Timber!

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Timber!

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Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 11:16 am Post subject: Timber!

I've seen a few woodlands recently and several contain a few acres of non-native mature trees that could be felled; Pines & Western Red Cedars for example. Now these are big trees and even if I went on a chain sawing course this would be something for a professional. Then there's moving the timber, sawing etc. I've seen some of the small portable saw mills in action and these would be ideal for a smaller volume of smaller trees but there would be too much timber to deal with.

So, an ideal solution would be to get someone in. Does anyone know about this? Would there be people interested in harvesting the timber, would I make any money or would I have to pay? I know of a few organisations that should be able to offer advice and I'll be contacting them but any other info would be appreciated.

When the land is cleared I'd then re-plant with native trees.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:16 pm Post subject:
I remember watching an episode of Grand Designs about a timber framed house and the presenter went to the woodland to see the trees been felled, through milling to construction. One fact that he was gob smacked by that a felled 'raw' oak tree approx 60 to 80 years old was worth �80 where it lay. So if you can - added value - added value - added value!

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:17 pm Post subject:
Yeah i remeber that one too, apparently it's all the cheap US and eastern European timber, shocking I thought.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:21 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

So if you can - added value - added value - added value!

I had thought about the price of pieces of wood the size of railway sleepers. Even Pine costs about �30 each and you'd get quite a few from the trees I've seen. Say 20, thats �600 but then there's the cost of felling and sawing and even delivery. Worth thinking about.

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:29 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

I remember watching an episode of Grand Designs about a timber framed house and the presenter went to the woodland to see the trees been felled, through milling to construction. One fact that he was gob smacked by that a felled 'raw' oak tree approx 60 to 80 years old was worth �80 where it lay.

So if you can - added value - added value - added value!

There was another one who got granted permission to build his own home in a national park - it was tied to him and has to be removed when he leaves. Almost all the wood for the house came out of his forest. At one time, one of the main beams wouldn't fit so he picked up his chainsaw, dissapeared for a while and dragged a fresh one back and nailed it into the house.

My BIL was looking at getting his own wood to provide native and rarer wood for turning, but then discovered the price.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:34 pm Post subject:
I don't think you'd ever be able to make a small scale native woodland financially viable, you've got to have a deeper interest to get involved.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:44 pm Post subject:

Northern_Lad wrote:

My BIL was looking at getting his own wood to provide native and rarer wood for turning, but then discovered the price.

Any chance of getting more details about the type, size, age etc of wood he uses? I don't think it would ever make much money for people with woods, but if I ever managed to get a wood I'd like to be able to provide wood for craft people at cost if possible, especially some of the rarer types.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:46 pm Post subject:
I know someone who does wood turning, buys all his stuff kiln dried from America, cheaper and more uniform according to him.

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:47 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Northern_Lad wrote:

My BIL was looking at getting his own wood to provide native and rarer wood for turning, but then discovered the price.

He used to (note the past tense - he made bowls for all the men, and boxes for all the women when they got married) use a lot of cherry and beech, probably about the 3-4" cube size.

If you're looking at that end of the market then you'll need something with an interesting grain, like wallnut. If they're anything like BIL though, they can be right picky buggers about what they use.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 12:58 pm Post subject:
As transport costs rise, there ought to be more of a market for home-grown wood. Similarly, wood is a carbon-neutral (-ish) and renewable energy source, both of which should be useful assets in the near future, Peter.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 4:32 pm Post subject:

Northern_Lad wrote:

If you're looking at that end of the market then you'll need something with an interesting grain, like wallnut. If they're anything like BIL though, they can be right picky buggers about what they use.

That fits in nicely, I'll never be in a position to offer much timber but even in a couple of acres there's often a few interesting trees that would be better being turned into something (sorry for the pun) rather than used for fire wood.

A couple of years back a neighbour removed quite a mature Laburnum which I believe is a sought after timber.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 4:34 pm Post subject:

PeterHiett wrote:

As transport costs rise, there ought to be more of a market for home-grown wood.

Similarly, wood is a carbon-neutral (-ish) and renewable energy source, both of which should be useful assets in the near future

I quite agree. AFAIK Timber is carbon negative as you leave the roots behind, espiecially with coppiced trees. Also if not all the timber is burnt you are locking away the carbon.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 5:01 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

A couple of years back a neighbour removed quite a mature Laburnum which I believe is a sought after timber.

Laburnum is a beautiful wood - really dramatic contrasts between light and dark. I went to a turning demonstration last year and the objects made from laburnum were by far the nicest - even better than the walnut.

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