Urban Timber

[KnottyBoy]

Wanna start an Urbun recovrey program in Toronto, Canada. I need to know if someone has done this before and is it viable and profitable?

[DanG]

Hi, KnottyBoy! Welcome.

The answers to your questions are: Yep and Yep.  A number of the folks right here on the Forum are doing it. A lot of us get free logs from people who would otherwise have to pay to dispose of them. Many of them would simply rather see the logs go to some use, than see them in a landfill.
You need to do a lot of "networking" to find the logs, and you need to be flexible so you can retrieve them in a timely fashion.  You also need a good metal detector, as urban logs are notorious for containing metal. You also need a way to process these logs into a usable product...either a sawmill or some sort of firewood processing gear, or both.
The fact that wood has been rescued from waste seems to appeal to the "environmentally conscious" crowd, too. They don't like to see trees harvested for the purpose they were planted for, so they will buy "rescued" wood if they can get it.

[biziedizie]

  KnottyBoy this sounds interesting! Do you have a game plan?
  Most guys here are in bed but when they wake up this thread could be jumping with advice.

  Steve

[Larry]

You might be able to pick up a few ideas from this link.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/umt/index.htm

[Tom]

knotty Boy

I've done it and don't make a big effort because I don't retail wood.  

The local electric company was bringing me logs rather than carrying them to the dump until a new contract hired a tree company that didn't care. That suited me ok because they started off bringing me trash and then quit altogether before I could complain.  The electric company foresters were good about sending relatively clean logs and most were choice.

I had a friend in the pulpwood business who would come by on ocassion and cut up the smaller logs of pine.  He wasn't much on identiflication and would get a good hardwood once in a while but it woas worth it to have him take the stuff I couldn't use. Look at www.tomssaw.com for his pictures.

The tree surgeons will bring me wood sometimes.  I go to their job site and saw more frequently.  It used to be that I got all of that wood. Now I saw for them as a service and they market the lumber.  More often than not they have sold my services to the person who is having the tree taken down and the lumber stays right there.

The main thing you have to be careful about is having your place enundated with trash.  It takes a lot of training of the tree people to recognize what you want.  Most of them are happy to give you the wood because it saves them dump fees.  Some of the sawyers I've heard doing this are buying the logs to insure that they get them.  I never wanted to go to that much trouble.  Holding a Bar-b-cue or giving the guys some free lumber once iln a while was more to  my liking.

[Mark M]

Hi Knotty,

All my logs come from one of the local tree services in town. Right now I have more than I can handle and I don't dare talk to the other 4 or 5 guys to cut down trees or I would really be busy. I get 2 or 3 people a week who stop by and ask about my sawmill and whether or not I will custom cut. In a big city like Toronto you should be able to get plenty, all you need is a saw and some place to work. The link Larry posted tells about some really successful urban tree projects and should be able to answer all your questions.

I forgot to mention I am out here on the DanG treeless prairie of North Dakota and I still have more logs than I know what to do with.

Good Luck
Mark

[Bibbyman]

Great article on harvesting urban timber on the Wood-Mizer web site.

Harvesting Urban Timber

[FeltzE]

There's money in them there trees... Last year I moved over 800 tons of "urban timber" and the same for the year befor. This year I lost my main contact and have picked up a new job so it will be quite less. The local electric company is trying to send me to pick up timber now.

Key factor #1 Have an appropriate truck to move the timber. A single axel or tandem axel truck with a boom. Don't operate an eyesore of a pulp truck and pull into an upscale subdivision and make the tree removal crew look dumpy.

Factor #2 Be Flexible...How you say? Expect to have to travel  a little too far for a single tree on one job and hope to make it up on another. Pick up all of the tree, sawlog and pulp sort it at your yard and rehaul it to the scales.

Factor #3 Be responsible. Talk to the removal crews and generate reasonable expectations. Same day pickup is achievable with prior coordination. Avoid damage claims on driveways, sprinklers or other underground stuff by haveing a written aggrement.

Factor #4 Sawmilling the low quality tops into 1 inch board siding and selling the higher grade timber will achieve better profits while minimizing labor costs.

Good luck to you!

Eric

[Larry]

Neighbor is a close to 70 year old logger.  I pulled up beside him in the gas station couple years ago about 10am.  He had a big load of butt ugly logs on his 10 wheeler so I made a smart ash comment about the fine looking load of logs he had.  He turned around with a big smile on his face and told me it was a money load.  He explained the tree service guys were paying him to pick up logs with the knuckle-boom and haul them off.  He had already made a day's pay by 10am picking up logs.  The logs were headed for his firewood processor or the pallet mill and he said that was gravy.

[AtLast]

Take a look at the post Jeff made here in the general fourm titled " Last Chance for ash"..think you might find it interesting ;D

[inspectorwoody]

I pick up a few logs here and again at our local tree/brush dump. My dad gets a few logs here and there from the city as they stop him in his squad car and ask him if he wants it...9 times out of 10 he says yes and when I ask him what he plans on doing with them, he replys "I don't know!"  :D

I am currently working on getting something started and set with the local tree cutting guys. I do pick up a few logs here and there but once people start hearing the logs may be worth money, look out. I will pay for Walnut and higer value timber but prefer not to as it makes no sense to me to pay for one log etc. You will see, I'm sure. You will run across ol' Joe Already Millionare who thinks his pine tree is worth thousands!  :D Ain't kidding ya a bit. I just look at them and tell them if it is worth so much to give the log buyers at work a call...they tend to re-think after that  ;D

A good publication that I think Bibbyman might have already posted is HUT or Harvesting Urban Timber which is put together by Sam Sherrill. I don't know where you could find him now days as my dad recieved this sometime ago. If anybody does know...pass the word back as I would like to get in contact with him again.

Another thing you have to watch out for are the guys who think Firewood! Around here guys make money selling firewood but not that much to where I would want to concentrate strictly on cutting and splitting etc. Have to show them a lil green now and again and they tend to work with you pretty well.

Good Luck

[DouginUtah]

The problem I keep running into is liability. The demolition contractors don't want me or anyone else on the jobsite for fear that they might get sued if I hurt myself. They would rather pay to take the trees to the landfill.

-Doug

[Frank_Pender]

In my case, I will not even say yes to a tree unless it is free.  Like 2 or 3 weeks ago I got two truckloads of Sequoia.  Total Scribner Scale was about 10,000 feet plus.  They were free for the hauling.  The hauling is where it cost me.  I had budgeteed $360 and it ran $325.   One third of the volume is cut and gone.   Sold it for $1 board foot.  Each board was a 5/4 x 8" x 12' .  Ching ching ching ching ;D

     But you get to talking with the city fathers and all and they begin to think that the trees are plated with gold and you pay even higher.  When that happens I say, "You will have to find someone else to remove them.  I cannot afford you prices."

[ohsoloco]

I love to salvage urban timber, but once your name gets around you have people calling you wanting you to pay them to remove a tree from their yard  :

[biziedizie]

  I like explaining to them that the tree ain't worth nothing and walking back to the truck with them following me asking what should they do with the tree. I just turn around and say look as I'm here with the saw and trailer I'll take for free. They always say yes. :D :D

   Steve