James04

I have posted this in another woodworking forum. I received a few comments that suggest this log is worth paying for. However I am currently unemployed and it will be tough to come up with the amount that some are suggesting.

So I am posting here as another member on the other woodworking forum suggested. Since there is a milling section here.

This is a maple that is 200 years old. Most of it has been chunked into firewood length. However there is an app 32" x 9' section left. The photos are of that section.

The entire tree has been offered to a neighbor for firewood. I was thinking of offering him some money for the 9' section that is left. Some are suggesting a cord or two of wood to the new owner. But a cord around here is about $175 and I still will need to rent a trailer.

Would you offer that much for this log? I know the photos are not great but I only had my cell phone with me. Three of the photos are of the 9' section.

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Daren

Oh my There is about a cord (400 bft) if that thing was to be bucked for firewood...but, and this is going to sound rude, only a FOOL would cut that for firewood. That is a burled and spalted beauty IMO. Sucks you are unemployed, I know cash must be tight. As far as an exact $ figure I am not going to put one on it, but yes it is worth trying to get--however you can. This is risky business buying logs, things can go wrong. Let me just put it this way if that is as sound as it looks and it hit my sawmill yard I would expect to make several hundred dollars after it was milled out. Maybe tell the guy who owns it you want to work with him in some way ? Like you take the log and have it milled and sell some of the lumber and pay him a fair amount after you can sell some ?

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Old Skhool

It's really hard to tell what you're looking at fom the pictures. What is the diameter of the trunk? You are wanting a 9' length and several shorter pieces? Do you know someone that has a mill? I'd show him you pictures and find out what he would charge you to mill it, and how many bd ft of usable wood he would estimate you could get out of it. What would you be willing to pay per board foot? The lumber could be valuable or junk, and you really don't know until it's sawn. It looks like your going to have knots and unusual grain. It could be a curse for a cabinet maker, unless they could resaw some of it for veneers, or for a special piece. For some one that does very low production work and is always seeking unusual woods, this could be a find. You'll really have to gamble a little on this one. Could be worth a lot to the right person depending upon what you get when you open the package. I'd think of my costs first, before deciding to gamble.

James04

Hi,

I live in CT and I have a band mill(Norwood). I just never have milled anything unusual like this. I think I will try offering $75 or some of the lumber that is produced. I do not think I am in a position to gamble. If I had a trailer and did not need to rent one I could offer to pay for a cord of wood delivered. About $175.

Old School,

I am only interested in the 9'x32" diameter log.

James

Daren

We can help you with that too , snag it ! If he will take $75 do it...in the morning.

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Old Skhool

Just got back from picking up my daughter. I wanted to agree with you that this wood should not go up in smoke! I 2nd the idea about working with the owner, and it could be beneficial to both parties. You're right it does look very sound, and I'd want to get it sawn soon to avoid unnecessary cracking and splitting.

I'll be waiting for the after pictures!

Julian the woodnut

I sure hope you get that log! It looks like it will yield some beautiful lumber. I feel you though as I am nearly unemployed at the moment and see so many deals that I can't go for.......

James04

Well I was able to get in touch with the new owners of the tree. It turns out the wife is a horticulturist. They never wanted to cut the tree into fire wood but didn't have access to a mill. I offered a couple of options to them. Share the lumber, I cut other lumber for them in the future, oak that I already have milled and dried, or my labor for any other things they may need. They are going to discuss it and get back to me. Ill be keeping my fingers crossed. It sounds promising though.

James

TexasTimbers

Sounds like to me they are smelling money. Have you showed any cards? I'm not inferring you should be underhanded - I don't do business that way, but ethical negotiation for this log does not require you to educate them. I hope you get it.

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carlis stephens

Even the best maple logs in this market is only going for .30 bd ft. That log there most mills wouldnt even want for lumber. Specialty market only, but it will produce some high Quality stuff.

TexasTimbers

That's the great thing about "defects" in a log. If you know where and how to market it, many if not most "defects" increase the value.

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DRB

Well that scales about 400 board feet with luck you could get 200 board feet of stuff worth $5 a board foot. I would offer $200 in cash or $300 in trade on lumber or saw it for 50%.

James04

I will be meeting with the owner on Saturday. We hit it off pretty well. Seems the son who I believe is in charge of the fire wood. Is new to woodworking and would love access to a mill and the parents would like to build a green house and would also appreciate access to a mill. They have a farm in the family with good lumber on it. So we are yet to work out a deal but I feel confident that we will.

James

dirtclod

I see a cut across the log in your pictures. How long is the longest uncut log?

Out of that $175 cord of firewood the seller has considerable labor, plus fuel, transportation, saw and splitter maintenance, storage space for drying, etc. They can only afford to pay a small amount, if any, for the wood. Futhermore, that maple is spalted some. This would probably be rejected at most commercial firewood operations as it would spalt more while air drying (maple is bad about that and since it has allready started...) and end up so low grade that it would have to practically be given away.

