Buy or sell Osage logs

[firefighter ontheside]

Has anyone here bought or sold Osage logs.  I've found some I want, but I'm not sure what to pay, because I have no idea of the market.  I just know I want it.  I'm thinking of offering $.50/bf.  That's low compared to a price I found for Osage lumber, but I doubt I'll get $18/bf.

[jimparamedic]

They bring about $8 for a 7' post here in ohio

[doc henderson]

i do not know the wholesale prices, but around here farmers will let you clean up their hedgerows.  use the limbs for line post, 6" or bigger for corners.  it is the premo. firewood for stoves at 32 million BTUs per cord, and makes beautiful hardwood lumber.   a nurse i used to work with, her boy cut them and a guy would just park an open semi trailer and pay them by the post.  I can see if I can check prices for you.

[nativewolf]

I think you'll have takers at $0.50/bdft.  Nice logs?  

[firefighter ontheside]

I see it often for sale as posts, but this tree is 18" at the butt and appears to have little taper over the main 22' trunk.  It is already on the ground.

[firefighter ontheside]

 

 

[btulloh]

Get the log but make a good deal. Small amounts go for high dollars but most are buying for knife scales or to make bows, mallets etc. There's no commercial trade in it, so it's a special item to a small group of people. Most of it gets burned or used for fence posts. It's nice to have a log like that but it won't fund your retirement.

[doc henderson]

go see what he wants and what he will take.. the trouble is the beauty in in the eyes of the beholder.  i had a tree guy that cut down a big walnut tree in a tiny back yard in Wichita.  he had no way to move it but thought it should be worth a ton of money, and I had to pick it up.  When i called him,he was firm.  still saw it on craigs list so called again, guy threatened to just cut it up for firewood.  sight unseen i offered 100 dollars but told him it would be  a day project for me to load everything up, drive and hour to Wichita, take risk loading and hauling it home.  the drive to the back yard was just about 10 feet wide between houses. unloaded and drove into the back yard with skid steer.  jack knifed and back the goose neck down the drive.  loaded the log.  picked up the mess of branches and loaded them for the tree guy and so he gave me another 2 smaller logs.  I gave him another 40 bucks.  It all turned out well.  solid 30 inch strait as an arrow no branch trunk for 14 feet.  

[firefighter ontheside]

That's a good point.  It may sell for $18/bf, but if nobody buys more than one bf at a time, it'll take me years and years to sell it.  I'll remember that if he wants to go up in price.

[doc henderson]

you are taking the risk.  do not be afraid to walk away.  it takes a couple turns and the middle may  have been hit by lightning.  might ask why it was taken down.  could be hidden treasure or half the log is no good.  good luck

[doc henderson]

have you calculated board feet and if so what is the final tally at .5 bucks a board foot.  

[doc henderson]

looks like price range 135 to 160 dollars.  with the turns and side bark missing, I would offer 100 dollars, unless you have already agreed on price, but i think you could argue it is not 22 feet strait and without injury.  i bet you may get closer to walnut price as not every woodworker is familiar with Osage.  maybe 8 $ a bdft.  

[doc henderson]

a side note.  leaves of 5 on the tree, but looks like leaves of three on the ground.  may be poison ivy.  good luck and keep us apprised at the ongoing prospects.  might go rap on it with a hammer to see if it is solid.

[btulloh]

When Brad-bb sees this he'll have some good input. He deals with quite a bit of osage orange.

[doc henderson]

My friend Julane said her boys got the wood for free for cleaning up the hedge row, and got 6 to 10 bucks for a line post and 20 to 25 bucks for a corner post at over 6 inches.  still not helping you at the log/lumber price, but if you are in Missouri and lots of farmers, might make a buck or two.

[Brad_bb]

Yep, here I am.  I've gone out and picked through a farmers slash pile using a log arch to pick pieces out to the road.  Hard work.  I've also found another land owner who let me go in and cut what I wanted from his hedgerows.  I used a log arch and SxS to fetch them out and onto my trailer.  I had to cut up the branches and stack them in the hedge row.  No cost again, but a good amount of work.  My firewood guy, who saves good saw logs for me,  had half a dozen sticks of Osage.  He loaded them on my trailer.  I don't remember what I gave but it wasn't above .50/BF.  
I also bought a dumptruck load of Osage from a circle sawyer about 30 minutes from me.  He delivered for $50.  I think I paid $10/stick so the total was $170 for 12 delivered.

