Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Oak logs

Hardwood11

Hardwood11

It is going to be a good fall!
Oak logs....

Still good value for white or red oak logs.

Any sales lately?
 
Last edited:
We just marked trees for sale and sent out bids today. Used a forester to help pick trees and measure them. He said white oak and walnut are strong but red oak way down and not advisable to sell reds at this time.
 
Rut Nut said:
We just marked trees for sale and sent out bids today. Used a forester to help pick trees and measure them. He said white oak and walnut are strong but red oak way down and not advisable to sell reds at this time.
Click to expand...
I may have missed some peaks in there or "above normal prices" but I don't recall one time in the last 15 years or so that red oak was ever bringing "good $". For 15 years (I'm sure that would go many decades back) with some highs and lows - walnut & white oak have always been "strong". The only tree I've personally seen with volititity is SILVER MAPLE. Roughly recalling lows of .20 cents a board foot and man, I think it got to maybe .75-.90 cents a board foot (something high - just a guess). Big fluctuations. Mainly due to demand from furniture makers like "lazy boy chairs" using in their chairs.
I'd still baby reds and let them grow (yes, more will die out and hollow vs whites due to much shorter life span & faster growth) - market probably get "decent" and as long as pulling them before hollow- could have a decent sale.
Some markets that could swing up someday, who knows..... pallet wood like cottonwood or any big junk tree, big straight shagbarj hickories (I never seen em worth squat but that could change or find niche market- for example: they sometimes sell as "pecan" cabinet wood"). Cherry strong if mature & big.

Man- if I could get guys to cut out all my absolute big stuff with no wildlife value, love it!!!: elm, cottonwood, bitterbut, Shagbarks that are ready, big locust (ha!), etc. love to be rid of em if I could magically limit damage to other nice trees.
 
We are planning on trying to make a deal with the winning bidder to take all ash trees they want and pay us extra for them. We have emerald ash borer in our timber and will lose them all in a few years. We measured one ash tree 34" diameter 2 logs long.
 
Rut Nut said:
We are planning on trying to make a deal with the winning bidder to take all ash trees they want and pay us extra for them. We have emerald ash borer in our timber and will lose them all in a few years. We measured one ash tree 34" diameter 2 logs long.
Click to expand...

Is there much of a market for ash. I have some big straight ash trees in MN, they pack on the board feet. Never checked up here, some guys like ash for flooring.
 
Rut Nut said:
We are planning on trying to make a deal with the winning bidder to take all ash trees they want and pay us extra for them. We have emerald ash borer in our timber and will lose them all in a few years. We measured one ash tree 34" diameter 2 logs long.
Click to expand...

That would make a lot of Louisville Sluggers.
 
Red oak is definitely real bad one of the owners that I manage for wanted to cut some very mature red and white oaks, and a few other mixed species i.e.hickory, ash and even a few hack berry about 190 trees total. His goal was to thicken up these areas as they were wide open with no understory. This was sold as stumpage to the highest bidder but had a very short window to complete the project. The white oak brought good money about 150-175 dollars apiece. The red oak was priced as pallet so here is the math average tree 20-24 inches so probably about 250 board feet in each. Pallet price was about .15 aboard foot standing. That means to the landowner a big red oak brought about 37.00. Even the highest bidder told us to take them out of the cut. This was bid in February and is already cut and stacked by the road. The crew that cut this was contracted by the high bidder and were sort of the smash and grab type with an over sized skidder but was real dry so it worked ok.
 
That was for the whole tree, would have been worth more as firewood but that is an apples and oranges comparison it takes a huge amount of labor to convert standing timber ,which was the price give to firewood which is a product or commodity. One of the confusing parts of the timber business the value of the logs are often quoted at the mill after harvesting and trucking
 
That is a fair price assuming there is enough volume to justify moving in and there isn't a lot of conditions or unreasonable rules. For some one to make any money they will have to go fast. Another way to interpret that is 180 per 1000 MBF is the same as .18 cents per board foot. I wouldn't expect someone to carefully cut a bunch of veneer for that amount.
 
Anyone know where u can get "up to date" pricing on different timber? I've done log sales but only when prices have been "high" when I researched them at the time. But- I can't pull anything up (real easily while I did try searching) for low, medium & high or an average for: veneer walnut or lumber grade, white oak, cherry, maple, etc. I have to think there's some website that has "current data" kinda like corn & bean prices I can check anytime & get update. I realize board feet of xyz timber is both subjective and much harder to track BUT where would a guy find some good sources of "more current" pricing?

Btw.... $.15 standing value on pallet wood?? Wow.... ok, can we throw stuff like cottonwood in that category and a mix of say hickories, shingle oak, etc? I had some cottonwood many years back around $.08 and because of VOLUME it actually added up to be quite a large figure. If it's $.15 a board foot for generic pallet: I need to pay better attention and second: I got a whole lotta trees I'd be willing to move in that category.
 
The .15 price was on that category of logs on that sale which included the red oak which by volume was 75% of that category. I termed it pallet but am pretty sure its destination was crane mats due to the lengths they bucked it to.
There are a few subscription based publication s that give more up to date pricing on current prices. Some mills will also give there price sheet if asked. The big variable to price is often location of the logs as trucking is a big part of the equation.
 
Thx guys. That makes good sense. I only look at current prices about every 2-3 years when a buddy needs my help on a sale or I sell some. Pallet wood is always a tough one for me... I want it gone but I worry it does more damage to other trees vs what it's worth. & ya, that makes sense with the oak in the mix. I suppose my best approach is to take out "groves" of junk with little or few good trees. I do want em gone.
Thx for info and link! I'll post some more as I find them too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom