Trying to keep this wood out of the shed

[McKraut]

Over the past 2 weeks I have come across 4 large trees that are down that I am not sure I want to cut for firewood. One is a 70 foot white pine that I am getting milled into boards to re-roof my barn. Two of the the other trees are red oak and the last is a white oak. The 2 red oaks are about 40 feet long, very straight, and go from 20 inch diameter down to around 17 inch. The white oak is about 36 inch at the base and is around 25 feet long. Since I have the sawyer coming to mill the pine, I was wondering if I can get him to saw the logs into boards. I'd love to sell them to somebody. Does anybody have experience doing this? Can you give me some advice?

Bob

 

[ScotO]

I've milled lots of logs (poplar, oak, black walnut, pine, etc.), but haven't sold any of it. I use it for my own projects. I will say that if you don't have the wood kiln dried, you will have a tougher time selling it. But if you are patient, and you sticker it in your barn for a year and a half or two, you could sell it then.

If you are going to mill your wood for boards, mill them around 1 1/8" thick or thicker, as they will shrink a good bit. that will give you (or whoever buys them) plenty of wood to plane the boards smooth when the time comes.

When you stack them, make sure you sticker them so air can get around the boards. I also like to put a pile of weight on the stack. Some guys put ratchet straps around the stack of wood, and every week or two they tighten the ratchets a couple of clicks. This will help keep the stack flat and from warping as bad.....

 

[StihlHead]

Yah, milling your own wood... around here during the real estate boom up to '07 people were milling a lot of their own wood here, mostly fir, but also cedar and hardwoods. Then the crash came and in '08 and I saw a lot of that wood nicely stickered and stacked, sitting in the barns of people that I was buying a lot of saws from. No one was buying wood, and lumber prices plummeted hard and fast. If you use the wood yourself, that is another thing. But selling it can be a hard thing, at least around here. The money trees here in logs are the low taper Doug firs and red cedars, as well as red alder. Hemlock, spruce and grand fir fetch a fair price at the mills as well. So-called trash logs like oak, maple and madrone are sold mainly for firewood.

 

[Jon1270]

I'm a woodworker, and I agree with the above comments; you are unlikely to be able to sell such wood at a profit. Do it for fun, or as an experiment or learning experience, or because these particular trees are personally significant, or even because you have some rustic project for which you want some rough green lumber, but don't do it for money.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

I have no experience in these matters but I have heard that woods like walnut and oak are, at this time, better left in logs and sold to veneer producers. Don't know how true that is as it is talk from the front porch of the Rabbit Hash General Store. Yes, it is a real store. It is near Sugartit, Big Bone Lick and Beaver Lick, Kentucky. Google it, you can't make this stuff up. And I gotta say a lot of good information comes from that old porch.

 

[mywaynow]

May want to put the White Oak into slabs that are correct for heavy duty trailers. Big machines are transported on White Oak planks. May be a good source of clients.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Over the past 2 weeks I have come across 4 large trees that are down that I am not sure I want to cut for firewood. One is a 70 foot white pine that I am getting milled into boards to re-roof my barn. Two of the the other trees are red oak and the last is a white oak. The 2 red oaks are about 40 feet long, very straight, and go from 20 inch diameter down to around 17 inch. The white oak is about 36 inch at the base and is around 25 feet long. Since I have the sawyer coming to mill the pine, I was wondering if I can get him to saw the logs into boards. I'd love to sell them to somebody. Does anybody have experience doing this? Can you give me some advice?

Bob

Bob, no doubt you could talk the fellow into sawing them if they are not from a yard or fence row. Even trees on the edge of woods are suspect because hardware buried in the trees many times can not be seen but can really wreck havoc with saws and that goes for circular or band saws.

If I were doing it, I would attempt to sell the logs rather than paying for getting them milled and not already having a customer. Of course, they could also make great firewood!

 

[lukem]

Unless you are going to use the lumber for something, you'd probably be best to make firewood out of the oak. Most people in the market for oak lumber are looking for kiln dried, clear, stuff with no cupping or warping. That's hard to do and those buyers probably already have a supplier. If the price was right you could move it but wouldn't make much money. Either sell the log or get some primo firewood. Don't make lumber unless you are going to use it personally.

 

[McKraut]

Wow, thanks for the insight. I guess I should wipe those dollar signs out of my mind. I decided I am going to get them sawed into planking. I don't know what I'll do with them, but there is always something I can use them for. I like the idea about the planking for trailers -- I need to do that for my own trailer and hay wagons.I do some wordworking, and these planks should be more then enough to keep me happy for a few years. Sawman is coming next week to saw the logs for me. He sawed all the wood for last year's woodshed and he's a good guy to work with. I guess next time I'll just cut and split like I usually do. Thanks to you that responded. I appreciate your experience and advice.

Bob