Guessing board feet in a log?

[myxpykalix]

A guy called me to come and look at a cherry tree he'd cut down a couple years ago because he wants me to give him a nominal fee for the tree parts.
(the same guy who has the coffeewood tree that is humongous!)
I thought it was a waste of time but he has 4 12' pieces that at the most are about 36" diameter near the base and about 30" diameter all the length of the other 3 pieces.
A online board calculator tells me i can get between 900-1200 board feet per 12' section, so just as a log what would be a cheap price i could offer per log?

Keep in mind that i have to pay for a guy to bandsaw it for me and another person to kiln dry it for me (kiln drying costs around $350.00 for a month or so of kiln time) not sure what the bandsaw guy will cost.

What would you pay for a 36" wide 1-2" thick piece of Cherry that was 10-12' long? (assuming i would want to sell some to help defer the costs)

[feinddj]

There's a reason that finished lumber is expensive. Hauling, cutting and drying take time and money and when its done, even if you did everything right, it may still be worthless. I wouldn't offer more than 5 cents per board foot unless the timber is veneer grade (no knots, no twist or bows). Has the tree been down long? does it have checks or cracks? I get a lot of wood with the promise of something made from the log. Usually a turned bowl or similar.
David

[myxpykalix]

Believe me, i have had the experience in the past where the cutting, hauling, sawing, drying would up costing me more then the board foot cost if i went and bought it. My initial thought was to offer something like $100.00 per log, if that...the wood is actually the cheapest expense of this.

[dlcw]

Jack,

I've talked to some sawyers around here about this. In the northwest, for walnut, transporting, milling, drying and storing the wood account for about 40% of the retail price if in large enough quantities (10's of thousands of board feet). The other 50% is tacked on by middlemen, jobers, retailers, etc.

If there is less then the 10's of thousands of board feet needed to run the mill efficiently, the price, of course, goes up.

A local guy with a portable saw mill charges about $1.25 per Bd Ft when he comes out to your lot to cut a conifer tree. Of course that does not include transport, storage and drying. Where I live, there is not much but conifers (oh how I miss the hardwood trees from OH when I lived there).

[shilala]

Jack, I just paid $128 for 10' of 2"x 8" cherry. It was perfectly clear. Ideal.
That's cheap around here, or at least fair.
Maybe that'll help you with your calculator?

[bbrozo]

Well, if it were me, I'd figure out how many board feet you have first and, at the most, I'd offer 25% of the going rate for cherry/BF in your area. That would make it worth it to me but, I've got a friend with a Wood Mizer and, as a last resort, could use my Alaskan Saw Mill to mill the logs. I've never kiln-dried lumber I've acquired this way. I've always stickered it and let it sit for a year or two (but, of course, you have to have the room to do that).

Bill

[scottp55]

Just to give you....:)
http://www.woodvendors.com/index.php/slabs/cherry-slabs.html?ibp-adgroup=adwords&ibp-keyword=%2Bcherry%20%2Bslab&ibp-matchtype=b&ibp-custom=1t1&gclid=COqxrLm7-8ECFUEV7AodkXoAEw

[shilala]

Good link, Scott.
Hadn't thought about slabs. I saw one while I was at the sawmill last time, 500 bucks and it was a mess. I'd have used it for firewood.
But if you like working slabs and dig the style, it's costly stuff.

Ron Offerman makes incredible slab furniture out of his shop.
http://offermanwoodshop.com/

[genek]

Some of you need to make a trip to Kentucky to buy wood. The price some of you are paying is way to high. Check out the prices I pay for wood.
Looked at a wood supplier posted here their way of grading is not to standard practices. Would recommend you order Rules for the measurement and inspection of Hardwood and cypress with the NHLA Sales code and inspection Regulations.
You can order this book from
National Hardwood Lumber Association
P.o. Box 34518
Memphis, Tn. 38184-0518

Some of you have been buying #1 common & fas1 for fas

To calculate board feet length (inches) x width x thickness divide by 144

it is very common for top end mills to round up or down. if it is below 1/2 bdf it goes down if 1/2 and above it goes up.


lets take Scotts board it was 2 inches thick by 8 inches wide and 10 feet long. first 10 times 12 is 120. 120 x 8 x 2 equals 1920 divided by 144 equals 13.33 board feet. at what I pay for cheery of $5.15 would be $68.00 Most mills round down so I would actually pay for 13 board feet. Which would be $66..95

[genek]

A guy called me to come and look at a cherry tree he'd cut down a couple years ago because he wants me to give him a nominal fee for the tree parts.
(the same guy who has the coffeewood tree that is humongous!)
I thought it was a waste of time but he has 4 12' pieces that at the most are about 36" diameter near the base and about 30" diameter all the length of the other 3 pieces.
A online board calculator tells me i can get between 900-1200 board feet per 12' section, so just as a log what would be a cheap price i could offer per log?

Keep in mind that i have to pay for a guy to bandsaw it for me and another person to kiln dry it for me (kiln drying costs around $350.00 for a month or so of kiln time) not sure what the bandsaw guy will cost.

What would you pay for a 36" wide 1-2" thick piece of Cherry that was 10-12' long? (assuming i would want to sell some to help defer the costs)
Jack This could be a Problem (a cherry tree he'd cut down a couple years ago ) Cheery will rot from the inside out, and this happens very fast. I had stored some cheery logs in the barn went to cut them and they looked great till the saw got 2 inches into the log it was rotted bad. lost all the cheery logs. Recommend you get a local forest to let you borrow his ring tap. and run it to the center. and pull out ring sample and see if it is still solid You will not lose enough to worry about .\

[myxpykalix]

Here is some pix of the Cherry. Eugene was correct about cherry rotting from the inside. One log looks like is has rot. But a few of them look ok.
Here is the sizes
8'5" long 25" wide
13'8" long 26" wide (34" at trunk)
18' long 20" wide
10'8" long 27" wide (30" at bottom)
8' long 15" wide

edit...don't know why the pix are turned around....:confused:

[scottp55]

Jack, Just be careful!! Recommend You listen to Eugene and at very least do a core mid-point of the 18'. The guy left it way to long.

[MogulTx]

And it looks like it has fungus in it now... probably does not have value to you. Probably will be checked and rotting and unpleasant.

[genek]

Jack it has started to rot Most will be unusable. You may get a few spalted boards but cheery gets punky real fast. those would have been good logs to cut ... they have been down for quite sometime. longer that two years.