ash tree lumber worth anything?

Nebraskaz71

Nebraskaz71

Active Member
Just cut down a huge ash tree at my house today, trunks 3-4ft wide and solid. Theres a "wood products" company just down the street from me that cuts trees, sells fire wood, builds furniture outta trees they cut down, rough sewn lumber, mulch ect ect. Thinkn about trying to make a lil money off the ash and im not even sure how to cut it up or move it at this point. Way to big for my 100hp FEL. Before I talked to them figured i'd see if theres even value to it.
 
For veneer type ash we sold it for $1200 per thousand board feet over the last three years(heard it dropped to $1100). For average saw log ash we sold for $650 per thousand, for # 2 logs--lots of branches--$900 per ton.
These were prices received in truck load type volumes. (edit-50/50 split with logger after that. he cut it,sold it and transported it to the buyer)

edit --and firewood $10 per full cord to me.
 
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It's worth something. The timber markets are so regional, I can't really say where you are. In Indiana/Michigan, the Ash market is flooded from all of the emerald ash borer cutting.
 
If I dont sell any of it, it will be burned up. Cut a lot of trees here this winter but I figured this one would be more hollow than it was. Worst case I call a neighbor with a payloader and push it farther into the field so I can burn it I guess.
 
Nebraskaz71 said:
If I dont sell any of it, it will be burned up. Cut a lot of trees here this winter but I figured this one would be more hollow than it was. Worst case I call a neighbor with a payloader and push it farther into the field so I can burn it I guess.
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I cut a bunch of Ash last winter. I had a couple of clean logs that were 23" at the butt. I thought it was a shame to turn them into cord wood, do I tried selling them on Craigslist. No bites, they just got cut into rounds a couple of weeks ago.



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contacted a couple places yesterday, everyone said they wernt buying ash, i dunno ill put it in the junk pile i guess
 
The feds are all over the emerald ash borer. I always wanted to make a wood floor out of my stack. You need a kiln dried stamp to move any wood across state lines.

G
 
Nebraskaz71 said:
contacted a couple places yesterday, everyone said they wernt buying ash, i dunno ill put it in the junk pile i guess
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Nebraskaz71,
The other option is to have it sawed into boards for your own use. Contacting Woodmizer corporation you can likely find a portable saw owner in your area. The usual charge in this area for sawing is around 30 cents per board ft. It is a beautiful wood that will soon be gone likely forever.
 
If you werent so far from where my brother is I am sure he would be interested. He has been cutting boards and is always looking for good logs.
 
George said:
The feds are all over the emerald ash borer. I always wanted to make a wood floor out of my stack. You need a kiln dried stamp to move any wood across state lines.

G
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That true Geo. But it doesn't cost much to have boards that are pre-dried such as you show kiln dried. By the way those are some very straight looking boards you show.
 
Chainsaw said:
Nebraskaz71,
The other option is to have it sawed into boards for your own use. Contacting Woodmizer corporation you can likely find a portable saw owner in your area. The usual charge in this area for sawing is around 30 cents per board ft. It is a beautiful wood that will soon be gone likely forever.
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I emailed one guy off of there last night. Curious to see what he says for a price.
 
Just heard back from the local woodmizer guy, 65/hr 3hr minimum to cut it up. No idea how long something like that would take or how much lumber it'd make but gonna do more checking into that route!
 
Nebraskaz71 said:
Just heard back from the local woodmizer guy, 65/hr 3hr minimum to cut it up. No idea how long something like that would take or how much lumber it'd make but gonna do more checking into that route!
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That is a business man for sure, not that his pricing is not fair. Here and most places the portable saw mill guys work soooo cheap and $65 with the 3 hour minimum is fair but not cheap. The log will be cut in less than hour---more like how many minutes--say fifteen minutes a log is a lot depending on what model saw he uses.Travel and setup costs money. I think you are right to check around. If you have the measurements of the log( length and diameter at small and large end) I can look on a chart and answer the board ft. question plus or minus 10%.
 
My buddy has one of the biggest WoodMizer mills made. He could mill 4-5 logs that size in an hour, unless you want them cut into toothpicks.
 
Ya the more I looked into that, the more I decided it wasnt worth it. Decided to cut further into the tree today and a lot of the logs arnt as good as they appeared. Theres good sections 5ft long and bad sections 10ft long, not worth my time I've decided. Just gonna cut it up and put it in the burn pile at this point.
 
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