I had a local Amish guy walk my property today. He is looking to timber a few trees from my property. He comes highly recommended by a few friends that have also used him. However, I still plan on getting 2 more estimates. Anyway, It seems that all trees are graded as prime, no.1 common, no.2 common, and something he called blocked(?). Prime obviously will bring the most money with no.1 being next. He mentioned that most of my trees are no. 1 common as they are older and a little past there prime. I also found it interesting that in the timber industry they value the following trees in this order from most valuable to least. walnut white oak red oak cherry hard maple soft maple ash poplar basswood hickory Walnut averages around $1,900 per 1,000/board foot, while hickory averages only $450.00 per 1,000/bf. I am not sure if these prices are market value or what I might be paid. Probably market value. I found that fascinating because of how high a value hickory as a wood burner. He also said that I have 2 white oaks that have in his estimation over 2,000/bf in them. They are huge and obviously past their prime. He seemed excited. Do you boys have any suggestion that I should be concerned with as I go through this process for the first time?
Going through this with my stepmom. The first guy was 2000.00 for 9 walnut trees, 2nd guy was 5000.00 for the same 9 trees! Told him when she had the check in hand he could fire the saw up! Gary
Niece and cousin are lawyers and my sister is a skip tracer. My other nieces husband is an ex marine. If they can't do it I have 3 dogs that can dig holes all over his yard and cover it with doggy doo! Gary
Those prices are what is paid at the mill. Subtract costs for felling, skidding and trucking and managing the job. If you go with a logger he will find the highest yield for himself on what he cuts today. If you go with a forester managing the job he will get you the highest value for you and your property for the long term. (That is if he works for you.) The trees the logger goes for might be best left alone to get a little bigger while the not so valuable tree next to it needs to go now. Because next time the not so valuable tree will be a bigger not so valuable tree. If the junk goes out the valuable tree can become a bigger and more valuable tree. Letting a logger pick what to cut will result in your property being what is called high graded. Do that a few times and you will have nothing of value beyond firewood and pulp.
For me, I'd want the forester in there - I'm a DIY kind of guy. But if I was going to have someone else do it, it would be the Amish guy who milled the walnut logs for my dad, and who I'll probably be sending my logs to. As I understand it, he'll buy standing timber and cut it. Gotta think his operation is going to be lower impact than what the big boys with the big equipment would need to do to harvest the same trees.
Exactly, be careful because what some logging contractors don't rape and pillage, they destroy with their equipment.
It looks like those prices are on the stump. None of those costs need to be subtracted. The price that was quoted came straight out of this report from OSU.. That's a good sign that he's giving an honest mean value for the timber.. I'd tend to disagree with his "past prime" comment. Every log should be graded for its best use. The issue with older trees is that they are more prone to have rot than a younger tree. That said, a 36 inch diameter log with rot in the middle can still be peeled for high quality hardwood plywood. If you ask me, I'd rather have that 36" diameter log with a little rot than a perfect 16" diameter log. Some of the highest grade logs will eventually get sold as individual logs once they reach the market. Some loggers will even pull individual logs out to sell separate but don't expect the logger to give you a premium for individual logs. They just work it into the overall price per MBF.. Do a little more research at sites like this. http://www.ohioforestservices.com/OhioTimberPrices.html Then reach out to your state forester or local county extension forester to discuss how to move forward. Their salaries are paid by your tax dollars so they are there to work for YOU.. Best of luck!!!!
Hickory is not an easy wood to work with - high silica content dulls blades faster, which probably contributes to the reduced up front cost. If the stump cost added with the mill cost was double what milled walnut was, there would be no one buying it
