Logging Question

Thinning planted pine is recommended, especially by 15 years old. In three or four years, you'll end up with 'lost volume' you cut... more sunshine, more growth. They 'do need' cutting... Trouble is, two acres isn't worth bringing in a cutter, skidder, and loader.

I do know some hard cases, that'll cut the stuff theirselves, load it on a gooseneck trailer, and haul it to the pulpwood mill.... a LOT of work, burnt fuel, stressed trucks (brakes/transmissions) and trailer tires. At the end of the day, they might bring home a hundred bucks, unless something breaks down.

I own some timber plantation, and I'm not letting any go for $9/ton. Back in January, I needed some long straight logs to make some 8"x8"x30' beams (to go in a post and beam drying shed)... went up and cut two 'pulpwood logs', out of the plantation...put em on the mill, and now have beams that might cost a hundred each... IF you could buy them somewhere... If I'd'a sold em for pulpwood, might bring $3/each. Value added is a great concept!

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Around here Poplar lumber from a mill sells for $.45bf

Whisperwindkat
What type and grade of pine?
Do you have any uses for pine lumber?
Selling a small amount of pine or low priced logs is not as profitable as having them sawn for lumber for your use if you need lumber.
The log mkt is very down right now. Logs for RR ties are holding good but they don't want pine.
Selling a small ammt. of low priced logs is risky for someone that doesn't sell logs.
Having an expert look at the trees may help (especially if the service is free) because thinning may be needed/productive for future benefit
jim

__________________
If an elected official is in charge of a budget and that budget is not balanced, the elected official is not eligible for re-election until the budget is balanced.
Be a leader not a follower

If you got a homestead don't forget fence posts. You can thin and treat pine for fence post, rails, stakes, build compost pits all kind of stuff. May not last as long as some but when its free who cares. And it they are the right kind of pine they can last a long time. Make a treatment tank from a plastic barrel.

__________________
Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.

FREEEEEEEDDDDDDDOOOOOOMMM!!!

Prof Kingsfield. Rules!!





http://tnwoodwright.blogspot.com/

I have just pruned a few hectors of ~15-20 year old pines and spruce, now is the time to prune 9 feet up, do this and you will have much better quality lumber in the years to come and much better $$$ for it.

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

Here you can't give pine away . I use to like to saw it but never had a good market for it .Most loggers would spend more moving their equipement to and from than they would make on two acres if they were gave to them . Been there done it .

__________________
Check it Out O added another Plank With O care
http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist...to-Planks.html

I have no idea what a 15 year old pine looks like. No one buys by the age. What is the size? I've seen 75 year old Black Spruce that was about 20 feet tall and 5 inches diameter at chest height.
New Page in Escanaba buys a lot of pine between 4 and 6 inches diameter, 8 foot length. Kimberly Clark, near Marquette makes 2x4s out of loads of pine that vary between 5 inch and 14 inch tops. They cannot handle logs larger than 24 inches diameter. There is a Oriented Strand Board (OSB) plant near Iron Mountian that buys hardwood that is too small to make into boards. Nobody is paying over $50 a pulp cord.
If the half that are near marketable size are mixed into the stand, perhaps a thinning is in order. Do you want to suppress the hardwoods or increase them?

One set of branches grow per year, so if you can count 15-20 set of branches it's about 15-20 year.

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

I can count the branch sets. I can count the growth rings. But if it is 4 inches thick, it is near worthless. Age isn't a factor in timber value. Size is.

Yes i get size is but so is how it was maintained.. at 15 years if it's 4" thick cut it.. but at 15 years and it's never been pruned even a good size will be lowest price.

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

Your timber is worthless to a logging company, the norm around here , you have to have 10 or more acres before they will deal with you. Cut what you want then push it with a dozer and start pasture or row crops you will be much happier!

in my op.witch ant worth much,2 acres ant much timber and 15 year old pine ant that big,I do belive that timber should be used,when it is time it will start going bad,so dont waste!however with 2 acres I would rather have standing timber,so good luck in your choice and rember how long it takes to grow that same tree back!

Thin those trees out. That will allow the others to grow nicely. Less stress as well.

__________________
We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

I'd rather see standing timber as well and thats exactly why i suggested pruning at least that way they will have higher quality timber in the future.. doesn't matter if prices are low now as nobody can say what prices will be in 10-15-20 years.

