Big Trees Down, make firewood or mill?

[dmccarty]

Hello,

We 50 acres plus/minus and had about 35 acres selectively logged in 2000.  The unlogged land was reserved because there is a wet area we did not want touched, there where some really large trees we wanted to save, as well as just having the untouched woods.

Last spring we had a wind storm that blew down a couple of large oaks.  The trees have a good 40-50 feet of straight trunk and is roughly 30-36 inches DBH.  I finished topping it out a few weeks a go and was going to make firewood.   :( If I did my math right, the two trees, they knocked down a little 15 inch tree as well, might have 20 cords of wood not including the tops.  We burn 3-4 cords a year so that is 5 years of firewood!

This past week I found three other trees this larger or larger that had blown down in the same storm.  One of them I think was the larges hardwood on the land.  It has to be 36 inches DBH.  The limbs in the crown are 12-15 inches.   :'(

This is alot of downed wood to say the least and we have a stand of 4 or so other oaks that have died and are still standing.  They are about 24 inch DBF.  I figured they would be my next batch of firewood.

Finally to my questions.

The trees are isolated.  It took a couple of days to cut a trail to the first group of trees and they are near easy access.  The group of trees I just found blown down are deep in the woods and will take many days to cut a trail for access.

Would it be worth my while to get an "Alaskan" chainsaw mill to process these trees?  I am looking at the LOGOSOL products to mill the trees.

We need a barn so I could cut them up into posts and beams.  Looks like one or two of the trees would provide the post and beams.  Posts would be on concrete piers with metal post connectors.

Should I process for my own use, make into firewood, or mill it myself and try to find a market?

Later,
Dan

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like about 2.5 cords in your 50 foot logs of two tree, so maybe 3 or a little better with the smaller tree, plus top wood. 20 cords is a mighty lot of wood bub.  ;)

As far as getting a portable chainsaw mill it depends on whether you will use it enough to purchase or maybe ask a buddy to help you out for a couple days with some compensation for the milling. For such small amount of wood I would use it for the barn depending on the previous statement and use some for firewood if it's not saw log worthy. Hard to move small quantities of lumber unless you have some interested hobby woodworkers interested. Even harder to sell green.

[rebocardo]

> Would it be worth my while to get an "Alaskan" chainsaw mill to process these trees?

Or a chainsaw mill on a trailer. For all that cutting, I would want to be standing.

I would do it all for my own use.

The thing to consider is moving all that wood. It is no small feat to move a green oak 6x6x120 or 8x8 all by yourself just to a trailer, from the mill or ground.

[sawguy21]

I can't answer your questions. However, welcome to the Forum. Pull up a chair and have a coffee.

[dmccarty]

FYI,

I do have a tractor to move the wood.  At least once I cut a trail to get to the trees.    ;D

Later,
Dan

[rebocardo]

A tractor is always a plus  8)  The best thing is to have a trailer right next to the mill so you can slid the wood off the mill onto the trailer. Moving the wood any distance on big pieces gets old fast.

[ely]

thats alot of trees to use for firewood. i bet you could get several years of firewood out of the limb wood. i would say go ahead and mill the trees in to usable lumber, or have someone mill them into usable lumber, but thats just me, and i am biased. ;D

[Dan_Shade]

is your tractor big enough to drag them out?  I'd advise pulling them out and then going to work on them if possible.

be careful, a tree that big can put the hurt on you!

[scsmith42]

Dan, if it were me I'd consider milling the logs into boards and beams for my own use.  There is something special about building a barn / home, etc from wood that came from the land.

If you clear a trail into the logs, you could bring in a portable mill, mill them on site and trailer the wood out.  Milling a lot of wood with a chainsaw mill can be tiresome - you may want to partner up with someone local that has a portable mill.

Whereabouts are you located?

Scott

[Cedarman]

What about finding someone with a swing mill to take to the logs?  Sounds like enough footage to make it worth while for someone to come in.
There are 2 things you can look at.

One, the business or economic side.  What is it worth to have the firewood and/or lumber cut and moved out and ready for use or resale?  What will the expenses be to achieve that goal?  You just have to come up with realistic costs.  The pencil will do the rest.

Two, the emotional side.  What is it worth emotionally to have those big old trees cut and out and ready to use for your own barns and buildings?  Only you can answer that question.

Get a sheet of paper and write down the pros and cons.  It really helps to see it in black and white.

[dmccarty]

thats alot of trees to use for firewood. i bet you could get several years of firewood out of the limb wood. i would say go ahead and mill the trees in to usable lumber, or have someone mill them into usable lumber, but thats just me, and i am biased. ;D

The more I think about the trees the more I think I'm going to turn the trunks into 6x6/8x8s and build a barn.   ;D

Its just going to take awhile...

Later,
Dan

[dmccarty]

is your tractor big enough to drag them out?  I'd advise pulling them out and then going to work on them if possible.

be careful, a tree that big can put the hurt on you!