In a good economy, unusual pieces like potentially will come from this log (hope it is as good as it looks), will move in a reasonable amount of time. If you are not allready known as a supplier of this kind kind of product and dont have a pool of buyers, etc., you could find yourself spending a lot of time ($) marketing it. I wouldn't let the tail wag the dog. A generous offer in this economy is $30.00 - that is unless you allready have it sold for a high profit, then you can afford to be generous. If the buyer balks then let them assume some of the risk and offer to cut it on shares, with them getting no more than 30% of the net profit. Besides, it will be you that incurs the transportation, sawing, drying and marketing cost up front. Charging typical rates for each step would put the cost +/-$.90/bf. depending on your area.

James04

Thank you all for your guidance so far. I will keep all of these things in mind when negotiating.

I am starting to wonder how the heck I am going to mill this sucker.The Norwood has I think a 30" log capacity with a 24" cut. I don't have a big chain saw. I only have a Sthil 270c with an 18" bar. My neighbor has a big Makita that I can more than likely borrow. If I buy some chain as compensation. I am sure this will require some fresh ripping chain.

James

Daren

If you can get it on the deck you can mill it. You may have to make a few 'barrel cuts", sacrificial cuts rolling the log until you get it whittled down closer to size. Chainsaw is the last resort. It looks like the burls on the surface are pretty much gone anyway so if you are just taking the outside off with the mill and not producing much "lumber" you are not hurt on this log IMO.
Most burl logs the burls are just on the surface, but I see indication (circled in yellow) that these go all the way to the heart. I see swirled burl grain and the spalt is in a weird pattern. I have milled many burl logs and like I said once you get the burls knocked off the rest can be pretty plain, I have my fingers crossed for you this one is not.
One defect I see you have to watch I circled in red. There is, at least in this piece some ring shake. You want that "crack" parallel with blade when you start final milling, that way the shake is contained to just a couple boards.
And you want to level the log on final milling so the pith (very center of the log) is also parallel with the blade, that will show off the spalt better.
If you can pull a stack of 24" wide boards off that dude

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TexasTimbers

I agree the chainsaw is a last resort, but add on top of that you're borrowing it to mill with, try to mill it with band mill first. I think Makita makes a Dolmar 6900 equivalent and milling is asking a lot of a chainsaw, never mind one too small like that. Dolmar made and private labeled for Makita for quite a while so it is a good brand, but I don;t think Makita has a saw bigger than the 70cc range but I don't know for sure. You really need to know what size saw it is.

Just be prepared to make any repairs to his saw, and if something goes wrong milling with a chainsaw it is often major, like pitting the top of the piston or even burning a hole through it, to scoring the cylinder to even "burning it up" i.e. locking it up. Depending on what kind of shape it's in will play a factor.

Not trying to paint a doomsday picture but just know going in that milling is very tough on a saw, and though the possibility of trashing it from just the one milling may be slim, it's not slim at all compared to just cutting firewood with it.

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James04

Ok I sort of left you guys hangin. I agreed to 8 hours mill time in exchange for the log I have mentioned plus the 4' butt that you can partly see in my original post. That and a full day of the gentleman's time and his trailer. I will need to give him $50 for the trailer use or a board or two from the logs. I think I got a good deal. Nice guy I hope we will do some more things together. He is only 18 but has a good head on his shoulders.

Well it took us just about a full day with an hour for lunch. I have a 9k winch that I have never been able to stall yet and did so three times trying to get this beast on the trailer. Sorry no pics of that. But I did snap a pic of the butt section going on the trailer. This was after dropping off the 8' section at my place.

I spent part of yesterday and part of today squaring up the 4' butt. I must say again these things are heavy. My loader can lift 2k and was unable to lift this without the back wheels going off the ground even after I got down to 32"x32"x4'. The first cut on the mill was 6.5"x24" slab in order to get the cant down to 24" which is the max cut on the mill. I had to cut two notches one on each side in order to make this first cut. I will take some photos before going any further. This first slab shows some promise but nothing spectacular. Mostly a flame type of pattern with a couple of inclusions. Perhaps they are the roots of some of the burls or what ever those bumps all over this log are.

What is the most desirable thickness to make these slabs. I was thinking somewhere just over two inches. Perhaps 2-3/16"?

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Daren

A picture of what you saw when you opened it would help us sawyers. I see no benefit in sawing it thick if it is highly figured. My figured/burled/spalted stock get sawn out 80% 4/4 (maple I would saw 1 1/8") and 20% 8/4 (2 1/4" wet dimension) and heck most of that gets sold and resawn for veneer anyway to instrument makers and the like. IF this thing looks like I think it does inside you are not going to be building fireplace mantles with it And since it is spalted that will turn off people like gunstock makers who need thicker stock. This is going to sell to furniture makers. Don't throw anything away you would be surprised what a pen turner may give for a little box of funky blanks (and game call makers, custom fishing rod makers...)

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TexasTimbers

You've worked hard for it and I hope you get great lumber from it. I reckon you will.

I dunno. I'm thinking you ought to allow for some machining and such, so maybe you should mill it 2 7/32 just to give yourself some room for error.

It depends on what you want to do with it. If you're just cutting it up for general purposes I always like to take something like that apart with 4/4, 6/4, 8/4 and maybe some 16/4 if you have some outside stuff with a little wane and no desirable "defects". However you do it, have a plan.

Edit: daren we have got quit meeting like this.

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