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

This was a small thicket along our fenceline that runs along a dirt road. Since it is a hill it looks right across the pasture at our barn, house, backyard etc. We left them there (12 years ago) to grow and provide privacy, a windbreak, and useable building materials for ourselves. Basically, it is just a bunch of nosy busy bodies who have seen my neighbor across the dirt road having some of his land logged (about 100 acres) and suddenly they think I am in the money. The undergrowth has been kept clear by the goats, but we are planning on selectively thinning for a jackleg fence this year. We don't care about logging the trees as we really like the benefits of having them. I just got tired of arguing with folks who kept telling me that a logger would "just love to come log my trees". I remember my grandad used to let certain areas grow and then he would rotate logging for pulpwood. But he never had less than 30 acres to be logged and it was usually more. I didn't think they would bother with 2 acres of pulpwood considering it isn't worth much of anything right now. Just was looking for confirmation from those in the know. Thanks ya'll, Kat

__________________
Come visit Homesteading and Homekeeping at Whisperwind Farm

As has already been said, depending on how it is planted and growing you may want to thin it out a touch this will allow the remaining trees to grow healthier, Pines tend to grow real close to each other then they end up dieing off toward the bottom and then working up, so it is better to thin them out.

2 ac is not enough for most loggers to come in and log, if you decide to do it you may find some one to take some for firewood or for building purposes.

I am logging my property now started on Friday, I try and do it every year about this time and work a different section, I am thinning right now and taking mostly pine and hemlock out since my buddy runs a fairly large saw mill/lumber yard 2 miles from me and he uses mostly Hemlock and pine, Being so close helps on trucking cost and he will take stuff down to about 4 Inches from me. I do send the smaller stuff for pulp wood, and sell some off as firewood.

I only take the small stuff out if it happens to be in the way of a tree that we are taking down or if it is going to hurt another tree that I want to let grow.

I have some very nice Hardwood, Cherry, Soft and Hard Maple,Oak,Hickory,Ash and so on, I am not taking any of these out now do to the price of wood, I will only remove Hardwood right now is if it is in some sort of danger of dying or getting damaged.

I like the look and I do find the trees do better after I thin a Area.

Just out of curiosity, when talking about thinning does this include pruning or strictly removal of competing/unhealthy trees?

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

When I talk about thinning in the woods, I am talking about removing the weaker/Dead/Competing less valuable trees. Around my home thinning is prunning.

What do I mean by thinning?

When I thinned my planted pines, that meant removing rows, forked trees, and twisted/bent trunks that would never produce saw timber. When removing rows, depending on the intended future use of that area, I usually removed 2 rows, kept 2 rows. Some rows were selected to cut because they had fewer trees that would be saw timber one day. Sometimes I wanted shady areas and kept thickly treed rows, sometimes I wanted more random canopy openings and kept the sparsely treed rows.

If it was an area I am replanting, any small trees came out even if they were too small for pulp wood after 25 years. If they aren't growing at a reasonable rate, i don't want them. But in areas I am not going to replant and am just using the trees for aesthetics and shade, I left some of the small pines.

The oaks intermixed in the planted pines get limbed up to about 15 ft. and some of the smaller oaks are removed in order to allow sunlight to the ground. Wild plum gets pruned to form a nice looking healthy tree. Cherry's (non fruiting) are being removed since they are a danger to livestock.

If you hire loggers, it is a mixed bag. I had one guy running the harvester who I met with 3 - 4 times a day and he understood my goals and cut just what I wanted. he would even offer advice if he thought what I was telling him wasn't what would ultimately fit my goals. Unfortunately, he quit my job after a month and the next couple of guys needed extremely close supervision to customize the cuts; they could cut rows as marked, but had no vision for removing bad trees or too crowded trees.

I admit i am new to logging/forestry and am learning as i go but after getting hire by the guy i do landscaping for to maintain his forest plantation I realize just how little i knew and the importance of pruning for quality as well as thinning for health.
I just finished convincing my boss to prune all pines and spruce to minimum 9'(they are all a good size of roughly 15yrs and 12" dia.) in order to improve the quality of timber when milled. Sadly so much of his older plantations including Red pine (ready to come down) were never pruned so half way up the tree are just dead branches and this is what causes poorer quality lumber.

__________________
*
UK 2005:Treasury Dept./Trade and Industry survey concluded: 3.6 m gay people in the UK/~6% of the total population/1 in 16.66
Biblical Argument for the Acceptance of Homosexuality

Here you can see some of the logs that we are taking out, Some are good size and others and small, The small ones are mostly blow down from Hurricane Sandy, I am trying to clean up the woods and instead of letting it rot I'll sell it, I'll take pic's of the bigger stuff once I get them out.