I am willing to pay up to $25 for each piece of live edge brace stock I can get.  Minimum 8" dia, but preferable 10" and up. Minimum 6' long.  So if there is a 10" dia piece, I can cut two faces off and have a 6" thick brace.  That's one.  If there is a 12" or 14" dia piece, I can cut off two faces and split it down the middle and get two 4" thick pieces out of it.  That's two pieces, so I'd pay up to $50 for the log.  Quality of the log does matter, but usually curvature doesn't matter so much if you're scribing a  brace in.  If I get 1/2 dozen or more pieces, I don't have to scrutinize each one as it will come out in the average.
At the moment I'm having trouble finding anyone to sell me any or anyone that has any.  I can't go cut any at the farmers place until winter and the ground is frozen.  I think I may next winter.  

I have advertised in agri-news and craigslist trying to find farmers taking out hedgerows, but have not been successful.  I only got two calls from it.  One got me a few pieces, the other was too far away.  It seems many farmers can't be bothered.  The easiest thing for them is to bulldoze or skid steer or backhoe a hedge row and pile and burn it.  

Cutting Osage is hard on bands(I'm using 4 degree woodmizer doublhard).  I'm just making 2 to 4 cuts per stick.  I cannot plane them on my beam planer because I get tear out.  A Byrd shellix planer may do better, I don't know for sure.  I end up finishing them with a belt sander.

If I were making fence posts,$25 each is more than I'd like to pay.  Plus you'd need 7.5' to 8' long pieces which can be harder to come by.

[firefighter ontheside]

Doc, I think the leaves you see on the tree are Virginia creeper.  The others are probably poison ivy or other ground brush, maybe smooth sumac.  
He said he cut it down because of all the debris it dropped in his pool.
My intent will be to mill this for woodworkers, turners, etc and not for posts.
I estimated the main trunk to be about 190bf.  I assumed 1" narrower every 8' of length.

[btulloh]

I'm kinda thinking $100 would be fair. 1/3 of an SGU.

[Brad_bb]

In my world, $92 would be my max.  How are you gonna move it?  Is it accessible?  Do they have equipment to move it or load it?  All important factors.  If you have to get it out of a back yard and it requires you to use an arch, being equipment over to get it etc, then it's not worth $92.  If it's in a residential backyard, and I had to bring my arch over with my SxS, then that would be two trips as I can't haul both the logs and SxS together, plus the work for me to cut it in 3 manageable lengths. and get them to the front and on the trailer.  If I have to do that, I would pay $0.  It would cost them at least several hundred to get it cut up and moved out of there likely.  A lot of work to cut it up for firewood and heavy wood.   You can't use the osage in a fireplace or many wood stoves as it burns too hot.  Don't overpay and do all the work.  You're not desperate.  I'm more in need than you likely and I wouldn't pay and do all the work.

[firefighter ontheside]

I'm not desperate, but I do want some Osage and this is the biggest one I've seen.  He also mentioned a huge one that's on his land.  Appears to be 36" dbh.  There's quite a few people chatting on his post, but no one has offered any money.  I'll just sit and wait.

[Brad_bb]

Do you know if you'd have to move and load it yourself?  If so, you can offer to move it for free if so inclined.  Or if he has a way to move it and load it?  Make your cash offer either delivered or loaded on your trailer.

[Brad_bb]

I don't know what a 36" Osage would be like.  Just know if the tree is still green, it's much better sawing.  If an osage has been down  10 years and is pretty dry, I'd be a little afraid of how hard it would be to cut with a bandsaw. You may tend to get waves and go through more bands?  The weight of that big an Osage would be something to consider too.  It's denser than white oak.

[firefighter ontheside]

I would be backing my trailer up to it and loading with my A frame.  Presumably he would help.  I found something that listed Osage as similar weight to burr oak.  That made a 7' log about 800lbs.  It's green and was alive before he cut it down.  

[doc henderson]

oak is around 27 k BTUs per cord.  this is based on density so hedge is denser but may have less water.  Cottonwood is only 18 k BTUs per cord but when green and wet may weigh almost as much.  any dry wood actually has the same BTUs per unit weight.  based on the density.

[btulloh]

Good luck.  We'll be watching with great anticipation.