value of trees

[porthos]

i have 7 austrian pines that range in diameter from 30 in. to 20 in. height is as high as 50 ft. all are straight as a arrow. someone told me that they may have some value because of their straightness. i have no idea. any thoughts?

[Pressman]

Maybe, if they are city trees there is always the possibility of nails and other metal in them. Loggers wont touch'em except for fire wood.

One possibility is find a small sawmill operator who is willing to take the risk of hitting metal and get his opinion.

[frkelly74]

What are you going to build? You have some fine lumber there.

[Wayne Smith]

I had a very large white oak cut down several years ago. Two 13' sections. I looked for a sawyer on the internet and the first guy I called said he could back his sawmill into my back yard - which he did! Not a lot of clearance, either. He went over both sections with a metal detector and cut out a couple pieces of metal with a chain saw. I had him cut 5/4-6/4 thick. Stickered them on my screened in back porch for a year and half - six months an inch. Carried them to a local lumber yard I am familiar with - they carry exotic hardwoods and have a full mill. They cut one side straight and square for me and rough planed it - I have a portable 13" surface plane. I'm still using it, over 200 bd ft out of that one tree.

[gwpercle]

During a cat. 4 or 5 Hurricane , tall pine trees near your house aren't worth doodly - squat !
I PAID a man a lot of money to take down 3 still standing and the one that fell in my back yard and damaged my house . I sleep a lot better knowing those things are gone .
Trees are not your friend during Hurricane Season.
Gary

[Wayne Smith]

He's in sw Penn - not much chance of a cat 4-5 hurricane there. Big snow maybe, but not hurricanes that far inland. Yes, I know but Camille was an anomaly.

[dtknowles]

He's in sw Penn - not much chance of a cat 4-5 hurricane there. Big snow maybe, but not hurricanes that far inland. Yes, I know but Camille was an anomaly.

Neighbor's pine tree came down through the roof of my house during Katrina. Two more came down on my fences. I had no pine trees in my yard before the storm just oak trees. The biggest oak tree lost a big limb but it did not damage my property. Last year I paid more than $1000 dollars to get that tree and stump removed as the termites hollowed it out and made it unsound.

Tim

[porthos]

i have no use for them. but, i thought that they might have some value because of their size and straightness.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Not so fast----don't give up yet. Scour the internet, and call around. Lumber and beams in unusual lengths are always in demand, you just have to make the right connection. There's always a market for everything, and someone always looking for the unusual.

A case in point: Back in 1999 my daughter decided to get married. Being the father of the bride I was by tradition expected to pay for the wedding. Hmmmm….don't know about that one! Anyway, my property had some really large white oak trees on it. I was thinking how bare my savings account would look following the nuptials, when I happened to spot an ad in the local paper stating that a guy wanted to buy white oak. This was an unusual request, as generally around here it isn't valued for much except firewood. So I contacted the prospective buyer and learned that the resulting logs were to be slabbed and shipped green to Chile, South America, to be made into wine barrels for their growing wine industry. I made the money for the wedding, plus a little which I'm certain was wasted on another gun or two. I asked to be paid in part with a barrel of Chilean wine, but was refused due to import complications.

But, "Whooda thought?" I'll bet someone wants your trees.

Another story that comes to mind-- Not too distant from my home was a big English Walnut tree that blew down in a storm. I got the idea to buy it and have gunstock blanks made. I stopped by and made an offer, which was countered, and I left at $2,000. Heard later the owner got $5,500 for it.

Hang in there. The trees aren't eating anything. You've got lots of time to ask around.

[Teddy (punchie)]

There is a Mark Garlic on you tube From Imperial PA. He run a saw mill BUS MOTOR PRODUCTION's . Maybe he can use them??? ..

[knifemaker]

This walnut tree is over 130 years old. The upper limbs are 30-34 inches in diameter. My Father-in-law was offered 15 thousand dollars for it about 20 years ago by a rifle stockmaker. My Father-in-law turned his offer down as the tree provides good shade for the two story Victorian farm house that was built in 1884.261567

[Idaho45guy]

Out in this part of the country, there is good money in timber.

My folks bought a few acres in `82 for $20k near a lake and built a little cabin. It was covered in thick timber including lots of cedar. During the summer, the thick timber kept the cabin cool and discouraged any floor foliage, and critters. Dad was always fighting mold issues due to the lack of sunlight.

He finally convinced my mom to let him have a logger come in and thin it out a couple of years ago. The guy walked around the property and told my dad his cut of the profits would be around $15k after it was all said and done.

Well, apparently, the logger didn't realize how many tall, straight cedar trees the property contained. Those are prized by the utility companies to use as telephone poles. They are worth about $1200 each.