The tractor is a JD 4700 with 48 engine HP.  I could pull out the logs but I don't think I will/can.  The trees I just found blown down are going to take some work to allow access for the tractor.  I'm in the process of clearing a path for the tractor around our land.  My best guess at this point is to follow the property lines to get to the trees.  That is a long way to get to them but the other options I have would require me to cross a wet area or go cut a trail that would only be used to get the trees.  To cross the wet area would require two 24inch culverts and quite a bit of fill so that is not happening.   ;D 

So that pretty much leaves me with expanding the current trails to fit the tractor and get the logs out that way.  But that is alot of turns AND I still have to get through some wet areas.  Some parts of the land I will only take the tractor if its been real dry otherwise it ruts up just looking at it.  Prior to us, the land was last timbered 70+ years ago.  I still can see the ruts from the tractors used to pull out the logs.  I don't want to add to the mess.

Since access is limited that leads to the chainsaw mill.  Even a portable mill would have a hard time accessing the trees.  I'll be able to get the tractor in there with quite a bit of work that needs to be done anyway.  Getting a truck/trailer in there would not be fun.

Later,
Dan

[dmccarty]

Dan, if it were me I'd consider milling the logs into boards and beams for my own use.  There is something special about building a barn / home, etc from wood that came from the land.

...

Whereabouts are you located?

Scott

I looked into getting a portable mill years ago just to have some wood from our forest in our house but it did not make money sense nor time sense.   ;D  Meaning I did not have the money or the time!   :D

With the number of trees down it looks like I could build a good part of a barn with the wood.  And we do have an addition planned to the house if we ever get some money.  Sure would be nice to have some nice exposed beams from the trees in the addition. 

I am out near Pittsboro aka PBO.  ;D

Later,
Dan

[dmccarty]

What about finding someone with a swing mill to take to the logs?  Sounds like enough footage to make it worth while for someone to come in.
There are 2 things you can look at.

One, the business or economic side.  What is it worth to have the firewood and/or lumber cut and moved out and ready for use or resale?  What will the expenses be to achieve that goal?  You just have to come up with realistic costs.  The pencil will do the rest.

Two, the emotional side.  What is it worth emotionally to have those big old trees cut and out and ready to use for your own barns and buildings?  Only you can answer that question.

Get a sheet of paper and write down the pros and cons.  It really helps to see it in black and white.

Good advice.  One mill I'm looking at would be around $1,000 if I use my Stihl 046 though they recommend a 066.  My best guess at this point is that some of the trees are around 1,000 board feet.  Lowes is getting over $10/board foot for oak.  Sure would like to get $5 per board foot.   ;D ;D ;D

I think I'm going to top the trees, already started on a couple, then just cut the trunks up into 14ish foot lengths.  Then jack them up one way or another to get them off the ground.  Once off the ground just tarp 'em to keep water off of them.

That gives me time to get access to the trees.

Later,
Dan

[beenthere]

Dan
How much time/effort in hours per week are you thinking of being able to devote to this acreage? 

If you deck some logs, and tarp them, when would be the earliest you would be sawing them?

[ErikC]

  Just a note on the tarping, it can hold in moisture and speed decay, also mold. If you cover the logs, do it in some way there is an airspace and there can be ventilation. Glad your not planning to let it go to waste.

Erik

[dmccarty]

Dan
How much time/effort in hours per week are you thinking of being able to devote to this acreage? 

If you deck some logs, and tarp them, when would be the earliest you would be sawing them?

No set answer, it just depends on work, family, weather, etc. 

I was hoping to get some of the logs out of the first group of tree before Christmas but that did not happen.  We have been in a bad drought and the soil was good and dry to access with the tractor.  I got one of the trees topped out so I could move some wood but then the rains started.   >:( ;D  Which is good and bad.  Some cities only have a couple of months of good water and Raleigh is talking about people using 25 gallons of water per person per day.  So we need the rain. 

But I don't think the tractor will be able to get to the trees until spring when the trees started drinking water again.

The best guess is that I would get the trees cut up this winter/spring and get them off the ground and protected from weather.  Next year I might have the money for a mill but I doubt I will this year.

Later,
Dan

[dmccarty]

  Just a note on the tarping, it can hold in moisture and speed decay, also mold. If you cover the logs, do it in some way there is an airspace and there can be ventilation. Glad your not planning to let it go to waste.

Erik

Erik,

Good suggestion.  I figured I would tarp the logs so that the tarp was off the logs.  The idea I had was to use some TPOSTs and mason string to allow some air flow. 

Later,
Dan

[Dan_Shade]

a good end sealer goes a long way too.  I use anchorseal from www.uccoatings.com

[SwampDonkey]

25 gallons per day? I wouldn't use 25 gallons in 3 days.  ;)

[beenthere]

SD
Still living alone,  eh eh   ;) ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Yup 

[thecfarm]

I own about 120 acres of woods.There is about 50 arces that have roads all through it.I have wet areas too.I have hauled rocks 40-50 feet to build up some areas.Some are short ones,10 feet.Might just as well start some roads,somehow.Or watch mother nature cut the trees  for you.