red pine poles

[newkirkmills]

I live in upstate NY and was wondering if anyone knows what red pine is going for ?  I have about 130 that are suitable for utility poles.

[g_man]

I was talking to a forester a while back who was managing a plantation thinning cut
in central VT. He said that the local US market was saturated vey quickly and
he was looking to ship to Canada for PT products but it was hard finding a buyer.

[adirondack harvester]

I live in upstate NY as well and I can give you a contact name of who I sold many many red pine poles.

[Woodhauler]

You may think they are pole material,but the pole buyer will only mark about 2/3s of what you think will make it if your lucky!

[deutz4]

Woodhauler is right. Only pole buyers know if each tree meets it's spec's. Talk to a forester.

[newkirkmills]

Woodhauler is right. Only pole buyers know if each tree meets it's spec's. Talk to a forester.

thats why i asked on here,thought there just might be a forester who knows what the value is...i have heard maybe 50 -70$ per pole...just want to know if its worth my time to harvest them.

[Jeff]

First the Forester would have to see them first hand. He would need to be from your area so he would know the current markets available to you. You simply cannot get what I would deem an adequate answer by to this asking on the board.

[Bro. Noble]

I don't know anything about red pine,  but we have cut a lot of SYP.  Utility poles eventually have to be inspected by a govt. inspector if I'm not mistaken----after they have been processed.  The requirements may be the same for red pine.  They have to be large enough,  no knots on the lower part and limited by size and location on the upper part,  no rot,  limited crook and sweep.  The company buyer marked them for us and was a degreed forester( although it was from Alabama :D :D)  The length we cut were from 37' to 67'.  I was amazed at his accuracy.  Many times a tree looked like it should have made a longer pole,  but when it was on the ground and topped where his marks said,  a foot or two above the cut would be a limb or defect.  To be able to stand on the ground and see that 60 ft. in the air is remarkable.to me.  He said the company has some kind of gadget you can sight through to help you,  but he's done that so long that it just slows him down :D :D  We averaged getting in the price range you were quoted.  I was surprised at the amount of crook and sweep they could have----they don't have to be perfect.

Seeking a forester's advice would sure be a good idea to see just how much if any needs to be removed from your stand.  You can figure the basal area and our member foresters can advise you.  They helped me.  The company buyer will have to do the marking (unless you want to take a chance on getting a bunch rejected)  He will no doubt be happy to come out and walk your timber with you and tell you how he would reccomend marking .  We had the understanding with our buyer that if for some reason we didn't want to cut a tree,  we wouldn't.  We left a lot of the smaller poles unless the stand was too thick there.  We also left a few that we didn't feel we could safly fall,  and some that were just too hard to get to.

[Clark]

As others have hinted at, I've only heard of pole buyers buying the trees that meet their specifications while they are on the stump.  There could be some who are willing to look at them when they're horizontal but if you cut them first you may have severely limited your market.

Clark