decent logs, no market

[kderby]

I was asked if I wanted to buy logs .  I said sure ;) then asked what kind, where, size condition, terms etc. :P

Went to look ....clearing trees for a housing development the company cut down ponderosa pine trees in june.  The pile is not scaled but I'll estimate over twenty thousand board feet with eight to twenty inch tops.  The material is sound but bluestained.  After a series of phone calls I can't find a taker for logs or lumber.  This is not my problem.  The developer owns the material and offered to sell it to me.  It is some ones opportunity, or is it ???. 

What happens when material comes up as available and no one wants it?  It is not bad material structurally.  The cost of trucking will negate what I would typically pay for this material.  The market is very limited for small diameter bluestain pine logs.  I know about "denim pine" but that is a specialty market I choose not to enter.  I don't know what other options the developer has.  I hate to see sound logs wasted.  What happens to mediocre material in your world? ??? ???

kd

[DomR]

Most of the time they bulldoze and burn then bury the rest.  The speed that the job must be completed in doesn't allow for harvest or so they say.  Around us a road has been in the works for 10 years and you would think that was enough to clear cut everything, but no, bulldoze and burn.  It is a terrible a shame.

[jpgreen]

I would use those logs in a heartbeat. Sounds like if you hang around long enough, you may be able to get them for free, or dang close to it.

[treecyclers]

Current market pricing for ponderosa isn't good, but I find that the blue stain stuff brings good money in the rustic furniture markets.
I get between $1.25 and $2.50 a boardfoot for it depending on width and thickness, and how striaght it dries.
I love the blue stain personally, as I think it gives the wood a really nice character and personality in the finished piece.
However, that said, it will be quite a while before I buy a ponderosa log in this area, as the beetlekill areas are plentiful and free for the taking.
SD

[jpgreen]

THose Dang borer beetles are killing off my pine too.

Just dropped 3 that turned brown this year, and I'm affraid they're
moving on up the hill.

I found one of those black antenna head monsters on my roof yesterday,
when I went up to adjust my solar panels.  He was sittin' there looking homeless.. til I stomped on him.  :D

[solodan]

I think you are both doing each other a favor if he just gives you these logs.
make him an offer to remove them for free. If he doesn't take it, move on. Blue pine brings me as much as clear pine.  ???  But around here people want rustic character.

[mike_van]

A developer near me got tired of waiting for people to move logs & firewood, he bought a Blue Ox chipper, everything goes in it, then they use the chips around the mansions.  Seemed like an awful waste to me, lots of nice sawlogs get chipped, but that was his solution.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

OUCH, Mike Van!
:'(
You tryin' to make me cry?
:-\
That reminded me of a road project two years ago where I had bucked and end coated about 30 tons of logs - big diameter nice stuff - only to have it all burned anyway because of an antsy state highway project inspector.   Somebody two miles farther down the road had complained about trees being across his property line.

Well, we have all heard of the "trickle down theory."
:(
Phil L.

[Raphael]

Well, we have all heard of the "trickle down theory."

Yup...  That's the guiding theory a plumber uses to install a waste stack...

[Frank_Pender]

KD, I just passed up three loads of 24" x 32' pine within 20 miles a couple weeks ago.  I could find no market for the lumber, so turned it down.   Two days later I had three calls for lumber.   Figure that.  I sure wish you they were closer for me.  I will not turn down another such deal, at $500 a load. :'(

[Left Coast Chris]

Derby......... I built my barn out of pine and it has done well.  Can't you find some ranches or farms that would pay something for some 2x's ?? ???

[jpgreen]

I'm building my shop as we speak out of pine 4x6's and 6x6's, clear with very few small knots.

All but the main 6x6 posts. Those will be Doug Fir. I love to mill pine, as it's the most stable wood up here.  I don't even sticker it.

[solodan]

I really enjoy sawing pine as well.  The smell of fresh cut sugar pine is the best smell in the world. 8) I also like sawing ponerosa, cause it is usually real straight with little taper. Even though cedar will get me more money I just like sawing pine more.

[jpgreen]

Dan- Doesn't Ponderosa have 3 needles? 

These pines I just dropped have 5, but they don't have the large cones like Sugar.  I've got those too.

Maybe Western White?

[solodan]

Yeah Pat, western white pine has 5 needles and has a long cone like the sugar pine, but way smaller. The cone also has a slight curve like a bannana. What is the crown like? is it similar to the sugar pine? I would think that your elevation is too low for western white,  cause they are usually above 8000 feet where I'm at, but I am probably near  their southern range. I have never milled any western white but I would imagine it is very similar to sugar pine but without the sweet smell. 8)

[jayzee]

Here in the extreme northeastern corner of Oregon ( think Idaho ) I scarf up every decent sized ponderosa I can get . It makes excellent board / batt siding . I usually pay about $ 300.00 /mbf gross scale for 10'' minimum top size. The " big guys " cull it when the loggers try to ship it to them so they are happy to get anything for it. 

[jpgreen]

I don't know the logging market in these parts, but I just talked to a property owner that sold all his pine, average 24" at $50 per l000.  I was set back a little when he told me that.  DanG that sounds too cheap.

He said he talked to the foresty service, and others.  Sounds like he was given bad info.  The local mill was selling .75 a BF earlier this year.

[solodan]

Pat, was that the stumpage price? cause that sounds about right if it was. The big guys here are paying about $500/mbf delivered.

jayzee, why is the big mill culling the ponderosa. Is it blue? I would not think they would cull the ponderosa, cause the big guys you are talking about stamp their pine as pp/lp,  being either pondeosa or lodge pole.