walnut trees what to do with them?

[slipknot]

got about 20-30 acres of woodland that needs clearing to build a big pond. Most are walnut trees varying from 8" to 24" in diameter. Tried to have two logging outfits come up from southern ohio to check them out. One never showed up for appointment, the other came and offerd between 20 & 50 dollars and is set to come mark them. I just wanna know am I gettin screwed, should I just cut them down with the rest of the trees to be used as firewood and sell it that way, or should I cut them down and haul to a lumber yard on my 14' lowboy trailer. I just don't wanna get screwed! Any info would be appreciated.

 

[fwf]

...offerd between 20 & 50 dollars...

You mean 20-50 per tree, or what?

Overall, those are pretty small trees, so you're not going to get a lot o money, especially if someone else does the logging and hauling. But it is unlikely that you would do any better cutting it for firewood, and even if you have it logged, there will be a lot of firewood left on the ground.

If you have 30 acres of walnut, I would get a consulting forester in to do the marking and negotiate the best deal for you.

Put simply, if you don't know if you're getting screwed, you probably are!

 

[scottr]

Walnut

slipknot , your county forester will be able to help you .

 

[slipknot]

yeah per tree, I should've mentioned that, my bad! thanks for the input fellas!

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

the thing with walnut is that only the dark heartwood is worth anything.
trees under 18" probably dont have much heartwood. so if you got an 18" tree and the heartwood's only 8" in dia its pretty much worthless. I would suggest taking a few down yourself and measuring the heartwood. Two of the mills I sell to wont even bother with it unless the heartwood is at least 10" on the small end, with no defects on three sides of the log. The larger the dia the more defects they will allow.
right now in western PA, walnut is going for .50 to .75 per board foot for logs delivered to the mill. a log 12" in dia and 8' long has 48 bf (International scale) and 32 bf (Doyle scale). you need to know how the logger is figuring the board feet. Some guys use International, some Doyle. I use International and if the buyer uses Doyle, my price per bf goes up. so the log is worth about the same.
so a log on the International scale at 48 bf (12" dia, 8' long) and selling for the average of .625 pbf is worth about $30.00
how many logs per tree can you get? and remember he's cutting the down, hauling them out and taking the chance their not crap inside.

 

[Sparkkky]

Gee, I thought my .45 cents a board foot for cedar was bad, thats with me cutting and loading them out.