quick, are walnut trees actually worth $

[colsmith]

So some guy on Craigslist is offering up 16 black walnut trees, about 50 years old each, to whomever has insurance and will cut them down. I said some logger should pay you money for the trees. He said a lumberyard told him that unless he has 50 trees they aren't interested. So I am wondering why my whole life everyone in my family (and neighbors) tell us how valuable our black walnut trees are, but a guy can't hardly give them away. He is in a suburb NW of Milwaukee for a geographical location. I suggested he find an actual logger/lumberjack instead of talking to a lumberyard, but anyway, is there any advice I can give this guy? I find it hard to believe that 16 50 year old black walnuts are not worth some $$ to somebody. He is just asking for anyone with insurance who knows what they are doing to take them away free.

 

[Highbeam]

Black walnut is a cash crop here. I think he asked the wrong person. Think gun stocks and fine furniture.

 

[philaphire]

I've heard stories of people going on vacation and coming home to stumps of their walnut trees!

 

[Fire Bug]

So some guy on Craigslist is offering up 16 black walnut trees, about 50 years old each, to whomever has insurance and will cut them down. I said some logger should pay you money for the trees. He said a lumberyard told him that unless he has 50 trees they aren't interested. So I am wondering why my whole life everyone in my family (and neighbors) tell us how valuable our black walnut trees are, but a guy can't hardly give them away. He is in a suburb NW of Milwaukee for a geographical location. I suggested he find an actual logger/lumberjack instead of talking to a lumberyard, but anyway, is there any advice I can give this guy? I find it hard to believe that 16 50 year old black walnuts are not worth some $$ to somebody. He is just asking for anyone with insurance who knows what they are doing to take them away free.

In my neck of the woods, black walnut wood is rare and very valuable. I had my kitchen cabinets custom made fiftheen years ago from black walnut wood, if it were today I could not afford to have them made and installed in my kitchen.
John

 

[Corie]

I'm waiting for Eric to weigh in, but I suspect you are all right. He's sitting on a decent sum of money in trees and would be a fool to let someone chop them down for firewood.

 

[Andre B.]

How big are they?
Fifty years is not very old for Black Walnut. Black walnut has a thick sap wood which is much lighter in color then the heartwood and is not as valuable.
Also if they are growing anywhere near a house or fence line sawmill guys get wary of hardware.

 

[Eric Johnson]

To echo Andre's excellent points:

If they're anywhere near a building, they're probably full of metal, which diminishes their value considerably.

50 years is not very old for a crop tree. Like Andre says, they likely have a fair amount of sapwood, which (unlike some species like maple) is not what the market for black walnut wants.

I'd check around with a few other mills, but my guess is that the guy couldn't find anyone interested in buying them, and would consider himself lucky to get them removed and hauled off for free.

Just because some black walnut trees are valuable doesn't necessarily mean that ALL black walnut trees are. Black cherry is just as valuable, and people burn plenty of crap black cherry.

 

[gary]

Tell him to talk to a certified forester and get an estimate on the amount of usable board feet. Often times the foresters also know of loggers or sawmills who would be interested. Working through a forester, the county I am employed with (in Eastern Kansas) just took bids for the sale of 33 black walnut trees for harvest. The bids range from $2400.00 to $6700.00.

 

[Sandor]

This reminds me of West Virginia. When someone had a large Black Walnut fall, everyone said is was worth a TON of MONEY.

Guess, what?

Those trees, fallen by themselves, are not worth anything but their weight in firewood!

Why does this rumour go on and on?

 

[Corey]

A lot of things would certainly go into 'worth' of the tree like others have mentioned. My grandma used to have a decent walnut tree in her yard. Every couple of years or so a local woodworker would stop by and offer to remove it for her. But just because you have a couple of chickens, doesn't mean Tyson is going to come out and give you money for them. Assuming the trees are worth having, he might even be better off with a small time wood worker or even local wood burner who would do the job - but they might not even be worth the effort for a major outfit. We burn some oak around here - nice wood, but it is just too scattered out for any real logging effort.

Corey

 

[JayY]

I have a black cherry over 3' in diameter. This is pretty rare. The Loggers I have spoken with wont touch it because it has metal in it. I have found a few individuals with portable mills who are not so picky.

 

[restorer]

I'm with Gary on this one. urban trees are not what sawyers want. There are those that will harvest and using a portable bandsaw mill turn out some stock. As to worth big bucks, you need to have big trees in Walnut that's 8-12 ft diameter, standing away from buildings, outbuildings structures of any type or fences and roads. The older the tree the less sap wood and more high grade.

