What's the split?

[pine]

MM Why is there no market for cedar in your area? Here in British Columbia it is always in demand.Just Curious.
Dan

Our cedar is western red cedar theirs is eastern red cedar.  Big difference in market

[Cedarman]

The solar group makes cedar mail box posts.  I believe their MS office is in Taylorsville MS which is southwest of Meridian.  They wanted us to saw posts for them a few years ago, but were low on price.  When we sawed for Cedarworks we were makeing about 10,000 posts per month for them. I think Solar is the only company making a cedar mailbox post now.  They are about 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". Solar is owned by the Gibraltor group out of NY.
Solar's office folks could tell if they are buying or where to sell cedar logs.
Huntsville Al mill shaves almost all their logs, so quality is of little concern. They buy by weight.

[Magicman]

An ERC operation could be developed here.  Trees/logs that are now being pushed and burned would have to be salvaged, but it would take a large tract to produce enough to overcome transportation cost.  Then, markets would have to be developed.  I am not saying that it could not be done, but it has not been done.

The logger that I saw for accumulates about two log truck loads each year.  The logs do not cost him anything, but he incurs transportation cost with both the logs and lumber.

Many of my saw jobs will include a "few" ERC logs that the landowner has.   

[Cedarman]

It takes a critical mass before a cedar mill can make money.
The market is there in the US for  cedar.  The cedar mills cannot keep up.  I am losing orders left and right.  The biggest cedar mill in Ky is booked through the end of the year.  Arkansas mills cannot fill their orders.  The cedar fencing industry is crying for fence wood.  The Koreans and Chinese are screaming for more cedar wood.  The bottleneck is the few cedar mills that are sawing and an even bigger bottleneck is that loggers are too busy cutting pine and hardwoods to fool with cedar.
There are several billion feet of sawlog cedar in Ok.  So the cedar is growing a lot faster than it is being cut.  I suspect that will change a little as the price of cedar goes up.  Profit motive at work.

[Magicman]

and an even bigger bottleneck is that loggers are too busy cutting pine and hardwoods to fool with cedar. 

Yup, that is what I see here.  The Cedar is scattered such that accumulating logs would not be impossible but problematic. 

[ely]

a lot of good saw log cedar here in Oklahoma is also going to the pulp industry... not the paper pulp though, apparently they use it ground up in the petroleum ind. even more cedar is being pushed and burned.

[okmulch]

 

 
This 28 foot and still 10 inches at small end Oklahoma cedar is not going to be made into mulch or fiber. It is going to the sawmill along with many others just like it. 

Ely, we grind cedar up for LCM. Which is what the oil industry uses in drilling. We have a company that buys over 100 semi loads a year.

[LeeB]

LCM stands for lost circulation material. It is used when drilling and the formation is so porous, or faulted, that the drilling mud goes into the formation rather than circulating back to surface.

[Missouriwildman]

Well I'm going to look at the cedars this weekend. I'll see if it's all what I'm told. If it is as described I agree ill haul them to my place for milling.

There is just a very small market for cedars around here that I'm aware of. That's the cedar fence guys. I already have about a 500 small ones I plan to split in half. I sell the posts on craigslist for 5 bucks a piece and I've sold about 100 so far. They're all 8 to 10" in dia though. Mostly to people making chicken coups and pens. Nothing like the 24" stuff I'm told about.

The big stuff I may mill into bar tops and put on Craig's list. One thing for sure is this will be a learning experience..

And BTW I pick up my new timberking 1600 tomorrow so I've never sawed a log..

[beenthere]

Well, congrats on getting the mill tomorrow.  8)

But would suggest not making any firm log deals until you have a few thousand feet of log sawing under your belt.  But that is up to you. ;)

[Cedarman]

The fence guys near St Louis are screaming for semi loads of fencing.  4x4x8, 2x4x8, and 3/4  5 or 6" x 6' pickets.  Also 5/8 thick.  You can sell every 2x4 and 4x4 x 8' you can make in St. Charles.

[YellowHammer]

Well I'm going to look at the cedars this weekend.
And BTW I pick up my new timberking 1600 tomorrow so I've never sawed a log..

Sounds like a fun weekend! 8)
YH