Need Help Sourcing Logs

[skylog]

I am in need of some advice/input and thought you guys would be just the folks to ask.  I am planning an owner-build home project (a combination of true timberframing and piece-en-piece construction) and need help locating logs.

I have been "talking" to arkansawyer and he has provided me very good prices on sourcing and milling timbers, so I'll likely be going through him for the timbers, but I need to locate an economical source for logs.

I really don't care what type of logs as I will use just about anything (within reason - Sobon has me convinced about being creative with what wood types I'll use), but where should I look?  I am guessing that I will have to buy a semi-load, but that won't be a problem as I have several building projects after our home is up to use them on.  But where should I look?  What is the ball-park price on a load of logs?  How do I go about ordering?

I also don't need long and large high-grade building logs as most of them will end up between 10-12' for the piece-en-piece infill walls.  I actually will only need 6-8 logs at least 30' long, the rest will be under 20'.

I any case, I could really use some advice.  The key to this for me is being able to buy logs as cheaply as possible without compromisng the integrity of the structure.  I had been planning on buying land with some marketable timber and felling and milling them myself, but I don't think I am going to be able to find that in our area.  And thanks in advance for any help.

[beenthere]

In hopes I can help with your question of needing logs, if I were you, I'd look to the MO DNR for some help finding a source for logs, or try to find a timber landowner, a consulting forester, or even a logger to help. But I think in doing this you need to be able to specify the logs that you want or that you will accept - grade, diameter, length, species.

Now, that said, I would work more closely with Arky to get the logs such that he can saw out the quality of timbers you want from him. Nothing like dropping a load of logs that don't contain the 'timbers' that you want, which puts Arky in a pretty tough spot (the old saying "can't make a silk purse outa sow's ears" comes to mind).  

The best of both worlds would be having Arky sell you the timbers you need, and leave it up to him to make up the order as he sees fit.  That is assuming he has a supply of timber to work with and does business this way (of which, I do not know).

[skylog]

Hey beenthere, thanks for the input.  I actually am planning on buying the cut timbers (yellow pine and some white oak) from Arky, about 7,000-8000 b.f. worth of those, but I also need around 10,000 b.f. in raw logs (for the infill panels and for some hand-hewn structural members).  Maybe I should just ask Arky if he has a source for the raw logs?  There's a thought.

[Avalancher]

Another thing you could try is contact your local tree removal services found in the phone book. They generally have to haul their trees to the local dump, and might by glad to have you take them off their hands. What I do is have them cut them into 10 ft sections, and when they have a job to do that fits into what I want (species,size of logs etc) they give me a call and I go pick the logs up. I give them $50 for their trouble and I get some great wood this way. Be warned though that these are trees in peoples yards, so you may run into metal occasionally from nails and such. I have a metal detector that I run over the log, and have only hit one piece of metal that caught me by surprise.