Power Line Logging Project

[timster2]

The power company is going to put in a new power line and will be clear cutting the right of way. The logs and brush will be piled up along the right of way for me to with as I please. Now I supplement heat with wood so I will be harvesting some for my use, however, there will be more than I can use for sure. Here is my dilemma and/or project. There are many trees including Cherry, hard and soft Maple, Ash that are marketable. Here is a picture taken of an area just down the road to give you an idea of how the area will be left when they are done clearing. Mill logs in one pile tops and brush in another.

My dilemma is do I try to handle the logs myself and haul them to a nearby mill, about 8 miles away, or hire a logger to pick them up and take them to the mill. Being the trees will be cut down and stacked already what should I expect to get from and/or pay a logger to haul them off to a mill. I understand that there will be mill logs, 10" and up, and firewood 5"-10". Now my volume will be whatever about three acres will yield so we are not talking too many loads. I have a car trailer, 7x10 dump trailer the B2320 the BX to use for the project.

How long do I have to move the logs before a mill will not want them, how long from the time they are cut and stacked is a reasonable time to get them to the mill? Should I concentrate on the mill logs and have a logger take the firewood? Cutting at my end of the project is scheduled to start next month. Any insight, suggestions, recommendations, warnings etc?

 

[dave1949]

Several really nice mill logs could be worth more than all the firewood. You need someone to work with who will grade and cut the mill logs to correct lengths, plus send them to the best mill for that product, in order to maximize their value.

If you could get the logs skidded to an accessible location near a road for sorting and cutting that would be ideal I think. Selling the higher value logs soon after they are cut is best. The cherry and hard maple should have the most value.

If you could combine your wood with that of one or two adjoining neighbors it would be easier to get a forester to grade the logs maybe?

 

[timster2]

I don't think any skidding will be necessary. Most, if not all, the logs will be along a newly built access road, easy picking. That's what has me considering hauling some of the mill logs. Cutting to length should be no problem. As long as the tractor can lift the logs and load them on the trailer. Any guess as to what a 16" x 12' cherry or maple log would weigh?

 

[dave1949]

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...=2&ie=UTF-8#q=volume of a cylinder calculator

.67' radius, 12' length = ~17 cubic feet of volume.

www.oocities.org/steamgen/woodweights.pdf
Green black cherry lbs per cubic feet = 45.

17 X 45 = 765 lbs for a 16" x 12' black cherry log.

 

[Jstpssng]

You might be able to get somebody from the mill to come look at them, tell you what they are looking for, which logs in the pile they will take and give suggestions how to maximize the value.

This time of year they will want the logs within 14 days from the stump... not that you would wish bad luck on anybody but if progress was delayed until the end of September you would have all winter to work them up.

I pay $200 for a self loading truck with about 10 cord (5000 board feet) capacity to haul wood about 25 miles. He needs to be able to drive to the pile though, which wouldn't be possible in the picture you show.

Your power company is rather accommodating, up here they run everything through the chipper.
I guess that I'm not sure if you own the land and have given them an easement; or if they actually own the right of way. If it's the former and you have time you also could go through now and take out the high value sawlogs, letting them cut the firewood for you.

This is just a rough number, but we use 10 cords/acre to estimate how much will be cut.

 

[timster2]

Jstpssng, What is special about this time of the year and 14 days? This is the kind of thing I would like to learn. The piles in the picture was an example of how they will be left. My situation is a road fifty feet wide by just over a quarter mile long. With the road bed at about sixteen feet wide that only leaves fifteen or so feet on either side of the road for the piles. That should make access easy. I own the property and have granted an easement. After they are done I will own the road.

As far as taking the high value saw logs due to physical limitations I cannot or will not fell the trees, my neck is all but frozen and I cannot look up and watch the tree while cutting. Once the trees are down and horizontal I have no problem cutting them and the tractors will do the lifting. Once they give me a firm start date I will pass by the mill and see what help they can give me.

 

[Jstpssng]

Wood spoils just like fruit does. High value hardwood logs are used for cabinetry and trim; this time of year they get a fungal stain which downgrades the logs. (Softwood also stains plus is susceptible to bugs this time of year... I have 3 pine logs which I had planned to sell but instead I'll have them sawn for my own use as sheathing.)
This When are veneer logs felled and sliced? | American Hardwood Export Council explains it better and more completely.

 

[newbury]

Contact your state/county forester immediately for advice. They should know the local conditions.

 

[LD1]

Might want to contact a fee mills to get an idea what they want.

Around here 10" wouldn't be touched. And even 16-18" is on the small end of what they want for logs.

 

[SPIKER]

They DO mill down to about 8" but useful lumber is often not taken from them for much more than paneling or sheathing on smaller stuff usually do to knots etc.
I had 4 loads of lumber on my car hauler taken over to my Amish neighbor and milled into 1x and 1.5x stuff. Lots of Red Oak and Cherry with a good bit of Slippery Elm. Smallest I took over had a 7~8" small end & made nice stuff for trim to flooring. Still setting under my lean too drying.



was first pile of lumber from the logs that sat for a while in woods (some of them 4 or 5 years.) they are spaulted which is a interesting thing ...
close up of the Slipperly Elm



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