I have to drop this tree. It is a nice tree but is in the way and so has to go. It is very straight and has few lower limbs which makes me think the trunk may be worth more than firewood. Not that firewood is not valuable of course. It is about 14 inches chest high and there may be 12 feet of trunk before the crotch. Is this tree worth anything for anything other than firewood. I am in southeastern Wisconsin. Thanks for any info.
14” is the absolute minimum you need to have to qualify for a veneer log, ironpony is right that 16” minimum is the preferred minimum. There are other factors that determine whether your log is valuable- see more information in the link: Ask Extension - How to Determine if my Tree is Veneer Quality? (Timber Harvesting & Marketing)
This clip is forever stuck in my head. Still makes me laugh. I had my own encounter with a highly valuable black walnut tree. I paid someone to take it down, saved a few chunks to use someday and the rest made nice firewood.
Folks around here still seem to think Walnut slabs are worth millions. I guess it's whatever the market will bear, eh? Habitat for Humanity stores around here have it for sale all the time, but I try to not look at the price. I should do that and calc out the BF price. Most of it is nice thick slabs. Friend of mine just grabbed a few hundred BF from someone having an estate sale (I don't know the exact amount) for a grand. I'll have to find out how much he got.
I could ask my neighbor about a mile south of me here in Rock County. His logging project started today. It is a 40 acre abandoned junk yard that our town board has demanded he finish scrapping all the old cars. A logger from Dubuque Iowa is taking 56 black walnuts and approx 125 red and white oaks. But he might think I am just being nosey. He said the walnuts were worth "quite a bit more" than the oaks. I would guess 56 black walnut this size is a pretty good pay day. He wants to open up a campground once he is done scrapping cars and logging,,,,
One 14" diameter, 16' sawlog would generate 50 board feet. Current price in my area is $8.88/bdft (fall 2017) for #2 common. Walnut is hot hot hot right now, but without any quantity, not worth chasing. I learned this lesson back in 2011 when I rented a dozer and skidded down about 20 mixed variety stems that were blown down in a storm. Nice logs, but after paying rent and transportation costs to mill I pretty-much broke even....excluding my labor. I'd have been just as well off to cut and split then sell as firewood honestly.
I just had a nice conversation with my neighbor over a couple beers. The value of his oak is to be determined because the buyer is afraid some of the oak "has opened up" (to me this means hollow). He then told me without prying for info he has already been paid for the 56 standing black walnut. He averaged $510 a tree. There are now 31 walnut logs on the landing they will finish felling the walnut Friday. The landing is small so they have to haul the walnut away before the timber feller starts on the oak. Hope this helps with the value of your tree, OP.
When I was done visiting the neighbor, I went to the landing to talk to the buyer. He just finished a big job near Milton WI which is in Rock County just north of Janesville. The woodlot was a cow pasture at one time. He showed me pics on his smart phone of 131 black walnuts on two huge landings. He paid the guy $1200 a tree! And the smallest tree was 72 inch circumference at breast height. Wisconsin has a good reputation of producing nice veneer black walnut. It was hard to fathom the amount of money sitting there in those small pics on his phone,,,,
I am very surprised they would have anything to do with the junk yard trees, generally considered the same as backyard trees. Things must changed considerably since I was trying to find buyers for several log cords of Shag Bark hickory some 12 years ago off a former farm back 40. Kept me warm for a few winters.
I went back to the landing on my ATV after supper. I got news for the owner. He told me over beers they cut 31 black walnuts today? I see a black cherry on the right. a bigun. And I don't really see a veneer log anywhere. I think he did good to average $510
Me too. I have completed three timber sales on my 40 since we bought it in 1983. Not one buyer has showed the least bit of interest in my shag bark or butternut hickory. ZERO But they sure like my white oak and walnut tho,,
I have watched the the veneer buyer grade logs on the landing. There are very few that make veneer grade out of the pile. The ones that do get a plastic tag that is pounded into the end that has a bar code on it. Each tagged log is then inventoried and a record made of it. He has tried to educate me with an untrained eye for timber purchase. It doesn't make much of a defect to exclude one whether it be a former branch, shake or freeze damage.
Saw a youtube video about a year ago. Logging outfit. Guy in the video was confessing to busting a veneer walnut that looked to be about 30" diameter X 30-35'. He slipped up and called it a "$4,000.00 mistake." (timber cutters seem to guard what they can get out of a log pretty tightly) Have always known walnut to be desirable, but that really got my attention. Going by the below price chart, walnut prime is 2-1/2 times more valuable than white oak. https://woodlandstewards.osu.edu/si... SPR to 2017 FALL due JAN 2018 (00000002).pdf
I have been in Colorado on an extended motorcycle trip so havnt been keeping up with neighbor's walnut sale. I went over this morning for coffee he told me out of 50 plus walnuts only two graded out veneer He is satisfied with his average per tree He is going to use his "tree money" to buy a new ATV.
So I went over and beered with my neighbor tonight. The timber feller is done harvesting the walnuts and has moved on to the oaks and a few cherry. He dropped 71 oak trees in the last two days. About half done. an old Ford took a direct hit from a wood pecked Cherry but the Beetle was spared,,,
