# Selling Cherry



## ktm rider (Apr 12, 2007)

I have 76 acres and cut my own firewood obviously. I usually just look for standing dead timber, cut it down and haul it to the house. I know nothing about the value of different species of trees. My buddy, was cutting with me one day and said i have ALOT of very nice cherry trees and that I should sell them. 

O.K. my question is, how much does a cherry tree go for? I have no clue. is it really worth the time and effort to cut and haul them out of the woods and to the mill? Also, how long of lengths should they be cut?


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## Husky137 (Apr 12, 2007)

Lengths are going to depend on the mill and what it needs, and what their trim requirements are. Prices are also going to vary widely by the quality of the log or lack of defects. It may be very much worth your time to get a forester involved to assess your trees and arrange a bid among quality logging outfits. Make sure you hire a forester that represents you and not the logger or the mill.


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## PA Plumber (Apr 12, 2007)

I had a similar situation recently, only my wood was not nearly as marketable as Cherry.

Could you take a picture or two? The wild cherry we have at our place is not very straight at all. In fact, one would be hard pressed to get a straight 6 foot lenghth out of it. Cherry seems to grow a lot straighter in higher elevations.

If you have a lot of fairly straight trees (at least 8'4" sections) in the 14" DBH plus range, I would guess you might have something. You could check with the local saw yards and see what they say. 

If you have some marketable trees, a lot of possibilites are open to you.

Keep us posted.


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## Forest Steward (Apr 12, 2007)

well, I'm not going to start quoting prices to you since I live in a very different area than you, but in my region, black cherry is the most valuably stable species. It is also currently the number one value per board foot tree. But that status will change somewhat according to your market. But it's pretty safe to say that it's worth the time and any trouble. As far as lengths, don't mess with it. Just cut them down and take them out. I would call the mill or someone who knows about grading logs to do that part. It is the most important aspect of selling timber as far as getting the most value out of a tree and the most difficult. 

If you have a nice stand of cherry, it might even be beneficial to have a logger or forester who knows what they're doing to set up a management plan, or at least some initial practices, for your property. This will ensure you get what is coming to you now, but will also keep in mind future harvests. If done right, you could make even more money the next time around. Plus they'll keep regeneration and other factors in mind for that sp. in particular.

Hope that helps. Good luck.


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## ktm rider (Apr 12, 2007)

I know the prices will vary wildly. I am looking to get a ballpark figure. Everyone tells me they are worth alot of money but no one comes up with even a rough estimate figure. I have no idea about the lumber/logging world so what kind of estimates are they talking about. $1 a foot? $.10 a foot?? 

I don't want to go with a logging company. For one I don't have a ton of these trees and I also don't want a middleman or a skidder tearing up my fields. ( don't mean to offend anyone if they are loggers ) it just doesn't seem to be a big enough job to get a logger involved. I have the equipment to get these logs to the mill easily enough.


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## PA Plumber (Apr 12, 2007)

As far as getting a board foot price, be careful; there are different ways to measure board feet. Doyle, International, & Scribner are some I know about.

Great advice about not cutting your own logs. It will likely be worth it to get help with bucking, if you insist on doing this yourself. 

Would love to see some pics.


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## ktm rider (Apr 12, 2007)

PA Plumber said:


> I had a similar situation recently, only my wood was not nearly as marketable as Cherry.
> Could you take a picture or two? The wild cherry we have at our place is not very straight at all. In fact, one would be hard pressed to get a straight 6 foot lenghth out of it. Cherry seems to grow a lot straighter in higher elevations.
> If you have a lot of fairly straight trees (at least 8'4" sections) in the 14" DBH plus range, I would guess you might have something. You could check with the local saw yards and see what they say.
> Keep us posted.



I can easily get 8'4" straight sections. Some of these trees I can not get my arms around and some are only as big as my leg. They are all straight though. I live on top of a mountain at 3,000 ft. It is a high elevation for my area anyway. I know I have 6 trees imparticular that I can not get my arms around that are straight as an arrow with no branches up to about the 30 ft. mark.


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## ktm rider (Apr 12, 2007)

PA Plumber said:


> I had a similar situation recently, only my wood was not nearly as marketable as Cherry.
> Could you take a picture or two? The wild cherry we have at our place is not very straight at all. In fact, one would be hard pressed to get a straight 6 foot lenghth out of it. Cherry seems to grow a lot straighter in higher elevations.
> If you have a lot of fairly straight trees (at least 8'4" sections) in the 14" DBH plus range, I would guess you might have something. You could check with the local saw yards and see what they say.
> Keep us posted.



I can easily get 8'4" straight sections. Some of these trees I can not get my arms around and some are only as big as my leg. They are all straight though. I live on top of a mountain at 3,000 ft. It is a high elevation for my area anyway. I know I have 6 trees imparticular that I can not get my arms around that are straight as an arrow with no branches up to about the 30 ft. mark.


