foggy1064
New Member
Hello all,
I have a stand of 70 hoop pine trees on my property. They are about 30 years old and are about 16-22" in diameter.
If I decide to mill the trees, I expect to use some of the timber for construction and furniture, and sell whatever is left.
This raises more questions than I know how to answer, so any advice is appreciated:
1) If I sold the trees to a mill or timber cutter, what might I expect to be paid? I live in North Queensland, Australia, so this might be hard for non-locals to answer. I estimate there to be 0.5-1 cu. metre per tree (used one of the online calculators for this), so probably about 50 cu.metres.
2) I'm toying with the idea of tooling (and skilling) up to mill the trees myself, but in this case would only do a few at a time as and when the need arises. I don't want to invest large amounts of cash in equipment, so I'm thinking of a CSM (probably the ProCut style). I understand that this is less efficient than a BSM, but I would really have a hard time convincing the Minister of Finance to shell out for these expensive pieces of kit.
3) If I decide to go with the "few at a time" approach, would it make more sense to get a portable miller in to do the trees? I understand in my area millers charge about $150 per cu. metre (not confirmed), so I'd be able to get quite a bit milled before the cost exceeds any investment in equipment I'd make doing it myself. When a miller comes in to turn a tree into boards, do they normally cleanup too (chip/remove the waste), or would that be another cost I have to factor in?
4) (Probably one for locals) If I decide to use some of the timber for structural purposes (eg, a new barn), would I need to employ someone to grade the timber? How much does that cost?
You can probably tell I'm not too sure about all this. I definitely don't mind the idea of going down the do-it-yourself path, but I'd appreciate input from people who have been there, done that.
Foggy
I have a stand of 70 hoop pine trees on my property. They are about 30 years old and are about 16-22" in diameter.
If I decide to mill the trees, I expect to use some of the timber for construction and furniture, and sell whatever is left.
This raises more questions than I know how to answer, so any advice is appreciated:
1) If I sold the trees to a mill or timber cutter, what might I expect to be paid? I live in North Queensland, Australia, so this might be hard for non-locals to answer. I estimate there to be 0.5-1 cu. metre per tree (used one of the online calculators for this), so probably about 50 cu.metres.
2) I'm toying with the idea of tooling (and skilling) up to mill the trees myself, but in this case would only do a few at a time as and when the need arises. I don't want to invest large amounts of cash in equipment, so I'm thinking of a CSM (probably the ProCut style). I understand that this is less efficient than a BSM, but I would really have a hard time convincing the Minister of Finance to shell out for these expensive pieces of kit.
3) If I decide to go with the "few at a time" approach, would it make more sense to get a portable miller in to do the trees? I understand in my area millers charge about $150 per cu. metre (not confirmed), so I'd be able to get quite a bit milled before the cost exceeds any investment in equipment I'd make doing it myself. When a miller comes in to turn a tree into boards, do they normally cleanup too (chip/remove the waste), or would that be another cost I have to factor in?
4) (Probably one for locals) If I decide to use some of the timber for structural purposes (eg, a new barn), would I need to employ someone to grade the timber? How much does that cost?
You can probably tell I'm not too sure about all this. I definitely don't mind the idea of going down the do-it-yourself path, but I'd appreciate input from people who have been there, done that.
Foggy
