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Selling Pulpwood

Started by TexasTimbers, March 29, 2006, 06:27:41 AM

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TexasTimbers

I think I have made casual refernces to this before but I need to tap the knowledge base so here is some more detail.

My uncle has given me the trees on a 52 acre tract.  This is not the same deal that fell through last year ... that was a nice give-then-takeback neighbor.  ::)
Anyway, it is populated with practically every kind of hard and soft wood that grows in this area. Mostly hard. He wants to take out every last tree so he can "grow stuff (which he will never do)". I don't want to get into that part of it I don't think he should do it but he's going to so I need to know some details about dealing with a buyer. I know nada. I called a guy who advertises in a local shopper yesterday and he called me last night and said he can meet me to look at the property in a week or two.
He asked me "Is it good pulpwood?"
I sort of stumbled around and said I hadn't walked it real well. I'm sure I showed my hand that I am pulpwood ignorant. I told him I have a sawmill and that I am going to pick the cherries. He said no probnlem but warned that we would have to deal with the tops and anything they left behind.
How can I find out what it's worth and what else should I know?
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Tom

Get hold of Don Staples, Texas Ranger, he'll know or will know someone close to you.

http://www.livingston.net/dstaples/forestry/staples.htm

TexasTimbers

Didn't even think of that Tom.

"You don't say much but when you do it really matters and I salute you for it...."  That should be in the Movie Lines thread but I couldn't resist.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

SteveB

My first move would be to figure out what you've got there.  Do you have any experince doing cruising (forest inventory)?  If not, I'd think about getting someone that does to do it for you.  What do you figure the volume per acre is?  Species composition, average piece size, diameter, heaight, etc. 

If all or most of this area is covered with mature trees you could be looking at 100,000 dollars worth of wood, or possibly much, much more (your uncle should probably get a substantial part of the earnings if this is the case).  Are you thinking of cutting it yourself or having someone else do it?  What is the ground like?  What do you, or logging contractors in your area have for equipment?

Not sure what the species are like that you're sawing and your climate (other than really hot), but in southern canada sap stain will set in and degrade the quality of hardwood (and white pine) quickly in the spring and early-mid summer unless you debark and process it quickly after you fell it.

You need to figure out what the market price is for the various products that can be sold in yoru area, and what the detailed specifications are for each of these products.  I guess if you've got a portable sawmill the first thing you need to figure out is how much and of what type you can expect to get from the harvest, and how much you can handle processing yourself, as you may possible get way more sawlogs than you can realistically use yoruself.  Also, you might want to consider that you may have veneer quality logs that would be worth much more to a veneer mill than for yoru own sawmill.  It is not uncommon to get 10X more for a veneer log than a sawlog, so it would be better to sell them to the veneer guys and you could buy much more volume of a quality that would be suitable for sawing than you'd get from sawing the veneer logs yourself.

If I was 2000 miles closer I'd help you for free.

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