standing lodgepole pine

[spencerhenry]

am looking for info on how to value green, and dead lodgepole pine on the stump. and or looking for buyers. will be cutting between 100 and 500 stems. abverage dbh 16" very high quality trees, low taper, straight, and cleans stems to 50' or more.

[bighoss550]

any log builder that i know of in my area would pay about 50 to 100 bucks a tree for that. depending on the size. and only green

ur biggest problem is gonna be finding a buyer that is willing to pay for them AND the shipping cost.

they cant be any smaller than 10" at the tip or it may not be allowable in the building code

[Ron Scott]

Contact the local Conservation District Forester; DNR Service or Extension Forester or a local professional Consulting Forerster. They should be able to provide you with local information to answer your lodgepole pine questions.

[Tillaway]

Beatle kill pine is not worth much.  Generally lodge pole pine has little value.  The dead pine is usually sold for chip / pulp and go at that rate.  Usually the logging and trucking costs come at or above this level.  The green pine has more value usually around the price for "white wood" (Engelman Spruce and true firs).

Chip logs are going for $28 / ton delivered if they are green in my area.  Dry ones go for less considering they need to be soaked so as not to produce too many fines for paper production.  I think we have only one buyer in the region now.

Your best bet is to sell them as house logs but I am not familiar with this market.  I know the dead spruce from your area is sold as house logs.

[spencerhenry]

you must be a buyer!
lodgepole pine is far from the values stated, just selling it as sawtimber, i can get 300/mbf green, beetle kill is around 400/mbf. even as firewood, i can get 150/ cord. house logs can be worth lots of dough, especially if standing dead.

[Tillaway]

Nope, no market for it out here.  $300mbf green is just under the white wood price on the coast.  Thats a delivered price. I wonder why the price for dead is more?  You can't hardly give it away here, well, firewood at about $100 a cord.

[bighoss550]

some folks in the log const. industry "think" that standing dead trees are dryer and wont shrink when they are put in a wall. they do shrink. and no one will buy em for anything but firewood here.

green ones are better to work with, and look 5000 times better when ur finished. but the problem is gettin to the market.

a 55 foot tree is as big as u can haul legally on a semi flat. the drivers all hate hauling trees because of taper and not really knowing how much they weigh, and there isnt a way to position the weight over the axles evenly (rough ride)

it would cost about 3500-3800 to get a load of those trees here to PA, and thats way more than they are worth:(

[hosslog]

To haul full length you would need a log trailer that piggy backs when it is empty.

[SwampDonkey]

spenserhenry.

Do you know a timber cruiser in your area. Or do you own a loggers diameter tape and SUUNTO clinometer? You can estimate your volumes and apply your pricing in your area and you have standing price. Don't expect to get standing price since it costs to log and transport the wood. Your state forest agency must have volume tables for pine or use any scale the buyers use in your area for estimating volumes.

Here is an economic annalysis you may find interesting - click here

cheers

[Hoop]

You are describing very desirable log cabin poles.  If these were in Wisconsin, you could expect to receive approx $350 - $450/thousand for the logs from a log home builder.  Wisconsin log home builders would go nuts over lodgepole pine.....mainly because of its small taper.  I suspect log home  builders in your area find lodgepole pine equally desirable.

Check around with the log home building community in your location, and if possible, have a couple of different companies inspect your logs before any harvesting takes place.....and get a ballpark price from them.  Absolutely do not harvest any logs prior to at least a partial commitment from a log home company.  They may have certain specs.  Most like to have the first 4 feet butted off, while others do not.

As others have stated, trucking costs make selling the logs financially nonfeasible for all but the local (within 200 miles) market.

[SwampDonkey]

In western Canada there is also a utility pole market for lodgepole pine as well as camps. I'm sure they use them in the US as utility also, Ever have to replace one that got clipped, or hear of someone who had to. My father clipped a pole in Maine, in a snow storm, and had to pay $500 to replace one pole. :

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