What is it worth?

[GM_DaddyMac]

Hi Guys,

I usually spend most of my time in the Chainsaw and Firewood forums, but hoping you can provide some information on some logs I came across at a neighbors house I doing some blow-down cleanup.

The kind folks in the Firewood forum are convinced this is black walnut. There are two logs -- one 10' and a second 12' with a diameter of 18" at the high end to 12" at the lower end. What if anything are they worth, and is there a formula, price per foot or other variable to establish a log price? I know there is a value to this wood for woodworkers, but not sure how to calculate. Any help / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[dbol]

Get it milled up and kilned dried. I am thinking around 4-6 bucks a bd ft.

 

[discounthunter]

right now uncut,even walnut has no value. even cut walnut may be only worth firewood cost. most woodworkers want wood with unique patterns or grain tightness. most want wood cut allready into dimentional pieces ie: bowl blanks,call blanks ect.and dry is the key. wet wood sells but you will not get a good price if the buyers has to sit on it for a year or more.also look around to see if theres a buyers for it.its a lot of work for usable lumber and then cant sell it.dont want to sound like a downer but these are things to look at.

otherwise its basically firewood.

 

[GM_DaddyMac]

Get it milled up and kilned dried. I am thinking around 4-6 bucks a bd ft.

Sorry -- maybe I should have been clearer in my question. What is it worth in log form?

The reason I ask is I see ads on CL willing to pay for certain species of trees, and others posting to sell. I realize it has more "value" once milled and dried, but how about as a raw material?

Thanks for the input.

 

[mtngun]

Sorry -- maybe I should have been clearer in my question. What is it worth in log form?

Discounthunter nailed it.

You would have to pay a tree service to haul those logs away.

 

[GM_DaddyMac]

Thanks guys. That's helpful information.

 

[TraditionalTool]

Price always varies, but remember that if you want premium quality wood, you will need to remove all of the sap wood, as for walnut folks only want the heart. Also, you need to cut the pith out, so on some logs the pieces you will yield will be narrow. For hardwoods like walnut you will pay a sawyer by the hour, unlike softwoods which you will pay by the board feet, to cut. The reason is that it takes longer to mill hardwoods. More wear and tear on equipment, and more sharpening are required. Most sawyers charge for the sharpening also.

The pics you posted look like a tree that is about 12" wide, you can do the math on what is usable out of it, and how big the pieces would be that you would get.

I have some walnut in my garage that I traded some hard maple for, but the guy bought it for $1/bf which is cheap for walnut. The reason it was cheap is that it wasn't prime quality and was milled by someone that didn't know much about milling. There is an art to turning out good quality lumber.

Contrast that with what you would pay in your area for nice walnut, and I think you will probably find that you can get it for about $5-$8/bf. This is pretty common across the states, IMO. Much of that wood is much larger than the pics you show.

I have some 8/4 walnut I paid about $7/bf for, it's beautiful, no knots, just clear heart wood.

Seems you were asking as you are thinking there's money to be made in milling up some of these hardwoods, and the short answer is yes, there is. The long answer is that there is an art to it and you will spend a good amount of time learning how to mill properly, and end up with lumber that folks will pay good money for (i.e., both cutting and drying it). Even if you air dry, you need somewhere to store it.

I bet the next thing you were thinking is that you might give this a go with a chainsaw mill, and a lot of folks do...but chainsaw mills are mostly useful for large slabbing with a large bar. A 36" tree will yield some real nice lumber, once dried.

I'm not trying to entice you nor scare you, if your looking for wood to use for yourself, any trees you can mill up are your gain. If you want to make a business out of it, it will not be without a large investment in time to learn how to do it properly. Life is like that, in most regards...:msp_rolleyes:

 

[GM_DaddyMac]

@ TraditionalTool -- thank you for the informative post.

Although intrigued with the prospect of milling my own wood, that was not my focus of the thread. I was trying to assess the value of selling the logs to those who do mill.

