the Alaskan sawmill setups the log needs to be on level ground, and you need a chainsaw with a long bar. You'll also want a "ripping" chain for your saw.
Split seasoned oak is going for a premium around here, I'd sell some wood for a few $.

I split firewood as a summer job once. I ain't doing it again except for my own use. :D But it is an option. :D

There is no easy access to the the really big down tree site. I'll have to cut a tractor trail to get in there. I already have a trail to the trees I knew that had fallen. Loggers won't touch a tree like this since there is not money in it onless it was for veneer. The value of the tree would not pay for the cost for the logger to drop off a skidder and cutter much less get the trees. One reason we did not allow logging in this area of wood was due to a wet area. The equipment would just tear that area up and even if the tree was a high doller tree it would not pay for the damage...

Thinking things over, it looks like one or two of these trees would provide enough posts and beams for a good size barn.....

Later,
Dan
 
   / What to do with the trees?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Highbeam said:
"The market a few months ago was only $200 per 1000 board feed. The big trees will produce almost 1000 board feet but I have no way to get these trees in long lengths out of the woods. So selling to a mill is out?"
...
So if I add my zeros you're looking at 200,000$ worth of timber.... ".

Yep, math is off. Its 200*1 = $200. Not 200K. :D The price is $200 PER 1000 board feet not $200 per foot. To really confuse people in the Information Age the timber business use the old Roman M to mean 1000. So timber is sold as $X per 1M. And M don't mean a Millon much less a Megabyte. :D

One volume calculator said the really big tree was 1.2Mish aka 1200ish board feet. So its worth is somewhere around $240-480 to a mill. Cut into nice boards at HD its a bit more. :D:D:D:D Might even be close to 200K. :D

The thing that idea that hit me this afternoon is that for the price of the mill I could build the structure of the barn we need. One maybe two of these trees would build the barn structure. Which leaves us with a few more trees to use/sell.

I'm wondering if there is a way to sell to woodworkers and such. The hard part in all of this is the selling...

I have looked at Logosol products over the years and reading there website they have a couple mill owners very near me.

It bears repeating, these trees are not real accessible, even getting a small portable band mill to the trees would be times consuming.

Later,
Dan
 
   / What to do with the trees? #6  
Check around in your are for someone with a portable mill, have them come to your site and cut the lumber there. you should be able to sell rough cut Oak for a lot more than $200 per 1000.
 
   / What to do with the trees? #7  
i would call loggers we have a guy around here that high lines them out and I've seem mules pull them out
tom
 
   / What to do with the trees? #8  
200$ then. Ah, Big difference. You won't get a helicopter out for those.

Just don't let them go to waste. I hate to see good wood rot. Cottonwood or willow can rot, but nice doug fir, red oak, hickory, or any good wood is a bloody shame.
 
   / What to do with the trees? #9  
If the lumber route doesn't work out contact a local firewood seller and see if you can work a deal. Maybe a 50/50 split with your half cut/split/stacked at the location of your choosing. That way you get lots of firewood and don't have to do anything but haul it into the house and watch it burn :)

Charles
 
 
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