timber price and prune or not

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya's
just  wanting to know  what the diffrence is between clear wood  and non pruned  timber  at the mill in the USA  or any other country will do  ...manly lawson cypress/port orford ceder,,macrocarpa/monterey cypress,,lusitanica/mexican cypress,, doug fir/oregon,, monterey pine and ponderosa.. this leads into the next question  is it worth pruning  some of these trees (apart from the monterey pine and macro as these are  being tended)  some places ya may not have  these  but ya may know the price  per foot  EX timber sellers   that price would be good too  ..world need's for timber in 40 years any one want to guess that one ??  just looking at putting some tree's in here at home 8)  and with the local area these kinda make up a short list   and with also  being tied up in a forest block in the high country it would be good to  see what overseas trends are in  tending  the likes of oregons ,ponderrosas and macros
thanks
JD Kid

[Ianab]

Some local NZ pricing I've seen for Macrocarpa logs was something like $300 ton for veneer grade (ie pruned) logs, down to $50 for rougher sawlogs.
Sure made a bit of pruning look worthwhile.
From the Mac and Lawson I've sawn I can tell that a few minutes work with a pruning saw 40 years ago would have greatly improved the quality of the boards. Even though the lower branches get suppressed and eventually die off, the stubs hang around for many years and you end up with loose knots through an otherwise clear board  :( Simply trimming those small / low branches would give a much better butt log in the end.)

Cheers

Ian

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya Ian
yea i know what ya mean we have a nice stand above our house of macros  but have all the dead branchs  still on  :'( but still not too bad as no big knots  ..makes me wonder about the furs and ponderosa  with them being "self pruning"  i have seen the odd  write up saying the timber is better  if it has been pruned ..kinda heading towards the macros  as the site is on the coast  and i kinda like them better  that being said  i like the ponderosa's  too  but not eneff  info i can lay my hands on in NZ
catch ya
JD

[SwampDonkey]

Here in my area, it depends on the volume of wood your going to sell to the mill when talking of spruce logs. (clear or knotty). If you have veneer spruce then you'll take them to that market, but if it's just sawlogs (clear or knotty), your not going to get a difference in price on small volumes. We have one outfit that will sort out any veneer from the sawlog piles and send to Maine, but they won't buy your veneer direct. Most spruce veneer markets are far from here (except maybe Ward Cabin) and veneer spruce in getting scarce in my area. People see a spruce that's standing there, and it may be only 8 inches in diameter, it'll get whacked.

[JD_Kid]

Hi ya's
the area at home will be smaller  hillsides  that can't be worked  so maybe an acre or 2  per block ..the block up in the hills is a lot bigger   with  27 acres in macro,50 acres in pine,23 acres in lawsons,8 acres in ponderosa,450 acres in doug firs ...with in this block there are some shelted areas that the fir's have done a lot beter with less wind on them some out in the open  are a bit slower but i think in years to come they  will get a lot better   ..from what i have read on ponderosa in NZ the wood is a lot lower  gradeing than the US growen stuff  ,i think maybe too fast  :( 
catch ya
JD