We are cutting down a couple very large, very healthy maples that have just gotton too big for the yard. Before we distribute it to all the family members as firewood can somebody let me know the timber value to a sawyer and what a fair price would be. Since getting involved with the woodmizer I just can`t see it all going in the wood stoves! The trees are in cental Connecticut.
Timber value would be about zero if your looking for someone to buy the trees. Less desirable species of maple and yard trees are specific reasons.
silver is a soft maple but it makes nice boards with curly figure very often. It can bend and twist during drying.
.....or you can hire us to mill them for you at a fair rate. We are in Washington, CT.
I pick up Silver Maples all the time for free. The "yard factor" as Jeff mentioned is a big reason why. Also, there is a huge color and figure range in silver maple that is difficult to match from tree to tree. The boards from within individual trees often has very different color as well. This may make them less desirable to commercial mills that need to provide a commodity.
I use silver maple for personal use, so the color differences are an asset to me. Just not one I will pay for. Too many freebies out there.
A nice stack of lumber from your trees can be really handy to have around. Try getting them milled. :)
Thanks guys, That answers my questions I`ll keep some of the nice logs and mill them up, put the wood in storage for if and when I ever decide to build furniture again, the rest of it I`ll give to the family firewood hounds, with the price of oil, they`ll be happy.
NICE.............good decision
A couple of other ideas:
The crotches of the larger limbs can be cut into block wood for turning bowls. It can be spectacular. Also the butt log will be cut off just above the ground. If you have time dig out the soil a bit to cut some block wood out of the very base. It often has compression wood that can be beautiful. It dries fast and can be turned dry. Suggest sealing the ends of the blocks.
Silver maple also spalts pretty well. If you leave a piece out over the winter you could have some good looking hobby wood. Be careful and sample it once in awhile because it rots really fast.
8) 8)
I built our kitchen cabinets out of one large Silver Maple tree. They are very pretty. You will not regret having a nice stash. :)
Green off the saw here soft maple goes for $575mbdft to $290 mbdft. I saw and dry and get about $1,000 mbdft and crotch or spalted brings more. Turners and some carvers like it. The logs saw better if alowed to lay for a few months and sawn on the dark of the moon.
Quote from: ARKANSAWYER on October 24, 2008, 01:12:33 PM
The logs saw better if alowed to lay for a few months and sawn in the dark of the moon.
But then it is to dark to see to mill the log.
I saw on the dark of the moon so I can see the nail hits
Sounds too spacey for me. I'll just stay here and cut on the earth :D :) ;D
Silver maple is pretty wood, you can get some amazing color and figure in it. It isn't easy to dry, as it stains at the drop of a hat and twists and bends like a pretzel, but the end result is nice. I have 1500 sf of silver maple flooring in my house and a LOT of it is curly and has weird color streaks - grays, reds and even some green.
If your Silver Maple is like the stuff I get around here, you will have a lot of Ambrosia beatle in it. It's value depends on what side of the deal you're on: I like to offer "beautiful Ambrosia Maple with distinct markings", but buyers don't always want "*DanG wormy maple" :D