I am relatively new to the sawing business and I am starting to get calls from people wanting to get rid of trees(sometimes free, sometimes not) . Most recently, about 700 board feet of Black Walnut (not veneer) and about 1,000 to 2,000 board feet of Ash. All the wood has been recently cut. The Ash is all large (24 to 30 inch diam.)
I'm looking for some advice on 1) finding possible markets for this. 2) figuring a possible value. 3) Recommended cuts or use.
All opinions or ideas welcome
P.S. I am lokaed in SE Wisconsin
Stumpy,
You'll have to wait for a real answer from someone in your area. Wood prices vary considerably by region.
I would think that you can find a market locally and might even become a hero to your local wood workers. The big market will probably be Chicago and all that Urban conglomeration around the lake. Lots of woodworkers in a city environment.
If that is the case, then your general market will probably want mostly 4/4 boards in lengths up to 10 feet. Quartersawed would draw a premium.
Along with this staple, you should think of some 8/4 and 12/4. They use that for legs, turnings, table tops and various other cabinetry incidentals. Usually they have trouble finding someone who stocks the thicker stuff, so that may be something that would put your name ahead of everyone else.
Buying logs will have a lot to do with where they are located. Forest logs are generally clean. Urban logs may have tramp metal and lots of internal defects. Pricing wood on the stump can be an art and must include this fact as well as time and fuel for loading and hauling. Many times you will find that you are the one doing them the favor by removing the wood.
Now, hopefully someone in the Chicago area will step in and help out.
Do you have a baseball bat manufacturer around there anywhere? :D
Yo! Kirk ?! Buzz?!
Well Kirk Allen has sold retail int hatmarket.........I can only address the free/for sale yard trees.
They are a lot of work.
They should be free or VERY cheap.....or you will lose money.
you are near zone 3 pricing so here ya go.
ash 14 cents (on the stump)
walnut 57 cents
these are average prices paid byloggers NOT yardtree collectors......they willpay hundreds if you don t take it away :o
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The furniture and baseball bat trends have moved away from ash
bout 8-20 cents a foot here in Illinois
pretty plain lookin stuff to me...furniture maybe a good use
Stumpy,
You are sitting on a gold mine if you do your home work. Milwaukee has numerous woodworking stores of which Rockler, and Woodcraft both have stores in Milwaukee. Woodcraft also has stores in Madison and Appleton.
Rest asured they buy from other mills but never give up. It took me over a year to get into one of the stores in Chicago but now its paying off in a special way. If you sell to those who will re-sell it then expect to get less than if you sold direct to the customer.
I know Rockler was selling 8/4 and 12/4 walnut for $6:00 bf. I sold it to them for half that. They are happy and Im real happy!
I do have some small woodworking shops that pay around $3-3.50 bf for walnut. Ash is going for about $1.50. Not a real call for ash. Even though you are north of chicago, your mane supplier in the area is Owl hardwood lumber company. http://www.owlhardwood.com/
You can call them and get an idea what they are selling there stuff for which can point you in the right direction.
The other thing that city is filled with is wood turners. If you do wood turner association search you may be surprised how many folks are in that area. I know the chicago woodturners association has several hundred members of which a small percentage buy wood from me now and then.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Problem I've had with "FREE" trees is 1st moving them, then marketing them. Unless you have an efficient method to pick them up and get them to your milling site their not really free. You need to factor in the time to go and retrieve the "free'" trees into you pricing. I recently picked up about 100 free Virginia Pines. No market for them, but I need to build a barn so it will be board & batten pine. ;D
Dr. Buck. Have ya ever looked into "Beams" ??? We sell Pine 6 X 6's and 8 X 8's to a local lumber yard. Get 50 cents bd/ft, for SYP. Can have them PT'd for 10 cents and then you get 62.5 cents bd/ft. 8) ;D