 

[colsmith]

So I discovered that he posted a photo of the trees, you can see it at (broken link removed to http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/zip/296996165.html)

Some of them look quite straight, and based on the size of the nearby buildings they look pretty good sized. In my own yard I am always getting yelled at by my mother and brothers if we mention we trampled or cut down a wimpy little black walnut tree because "those could be worth money some day." Almost a mantra in my family. My mother put tires around little walnut trees so that they wouldn't get mowed over. We took off all the tires we could and recycled them, we don't care if we run over the little trees. But I did feel really bad when a tenant had a really large old walnut tree cut down and used it for firewood. The wood was so dense and lovely and the tree was at least 50 years old, probably more. so I am just thinking of that tree for comparison size, it was something between 2-3' across on the lower portion of the tree.

 

[Bill]

I have a Summer home in Southwestern Wisconsin, and I just logged my Black Walnut about two weeks ago. So all winter I was getting estimates from loggers. First off I can say that sometimes the foresters have friends that are loggers and one told me my trees were worthless. He also told me while we had a light drizzle of rain that giant ash trees were black walnut. The bark looks similar when wet.

The bottom line is check around. I had to get loggers from another state to get a fair price. Fifty year old trees are very young. The trees need to be straight, preferably without side branches, nails, bends, crotches, etc. They use (dbh) diameter at breast height for pricing trees. 100 year old trees would be allot more valuable. Also they should be grown tightly to have just a canopy of leaves on top, so no side branches. The real valuable ones are made into veneer.

My experience is most loggers don't want to come out unless you have 80 trees. They don't even want to give you an estimate if you tell them you have say 20 or 30. I can understand, they have lots of equipment and overhead. Take your time and get as many estimates as you can. Also check into having them logged and try and get bids on the wood.

Next get your money up front two weeks before they log, so the check clears the bank. Don't let the skidder cross a lawn or driveway. These guys can destroy your property, make sure they log when the ground is frozen.

Bottom line is Black Walnut is not worth as much as you think, unless you are buying it. The other benefit of logging is the tree tops that are left for you to clean up, burn very nice.

I got $400.00 for 50 year old trees, but it all depends on condition. A superb specimen can fetch more. But a large dbh tree in the middle of your front yard will have to many knots to be worth much. One logger told me on the phone that in 40 years how many $3.000 dollar trees do you think I've seen, said I don't know he said one.

But I must tell you that I am using my money to buy a new stove, and it tickles my innards to have my trees buy me a new stove, how nice of them.

I am also glad to be able to have some input and hopefully help someone else, because I have learned alot from the forum members. I have burned wood all my life and I knew allot less then I thought.

 

[mtarbert]

We had the timber cut off our property last spring and all the logger wanted was Poplar.We have some nice white oak (3-4ft across) and hedidnt want them or the Hickory.There must be a use for poplar that I don't know about.This guy paied up-front and took very good care of the ground...no ruts no trash left behind etc.Just be careful choosing a logger to the point of getting references and by all means get an Insurance certificate.Good luck with your walnut.
Mike

 

[restorer]

We had the timber cut off our property last spring and all the logger wanted was Poplar.We have some nice white oak (3-4ft across) and hedidnt want them or the Hickory.There must be a use for poplar that I don't know about.This guy paied up-front and took very good care of the ground...no ruts no trash left behind etc.Just be careful choosing a logger to the point of getting references and by all means get an Insurance certificate.Good luck with your walnut.
Mike

Mike:
Poplar is used as a substrate in veneer, as secondary wood in furniture and core wood in plywood. If your trees were straight and had few limbs, that was shy he took them. The oak and hickory may not have a local commercial use, here we don't have a commercial hardwood sawyer, so little of the urban forest trees are saved for board use.

 

[Eric Johnson]

At the moment, the red oak market is in the tank and hickory is not much of a commercially valuable species. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have a market for either.

Funny thing about poplar--it's traditionally been a low-value species with good markets. In recent years, it's gotten pricey for the reasons cited by UncleRich. I would add particleboard and oriented strandboard to his list of products made from poplar. About ten years ago a Japanese company started up a chopstick plant in Minnesota, with the intention of using poplar (aspen), but I don't think it ever got off the ground.

 

[restorer]

At the moment, the red oak market is in the tank and hickory is not much of a commercially valuable species. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have a market for either.

Funny thing about poplar--it's traditionally been a low-value species with good markets. In recent years, it's gotten pricey for the reasons cited by UncleRich. I would add particleboard and oriented strandboard to his list of products made from poplar. About ten years ago a Japanese company started up a chopstick plant in Minnesota, with the intention of using poplar (aspen), but I don't think it ever got off the ground.

Right Eric, forgot about chip and strand. But wouldn't you need lots of trees? Out here they take the chipper to the site and haul only the bulk product. Really hate to see that. Seems like such a waste.

 

[Eric Johnson]

No, they wouldn't use nice trees for that. But high demand and pricing on the low end of the spectrum tends to drive up the price for all other grades of the species. Until just recently, aspen pulpwood in the Lake States had been going for more than $100 per cord---on the stump! And pulpwood is the lowest end. Heck, at those prices, maybe he was going to sell it for pulp or particleboard.