Based on the feedback here my sense is to post a free ad on CL just to get rid of it.

Thanks to all for the information.

 

[SDB777]

As I buy just a few logs a year(black walnut). I am a bargain shopper and will only go $0.50/bF from a local arborist(but I'm also taking a chance for metal being in the wood, as the logs are city trees).

And I only pay for what goes into the truck bed. I run my chainsaw mill across the log, and make the determination at that time whether or not to bother with the rest(if it isn't wavy/curly/crotch/or just generally unique I'll leave it for firewood).


Craiglist sounds like a good idea....your phone will definitely start ringing, just hope it isn't tele-marketer trying to sell Viagra or whatever(what happens when I use CL).




Good luck!
Scott B

 

[smokinj]

Black walnut worth some money, but the sap wood very wide on that log and the tree is much smaller than most nitch markets are looking for. Now If you had something in mid to build for yourself it would be PRICELESS!

 

[SDB777]

Black walnut worth some money, but the sap wood very wide on that log and the tree is much smaller than most nitch markets are looking for. Now If you had something in mid to build for yourself it would be PRICELESS!

Wide sapwood, dark heartwood, and leave the bark on = natural edge bowl blanks. Contrasting woods sometimes is a unique quality that certain turners of wood are looking for....sometimes.

Or half sapwood/half heartwood for game call/bottlestopper blanks?



Scott B

 

[smokinj]

Wide sapwood, dark heartwood, and leave the bark on = natural edge bowl blanks. Contrasting woods sometimes is a unique quality that certain turners of wood are looking for....sometimes.

Or half sapwood/half heartwood for game call/bottlestopper blanks?



Scott B

Now your thinking gap market......I would mill it but if I had to pay to have it milled not a lot of profit there....Cutting it down and shipping those little cuts is alot of work..I know.lol Its all good but be carefull what you wish for.

 

[betterbuilt]

Personally I think Walnut burns really bad. It never seems to make any heat. I would take them to a mill and get them milled. You could give them to the mill and trade for some junk logs for firewood or you could take wood home with you. It never hurts to get in good with a local mill.

 

[GM_DaddyMac]

Personally I think Walnut burns really bad. It never seems to make any heat. I would take them to a mill and get them milled. You could give them to the mill and trade for some junk logs for firewood or you could take wood home with you. It never hurts to get in good with a local mill.

I agree about BW as firewood, plus my racks are nearly full with better burning options -- ash, oak and elm. As for trading with a mill that is a great idea, but I have no way to transport.

I will post in CL (w/o my phone number) and see what comes of it.

Thanks again for all the insightful comments.

 

[TraditionalTool]

Although intrigued with the prospect of milling my own wood, that was not my focus of the thread. I was trying to assess the value of selling the logs to those who do mill.

The pictures you posted are too small, those are basically firewood. Sure, you could sell blanks to turners, but that is very niche and they typically will not pay very much unless it's burled or beautiful grain.

You really need to get up into at least a 24" diam tree to start yielding decent lumber. As they get bigger they get heavier, that much all of us know...

The big problem with the pics you posted is the size. That renders them useless for many woodworkers.

 

[nrford]

Color is not right for walnut, as an inspector I've seen lots but never that color, now I would say it was Butternut!

 

[betterbuilt]

This is butternut

For what it's worth. Thought these might help.

 

[Rftreeman]

Color is not right for walnut, as an inspector I've seen lots but never that color, now I would say it was Butternut!

that or cottonwood....

 

[mikeb1079]

the bark seems a bit off for it to be black walnut. at least in the pics it looks a little different from what i'm used to around here. kentucky coffeetree?

anyways, to answer your original question yes i think others are pretty spot on, those logs are a bit small to have much value as sawlogs. i'd put em on craigs for maybe 50 bucks per log? at least it doesn't cost to try...
good luck!

 

[nrford]

The two new photos confirm my suspicion, Butternut, no if's and's or but's!