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## Woodie (Apr 12, 2007)

Mind you, these are retail prices for kiln-dried pieces, but I have paid almost $8 a bd/ft for cherry here in the Detroit area. 

Last time I was at the yard, 5/4 and 8/4 cherry was priced higher than walnut and Honduran mahogany. 

Again, this is retail for SAB kiln-dried pieces, and they let you cherry-pick (pun intended) the bins for heartwood, but the point is cherry sells for a buttload of $$ these days. 

It's my favorite wood to build with, so yes, I pay it.


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## PA Plumber (Apr 12, 2007)

ktm rider said:


> I can easily get 8'4" straight sections. Some of these trees I can not get my arms around and some are only as big as my leg. They are all straight though. I live on top of a mountain at 3,000 ft. It is a high elevation for my area anyway. I know I have 6 trees imparticular that I can not get my arms around that are straight as an arrow with no branches up to about the 30 ft. mark.



Alright, I'll take the plunge. You've got some money in those trees.

Please bear in mind that these are our local prices of logs dropped off to the yard and straight. Also, these pricing sheets are over 3 months old and the market very likely has changed some. Veneer cherry is between $2,000-$5,000 on 15" diameter (small end) logs on 8' to 16' straight lenghths with no defects. (Please keep in mind there are a lot of IF'S)

On grade 6 Rotary logs, you're still over $1800.00 from 8' to 16' with no defects and 14" diameter on the small end.

I have listed the two higher grades. There are at least 5 other grades the logs can be put into.

The pricing sheets usually specify "Sound and Straight; No Rot or Shake."


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## ktm rider (Apr 13, 2007)

WOW !!! Thanks for the info. I was thinking 2-300 bucks . So, just to be clear, If i had a nice straight piece with no knots that was 16' long and I can wrap a tape measure around the small end of that piece and it measures atleast 14" it would be around 14-1800 bucks !!


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## woodfarmer (Apr 13, 2007)

14" diameter across the small end not circumference around the end and pictures, we love pictures.


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## JUDGE1162 (Apr 13, 2007)

pole timber is $1,100 per MBF compared to Maple at $250 per MBF yeah cherry is worth something, your best bet is to get a forrester in there to look at them they could give you a good idea of what they are really worth since the size, shape, location, etc all effect price

If you are real lucky and they are very big and very striaght they might be veneer grade which can be worth close to $2,000 per MBF.


Only reason I know this is I just had a forrestry management plan done on my property and I have some cherry but mostly Maple on my property.


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## PA Plumber (Apr 13, 2007)

ktm rider said:


> WOW !!! Thanks for the info. I was thinking 2-300 bucks . So, just to be clear, If i had a nice straight piece with no knots that was 16' long and I can wrap a tape measure around the small end of that piece and it measures atleast 14" it would be around 14-1800 bucks !!



As woodfarmer pointed out, you would measure straight across the end of the tree, not including the bark. For a 14" tree, you would want about a 50" around measurement. This takes into account 1 1/2" to 2" for bark. Another way would be to take Pi and multiply by the diameter to get circumfrence. 14" x 3.14 you would get approx. 44" around. Add in for bark and you would need about 50" around.

The above prices I mentioned are per 1000 board feet.

I.E. 10' 4" (4" is the trim) log 14" diameter (not including bark) would yeild approx.
63 board feet Doyle Scale
80 board feet International 1/4" Scale

So if 1000 board feet is worth $1500.00, that's approx. $1.50/board foot. Remember, if one yard is using Doyle and another International, make sure you adjust the board feet per log to reflect the scale.

Disclaimer
This is a lot of info and it has taken me some time to get this into my head. I am just a "Joe Landowner" who is trying to figure out some of this stuff and am barely scratching the surface here.

I don't know much about it yet, but I do know, yards get really, really, really (you get the idea) picky when it comes to shelling out bucks for logs. Good luck, get some pictures and keep us posted on how it is going.


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## stonykill (Apr 13, 2007)

Husky137 said:


> Lengths are going to depend on the mill and what it needs, and what their trim requirements are. Prices are also going to vary widely by the quality of the log or lack of defects. It may be very much worth your time to get a forester involved to assess your trees and arrange a bid among quality logging outfits. Make sure you hire a forester that represents you and not the logger or the mill.



I had my 30 acres looked at. I thought I had a lot of good marketable trees. Turned out, the forester didn't think so. I'm glad I didn't now as I mill my own. Get a couple of foresters to look at your land. Cherry can bring a good buck, however it has to be near perfect to bring that good buck.


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## JUDGE1162 (Apr 13, 2007)

If you have good timber to great timber put it up for auction and not just send it to the local mill. Since it sells for so much, you'll be surprized at how much an out of state sometime out of the country buyer will pay for good to great cherry.


