I live not too far from St. Louis. The internet sale postings (Craig's list and facebook market place) I've seen the last few months are suddenly full of people trying to sell their "highly valuable black walnut logs" in ways I find very humorous. Many great deals abound, $50 to $200 gets you a crooked 6 foot yard log that you might be able to get a 6" by 6" by 4 foot cant out of, lol. If these prices were real I could retire with the 30 or so walnut trees I have along my creek. I wonder where the price rumors are coming from all the sudden. I saw one ad that nearly matched the "highly valuable walnut spoof" they wanted a yard tree cut at best for free and likely hoping for a fee. All I could see was the power lines all around it.
I live 50 miles south of St. Louis. CL has an add where the guy is advertising probably 30 or 40 logs for sale to a sawmill to turn into lumber. The logs are 4" to 14" round. He is asking $1.50 an inch in diameter. The kicker is he cut them all 3' long. Nuts, isn't it.
Mmmmm---Walnut.
I am no dummy, so I know it won't work on a 4 inch log, but if you stretched that 3 foot 14 inch log back out to 8 foot, would it still be big enough around to mill anything out of. lol
I had a customer bring in a trailer load of "highly valuable walnut logs" and wanted me to saw them as soon as possible so he could recover the $200 he had paid for them. I recognized the logs from a Craigslist add that had been running for a few months.
I had looked at the add and determined that I would take the logs if the seller delivered them to my mill but would not pay a cent.
I did my best to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and my customer was tickled pink. I only charged him $50 to saw them because I did not want to add to his cost.
In Oregon we don't have as much black walnut as you guys back east, so it's really bad here. People either think they are gold, or the tree removal guys are make a killing hauling the stuff to the landfill.
Walnuts always gold if I don't have any. The few people that know I have a mill call wanting the craziest widths and thicknesses. And if I had it, and say 2 bucks a ft. They come wanting it resawed to some other deminsion. It's crazy, that's why I stay out of it. To many dimes to chase the dollar for my time.
The last two guys that brought walnut to be sawn brought rotten, small and crooked logs they believed would saw beautiful lumber. I have figured out the only way to saw some logs is by the hour.
Quote from: tmbrcruiser on December 24, 2017, 08:50:13 AM
The last two guys that brought walnut to be sawn brought rotten, small and crooked logs they believed would saw beautiful lumber. I have figured out the only way to saw some logs is by the hour.
With decent logs I can make a lot more money by the board foot, but your correct, some jobs make sense by the hour.
Walnut (good walnut) is still gold, only a bunch of folks cannot tell gold from fools gold.
Around me, they kind of are. There are signs along the back country roads advertising "walnut trees waned". The Amish approach homeowners offering to buy the walnut trees in their yard. I did some sawing for a site contractor who had some 3+ year old 9-12" diameter walnuts he wanted to sell. I showed a couple photos to a buyer I know and he offered $1.00 per bdft based on the bad photos alone, more if the were better when inspected. They were end checked and mostly sapwood but he didn't care.
Any of you guys know what the export buyers are paying for it and any ideas on specification?
Or who to ask?
Id like to say I was just curious but I had a nibble the other day from an exporter about something that fills a very similar place in the market so I would be real interested to know what the chinese are paying there.
Brad S It is that way here to with the Amish. Happy to take them right out of your yard. Open grown Walnut they take the major limbs too. Ive never known anything like it.
I just helped log off 15,000 feet of walnut . I was not impressed with most of the logs ,but, the grader buyer took stuff right down to 8" limb wood . I don't think he payed any were near 3.00 a foot . Prity sure it''s headed to China .
I commonly get 3-4$ ft doyle for veneer from exporter. Have seen 11$ before. But there's maybe a dozen of those trees in the county. I went and bid with 4 other loggers competing on one walnut tree. 5000$ bought that tree standing in the timber. Could have been hollow. I walked away.
Quote from: killamplanes on December 25, 2017, 05:01:01 PM
I commonly get 3-4$ ft doyle for veneer from exporter. Have seen 11$ before. But there's maybe a dozen of those trees in the county. I went and bid with 4 other loggers competing on one walnut tree. 5000$ bought that tree standing in the timber. Could have been hollow. I walked away.
$5000. Wow... I saw my Dad get $1000. for one tree and that was back in the 60's.
I've personally had many trees gross 3k $. Of course landowner didn't get all of that.
But for every one of those I chase 20, 300$ trees if not more :D
Quote from: scully on December 25, 2017, 08:05:09 AM
I just helped log off 15,000 feet of walnut . I was not impressed with most of the logs ,but, the grader buyer took stuff right down to 8" limb wood . I don't think he payed any were near 3.00 a foot . Prity sure it''s headed to China .
Yep we sell it all, right down to tree limbs. The limbs go for $1/bdft (not bad) but have hardly any scale. The key in walnut is diameter. Get fat logs and you'll be happy. Then grade. Hate Doyle..sigh.
Generic stuff goes to China and the nicer stuff here or to EU. It is a very global market and you can sell short lengths because of that.
Quote from: killamplanes on December 25, 2017, 07:33:07 PM
I've personally had many trees gross 3k $. Of course landowner didn't get all of that.
But for every one of those I chase 20, 300$ trees if not more :D
Isn't that the truth. I think 1/10 get over 1500 here in northern VA. However if you are in S IL then you are in real walnut country. We don't get too many over 1500...once in a while.
I know a buyer we sell very nice wood to, big leaf Maple, he was bidding on a standing tree that went for 30k. He told me he dropped out long before that but wanted to see what the tree would go for.
Quote from: nativewolf on December 25, 2017, 08:41:04 PM
It is a very global market and you can sell short lengths because of that.
I always thought it had to do with NHLA grading rules allowing for walnut to be fas down to 6'.
PC