We have two large black walnut trees that we want to take down and wondering how to find a buyer.
Your contact information has been edited out as the Forestry Forum is not an advertising venue. We will be glad to help answer questions and give some insight, but trying to market trees here is a no-no. :)
How much is my Walnut worth?
Walnut is probably one of the most overrated trees in the wood industry. People have sold high value walnut veneer trees, but these trees are a rare exception. A tree must have a large diameter, with several logs of the highest grade in order to be highly valuable for timber markets.
Walnut trees in the yard
A walnut that has been grown in the open area such as your yard will have more white sapwood than dark heartwood. The sapwood is not useable for veneer and therefore will not be of interest to veneer wood buyers. Yard trees also most always lack the form that is desirable in a marketable tree. The tree growing in your yard may contain foreign objects including nails, clothesline hooks or other metal objects in the trunk. It is common that a comparable size red or white oak, grown in the forest, may be worth more than a walnut yard tree. Fences, clotheslines, power lines and buildings often make the cost of removing the yard tree more expensive than a good quality Walnut tree is worth for timber. In short, most likely, if your tree's are yard trees, you may have to pay someone to remove them. You might find someone with a portable sawmill in your area that can saw the tree into usable lumber that you can personally utilize. You MIGHT find one to saw on shares, but that might be hard to do.
Walnut trees in the woods
There is a much better chance for walnut to be valuable for timber if they are grown in the woods. They grow more slowly, and are not influenced by yard activities that result in foreign objects such as metal or nails present in the trunk. Often, there are more trees in a wooded situation, making them potentially more attractive for the timber buyer. Also, there are no power lines or buildings that can be damaged when the trees are harvested. The limbs and unused tops can also be left in the woods, reducing costs for a logger.
I get about a call a week lately of someone wanting me to cut their walnut tree ( hanging over house or garage) and pay for the wood. I say maybe you can have a tree service cut down for about $1400 and then maybe I'll pay $100 or so for the logs if you can not get your arms around them. I dont get very many walnut this way but have got a couple. I would change my tune if I could find someone to buy the black gold for $10 bdft. It hard enough to move at $3
Excellent response Jeff!
Somehow I wish that could be posted on ebay so those guys with walnut yard trees that they are trying to sell for $10,000.00 would go find a tree surgeon to cut them down for them. I see those posts on almost a weekly basis on ebay and I have yet to figure out why people think they are worth so much money.
I used to tell people that called me wanting to sell standing trees to me that I would be willing to haul off the butt log for free after they get it on the ground and the mess cleaned up. It is surprising how many logs I got for free that way.
Again, GREAT response!
The first walnut that I sawed was city grown. It had also been advertised in the paper for that elusive high dollar buyer. After several years of the owner dealing with his wifes complaints about the dirty walnut tree, I offered to take it down on shares. I know this is not the best deal but it was my boss and the tree was 28" at the butt. We got almost 900bdf and the most amazing thing is not one nail. That tree was around ninety years in someones front yard and noone put a nail in it.
I don't know about the etiquette of posting on one of these old threads, (warning above about it being 120 days old, maybe it has mold on it...!)
Anyway, a tree service is wanting to pay me to come and pick up some walnut trees, so they don't have to haul them off.
I have a Peterson Mill.
What kind of material would you cut it into, and
Why is the "White" portion of the wood not valuable?
These are very old yard trees. I have metal detectors, and can search for metal.
I am pretty new to the world of sawdust, but I am definitely hooked!
Thanks,
Nate
The contrast between the dark heartwood and the light sapwood is significant and not what most people are looking for in walnut. Commercial mills tend to steam the wood, which darkens the sapwood into a more uniform color, but also mutes the quality of the heartwood.
The sapwood (white) portion of the tree isn't valuable to commercial operations, for the most part. Some of us LOVE the contrast between the sapwood and heartwood, and show it off :)
The biggest problem I've found regarding the sapwood is if one side of the board is almost entirely sapwood, and the other side has a large portion of heartwood. These boards tend to bow and cup much more dramatically :(
I always make sure I cut a few live edge boards when I'm cutting walnut just for the contrast.
Actually, it depends on who's buying the lumber. I have sold where sapwood is no problem, because they steam their lumber. Guys without steaming capacity will opt for less sapwood.
Great reply Jeff. I am working on one of the best walnut yard trees I have ever seen. My buddy was 60' up in it tonight "working it down". The butt log will pay for about half the removal. I post some pics tonight. I do pay for them, not too much, just enough t osweetin the deal for the property owners. There is little commercial demand as others have stated, but I keep them around and do OK on average, it is just that, averaging, win on some lose on others. There is an even better "character" walnut in the next yard down, met the Mrs. told her to call me if'in it's ever going to come down.
Ironwood
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/oIMG_2265.jpg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/oIMG_2262.jpg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/oIMG_2261.jpg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/oIMG_2260.jpg)
I run a tree service when people call me and want money for yard trees I almost always tell them no. if the tree does produce logs its a bonus,what if the thing has hardware? last year i cut a tree that had concrete in it 25ft. off the ground,filled a hollowed out hole, makes for a dull saw very fast.Iusually tell them if you want money out of your tree ,i'll cut it then you can sell it to the mill and almost always ,well where would i sell it? or how would i load it, i don't have a truck . usually by now they are ready to sign the tree removal contract :D
I noticed that the guy that started this thread has never posted since. Think Jeff might have had it figured out from the beginning? ;)
Sometimes I think some of these posts are just phishing quests. I have something, how much will you pay me for it? Then they dissolve into the internet void. ;)
in my area of wv people are buying as much walnut as they can get.i sold around 3000bf 3 months ago.i have about 3000 left to cut and drag. is it just the area.or did i get a bad deal at 1/bf ? i thought it was a good price.
If you were satisfied, it was a good price. :)
You got a lot more than we can get for other species of logs, as little as $0.15/bf for some species up here. That's for species that used to bring a minimum of $0.25/bf. No one is really buying hardwood logs lately.
I've only bought a few trees. Never paid more than 25ยข bf. This includes Cherry and Walnut. And, I don't cut them down. ;D
It is often quite funny to see how much 'value' people place on single yard trees. You see it on ebay where they want thousands of $'s for their tree and also want you to remove every trace of it, rake leaves and take them too. So often you are paying someone else for the pleasure of working ya ar$# off for a day or more :o ???
Just plumb crazy
I see just as varied situations when it comes to having run down or fallen down buildings demolished. There are some fair arrangements, then there are also some unethical ones on either side of the fence. ;)