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## Buzz 880 (Apr 13, 2007)

*Cherry tree's*



ktm rider said:


> I know the prices will vary wildly. I am looking to get a ballpark figure. Everyone tells me they are worth alot of money but no one comes up with even a rough estimate figure. I have no idea about the lumber/logging world so what kind of estimates are they talking about. $1 a foot? $.10 a foot??
> 
> I don't want to go with a logging company. For one I don't have a ton of these trees and I also don't want a middleman or a skidder tearing up my fields. ( don't mean to offend anyone if they are loggers ) it just doesn't seem to be a big enough job to get a logger involved. I have the equipment to get these logs to the mill easily enough.



ktm rider
If you have the tree's that you say you do it sounds like pretty nice timber.Over here in Canada Black Cherry goes for $400-$900 per thousand feet for saw logs and $1000-$5000 for veneer.Depending on how many tree's you have it might be worth while letting some one that knows what there looking at just check it out for you.Because if the mill knows that you have no idea what your doing you probaly won't get a good buck for your logs.Because loggers that sell logs all the time get beat buy the mills all the time trust me i know.One more thing if you are ggoing to harvest the timber it's worth your while to get someone that you know that falls timber often because on mistake can make a veneer log a saw log if you split it or put fibre pull in it. Same thing when bucking it's good to have someone around that knows what there looking at.They sound like some pretty nice tree's if you can post some pic's.


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## Forest Steward (Apr 14, 2007)

First of all, I see nothing wrong with the so called "homeowner Joe" working his land. To me, that's all part of owning it. It's just when you start dealing with timber sales and such, there are a lot of unforeseen factors that a professional in the field can help overcome. The big one with cherry, as Buzz just stated, is having it split on you as it hits the ground or catches another limb on its way down (especially if it's forked at all). Also, skidders messing up your land can be minimized with the right operator and is still significantly less damage than a large tree coming the wrong way on you and knocking over other nice pole stock and leave trees. Not only does that look ugly, but can wipe out a significant portion of your next crop. And if you think loggers are constantly getting screwed by log buyers, wait until then know your new this industry. 

Also, as far as bucking into 8'4'' sections, that is only a small aspect to grading logs. You need to be able to identify defects and know where to make your cuts accordingly. Some mills might not even want 8' logs at the time. It's a very touchy aspect, but like I said before, extremely important. This is where the professional can really earn his keep. We have a certain mill we tend to work with, and we know what specs they want to get the best buck for your logs. Same with veneer brokers and whatnot (who are even more pickier than the mills) 

So all in all, there is a lot more to selling timber than cutting and carrying it out to the mill. Good luck, and try not to get discouraged as you go, but try to make it a learning experience.


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## Jimfound (Apr 14, 2007)

Forest Steward said:


> First of all, I see nothing wrong with the so called "homeowner Joe" working his land. To me, that's all part of owning it. It's just when you start dealing with timber sales and such, there are a lot of unforeseen factors that a professional in the field can help overcome. The big one with cherry, as Buzz just stated, is having it split on you as it hits the ground or catches another limb on its way down (especially if it's forked at all). Also, skidders messing up your land can be minimized with the right operator and is still significantly less damage than a large tree coming the wrong way on you and knocking over other nice pole stock and leave trees. Not only does that look ugly, but can wipe out a significant portion of your next crop. And if you think loggers are constantly getting screwed by log buyers, wait until then know your new this industry.
> 
> Also, as far as bucking into 8'4'' sections, that is only a small aspect to grading logs. You need to be able to identify defects and know where to make your cuts accordingly. Some mills might not even want 8' logs at the time. It's a very touchy aspect, but like I said before, extremely important. This is where the professional can really earn his keep. We have a certain mill we tend to work with, and we know what specs they want to get the best buck for your logs. Same with veneer brokers and whatnot (who are even more pickier than the mills)
> 
> So all in all, there is a lot more to selling timber than cutting and carrying it out to the mill. Good luck, and try not to get discouraged as you go, but try to make it a learning experience.



Good post Steward.
That sounds like solid advice. 

Good luck KTM and let us know how it goes. Up there near Frostburg, are ya? Is the Outback still in business? Gandalf's??


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## ktm rider (Apr 15, 2007)

Jimfound said:


> Good post Steward.
> That sounds like solid advice.
> 
> Good luck KTM and let us know how it goes. Up there near Frostburg, are ya? Is the Outback still in business? Gandalf's??



The Outback is still there, but Gandalf's burnt to a crisp last fall. the building is still standing but Gandalf's is history. I am guessing you went to FSU. 

I think I should say that I am NOT logging all of my property. Just a few Cherries that are standing along the road going to my house. I am widening the road so they need to go anyway.


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