Uses for odd species?

[Okrafarmer]

We take down a lot of yard trees for people, and that includes a lot of Leyland Cypress and Bradford Pear. I know these two trees are not renowned for their lumbering ability, but has anybody been able to put the wood to good use? Leyland is some sort of hybrid with cedar and cypress, from what I understand-- does it have any of cedar's good qualities? Rot resistance? Etc? We also get everything under the sun that anyone could plant, including a lot of sweet gum, and the occasional holly and Magnolia. Any thoughts on milling these less desirable trees-- making stickers, maybe? Fence posts? Just cut up for firewood? Push over a cliff and let it rot? The bradford pear we can sell as firewood, it burns ok, but is tough to split and the trunks are rarely longer than 6' before they goblet out. Sweet gum-- I need some serious uses for it, too. Sweetgum is undesirable for firewood. We cut tons of it and we don't get much $ for pulp.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday Jim

Try the Dunnage market I have cut heaps of odd species dunnage over the years 4x3 & 4x4" Like the saying If the price is rite  ;) :D ;D and its handy that you's are already being paid to remove it Mate  ;)

Another option would be to slab up the intresting ones with nice grian and figure and see how they sell too Mate  ;)

Regards Chris

[DanG]

Sweetgum, Magnolia, and Holly all make nice lumber for various purposes.  SG is difficult to dry straight, but it makes beautiful furniture, cabinets and panelling when you manage to pull that off.  The larger, mature trees are where you'll find the good stuff.  SG and Magnolia both spalt beautifully, so don't be in too big of a hurry to mill them. ;)  Holly, on the other hand, must be milled quickly and put directly into a kiln, for best results.  Also, be on the lookout for nice Sycamore logs.  It has a very unique grain pattern when quartersawn, and is even more astounding when spalted.  It also makes good framing lumber.

You need a kiln in order to take best advantage of your situation.  A simple solar kiln can be built quickly and cheaply by a resourceful young feller such as yerself. ;)

[Tom]

Less desirable species!?!?!?

When you can't find a use for a piece of any kind of wood, find a wood turner.  Wood turners love strange wood, especially if it has strange grain and figure or has a historical background.  They can use pieces as large as you can carry, for bowls, or small stuff for pencils and pens.

Sweet gum, Sycamore, Holly, Magnolia, Sweet bay, all beautiful woods.  They usually aren't commercially available as a furniture or cabinet wood because the big mills don't want to take the time with them and they aren't planted as plantations.  The Urban Forest is the best place to find them.   These trees aren't "less desirable", they are gold that needs to be sold.   Marketing is where it's at. You have to introduce the stuff to the furniture makers and turners.

Here is an example.   Sweet gum is cussed at every turn.  Cabinet makers will tell you how useless it is.   Yet, they will go to the lumber store and spend big bucks on Red Gum or Sap Gum, not knowing that Red Gum is the heartwood of the Sweet gum.   Most have never seen a piece of quarter sawn sycamore or flat-sawn magnolia.  Either of those would make their eyes bug out.

If you decide to use these things for stickers, sell the stickers as Pen stock when you get through.

Holly, dried quickly after sawing is brilliant white and used for inlay work.  It is usually best in small pieces, but here again, you have to educate your clientele.   You do that by rubbing shoulders with as many of them as you can, on a regular basis.  That means that you need to get out and join some wood working clubs, whittling clubs and turning clubs.  When they find out you are a sawyer, you will be asked to speak.  Be ready.  Know your local woods.

[pineywoods]

ditto the above comments. there's several woodworkers and turners locally that are always raiding my burn pile looking for unusual pieces of wood. A crotch from a big oak can be sawn into thick slabs and made into some beautiful tables and benches. I quarter sawed a big sweet gum, air dried it, and gave some of it to a friend. He made a real nice dining table from it. He came back yesterday looking for some more. As the saying goes, one mans trash is another mans treasure.

[DanG]

 That means that you need to get out and join some wood working clubs, whittling clubs and turning clubs.  When they find out you are a sawyer, you will be asked to speak.  Be ready.  Know your local woods.

I haven't done that myself, but there has been discussion on it here before.  From that, I've concluded it would be good to be clear up front about your intentions.  The first thing many of them are going to think is, "Oh goody! Free wood! 8) ".  Sell yourself as a source of things they can't get anywhere else, rather than the cheapest source of ordinary stuff. ;)

[tyb525]

I personally like a lot of the "odd" species more than your usual species. Bradford pear is great for turning, and I also cut a 12"x6' log for my uncle when he had it taken down. The wood is very hard, and it grows very, very fast. The particular log I cut had less than 2 growth rings per inch, yet it seemed pretty stable.

Like DanG said, turners (myself include) absolutely love turning different woods. The odd ones often have the prettiest grain.

One of my favorite species to use is Honey locust. I've built jewelry boxes, turned bowls, built a small shed out of it, and used it for posts and fence posts.

Whenever you come up with an off-market wood, cut bowl blanks from the low quality ones, and natural edge boards an lumber from the nicer ones. Bowl blanks sell for many more $$ per bf than lumber, however they take a bit more time to cut out. Ebay is a great place to sell those items.

Basically, don't be afraid of odd species! Show them off to woodworkers! They can be a great niche market. Large sawmills can cut oak and walnut all day and beat you quite a bit in the profit area. You can have the upper hand by cutting unique/figured species that you can't find at the bigger mills.

[paul case]

you may just find a mixed bag of all this input is relevant.purty boards and dunnage is where  i am at on oak logs and that works real well.  pc

[bandmiller2]

Okrafarmer,throw what you have on the mill and cut it,the suggestion about dunnage and cribbing is a good one.Make some wood truck chock blocks.cut 6x6"x4' pieces and see haw fast they vanish I use alot of those under lifts of lumber.Every species has its use you just have to find it. Frank C.

[Okrafarmer]

Okrafarmer,throw what you have on the mill and cut it,the suggestion about dunnage and cribbing is a good one.Make some wood truck chock blocks.cut 6x6"x4' pieces and see haw fast they vanish I use alot of those under lifts of lumber.Every species has its use you just have to find it. Frank C.

To understand correctly-- dunnage and cribbing are blocks of wood used for stacking, packing, shipping, etc? And if I use them to stack under my lumber, do I have to wait for them to dry first? What if they warp? I guess factories and machine shops in my area might have a need for such dunnage and cribbage?

[Okrafarmer]

And also, what about the Leyland Cypress? We have millions of them around here!

[bandmiller2]

Okra,you got the dunage thing right.For blocking up lumber lifts I usally don't worry if the blocks are green or dry and their going to twist and warp thats just their nature.If you have very fine stuff and don't want to put it on green blocking just put  dry sticking on top.Frank C.