When it was all done, my parent's share of the timber profits was about $50k.

Dad planted a bunch of grass and about 200 more new trees. Cabin no longer has mold issues, we have a bunch of deer and turkeys on the property, and it looks more like a park now.

But, last summer, we had to run the AC nearly constant to keep the cabin cool.

But dad also got to buy two nice Jeeps with cash and build a nice guest cabin on the property. Worked out well for him.

[Lloyd Smale]

cedars are valuable but I was a lineman and in the 30 years I worked we never bought a cedar pole. Cedar poles were abolete before I stated there. They were replaced long ago with pressure treated pine. Much cheaper and lasts longer then cedar. Maybe some utility still uses them. I don't know. But ive never seen a new cedar pole set anywhere by any utility. All you see is brown and green pressure treated poles. Id bet most of that cedar went to log homes and cedar siding.

[john.k]

guy I know was left a big piece of land by his uncle (big as in 20,000acres)....property taxes ,council rates etc were crippling ,so he got the idea of selling some of the trees.....One of my schoolfriends was from a sawmill family,so I put him onto them.....He wanted to borrow my crawler loader ,but I said no ,get an experienced operator and machine for the steep hills.......And I knew his record of looking after things....Out of the whole deal ,he sent hundreds of logs to the mill ,and says he got almost nothing for them,due to the mill rejecting so many logs and charging trucking ,and downgrading logs for hokey things like a few inches short.....Seems my schoolfriend was a ripoff merchant .

[garandsrus]

This walnut tree is over 130 years old. The upper limbs are 30-34 inches in diameter. My Father-in-law was offered 15 thousand dollars for it about 20 years ago by a rifle stockmaker. My Father-in-law turned his offer down as the tree provides good shade for the two story Victorian farm house that was built in 1884.261567

My neighbor had a big walnut, but not white as big as yours. He made some type of deal with a guy. Neither one ended up happy as the tree was rotten inside, which they didn’t realize until after it was cut down.

[akajun]

Right now you cant give away pine logs. The mills in my area are throatlling loggers for pine logs. Cabinet grade pine and Pole Trees are a different story though but you wont find a big operator that deals with that to come in for 7 trees. You need to get the breast height Diameter which is the diameter at 4.5' from the ground. Pole trees must be a certain BHD and Perfectly straight for a certain length. Cabinet grade must be straight and no limbs/knots doe 10-16 feet depending on the mill. Also, and this is weird a lot of loggers wont take logs over 24" BHD because the mills machinery cant handle them.
Your best bet is to find a small operator with a portable mill.

[quilbilly]

What I would do would be to have them milled on site into FULL dimension 2x6 and 2x8 lumber in ten foot lengths. Cover the lumber on top and let them air dry. Later, after a couple months (or more) offer them for sale for deck lumber. I milled on site when we built our house and full dimension is wonderful for decks since it is so much stronger than nominal dimensions from the local lumberyard. Sadly, I couldn't build my barn with my full dimension since the inspectors wanted inspected lumber but I did use some for board-and-batt exterior.

[MaryB]

Maybe contact the log cabin builders in your state. They are always looking for long straight trees, especially very long ones for high end lodges.

[TheDoctor]

My neighbor had a big walnut, but not white as big as yours. He made some type of deal with a guy. Neither one ended up happy as the tree was rotten inside, which they didn’t realize until after it was cut down.

I remember Felix advising to plant black walnut for investment trees. I miss Felix.

[Lloyd Smale]

beautiful tree but I know nothing about walnut trees and would be wondering how much longer before that tree starts dying. That's probably the biggest walnut tree ive seen and it has to be OLD! Ruger could probably make a whole year of production stocks out of that monster!
My neighbor had a big walnut, but not white as big as yours. He made some type of deal with a guy. Neither one ended up happy as the tree was rotten inside, which they didn’t realize until after it was cut down.

[knifemaker]

Lloyd the tree was examined by a arborist several years ago and he stated it was still growing. He also stated it was the first tree he has encountered that his measuring tape would not go all the way around the tree and the biggest he has seen in three counties that he works in.
we keep a close eye on it and the first sign that it may be dying will be the day it is sold. Behind the Victorian house is another walnut tree that also has 33 inch limbs, but it is not as tall as the front walnut tree. We have heard that the Japanese veneer makers will pay more then a rifle stock maker as they can make more money out of the veneer boards.

[Lloyd Smale]

I heard the same about the veneer thing. I think stock makers are actually a pretty small part of the walnut tree buying group. Most of them look for the more plain grades anyway. Bet a tree like that has some amazing stump and crotch wood.