Marketing valuable timber

[oldclaypaws]

Having accepted the ecological arguments and management case for thinning my crowded large oaks, and having had a seal of approval from the FC, I'm now entering the minefield of finding an optimum logistical and cost effective method of arranging felling and marketing of the timber.

Ben Laws states how clear felling is an ecological disaster, group felling is better, selected single trees is best of all, but least cost effective. Its also apparent that we are in the absurd national position of having lots of neglected woods with standing timber, unemployed people, but have run down our native hardwood market in favour of importing cheaper tropical hardwoods which can in turn have a huge detrimental impact on the ecology of forests in the developing world. Consequently local markets for UK grown hardwoods appear to be fragmented and to the small woodland owner looking to get best value for timber, there is no obvious easy route.

While laboriously exploring various contractors, options and trying to eke out best advice without paying too much for it, I'd really appreciate the experience of other group members who've gone through this process as to how they've gone about felling and marketing large hardwood trees, your advice will be most useful. I should include in that request whether you've had success in turning your wood into some kind of milled or finished product that you sold directly, which is another route I want to consider, and how you went about finding end buyers...??

This is kind of going full circle, my first post 18 months ago asked about optimum low impact removal of big trees, now I'm just extending the question to include best ways of marketing timber after felling..... ??

[oldclaypaws]

As nobody has come up with an answer to this one, I'll assume that perhaps you're all as flummoxed by the question as I am. I've just had a very productive conversation with the Chair of our local Woods Association, who's done all this himself and suggests the following procedure (in case anyone else has to go through this)

Firstly, take good expert advice on which specific individual trees to fell (considering factors such as bats, wind, timber quality, etc) and their likely value from an appropriate woodland consultant. The probable value of my oaks is far higher than I initially thought, so not only will I be improving the biodiversity of the wood, the wallet should benefit substantially as well.

Submit a management plan and apply for a felling license.

Prepare the surrounding ground to the 'drop zone', coppicing and clearing brambles.

Get in a good tree gang to fell the trees. You don't want this done on the cheap or a botched job as one broken tree might be a very expensive mistake. This should cost about £50 (one hour) per tree. They can sned them and should leave them where they fall.

Invite two or three sawmills to come and view the felled trees and make offers. (bearing in mind I already have an indication of value). The successful bidder can say what lengths they want them cut to prior to collecting roadside.

Tree gang return to cut to length and move to roadside.

Sawmill collects and chips up.

Replant.

- Sounds like a nice little project to keep me busy next year....and the year after.....and the year after....

[Compo]

If they were my trees I think I would discuss price and logisitics with potential customers (sawmills) while the timber is vertical. Once on the ground it will lose value with time. I would tend to go for cut and remove in one step. But then they're not my trees!

[SimonFisher]

In the handful of cases I've heard or read about where individual trees were being sold, the buyer viewed the tree before felling.

[oldclaypaws]

discuss price and logisitics with potential customers (sawmills) while the timber is vertical. Once on the ground it will lose value with time.

If I were a sawmill, I'd take a seller far more seriously if I was looking at a felled, snedded butt than a standing tree which may or may not be felled.

Once felled, they can see the interior of the tree and satisfy themselves as to the quality (some can be hollow).

We're talking oaks, not conifers, they don't decay rapidly once down, in fact I've a couple which have been down for years which I'm told still have value, even though the sapwood rotted off.

It should be remembered the main motivation is to get in light and a more diverse mix of trees, any income from felling will be a bonus. Trees for felling will need to be suitable for timber, but will be primarily where they are crowded. If I have a very nice timber tree standing well apart from any others, I'll probably retain it, or at least until we've other new potential standards growing alongside at medium height.

I do like my big beasts and will only reluctantly fell the minimum needed, in the right locations. Any 'not sure' candidates will be left until we see what effect the new light levels make, and I'll only do say 1 acre sections at a time.

[Compo]

All you need to do is ask the potential customer which they would prefer. It's common practice to buy timber as a standing crop, particularly high end value species, or at the roadside. We've just taken an Oak down, reluctantly, as it was struggling. We'll let it regenerate from the stool. It's not for sale, the top end will go for firewood leaving us with 3 x 10ft. lengths of straight stick which we intend to cleave for our own use. First job will be to get it off the ground. I cut some decent Oak for a friend of mine and over the first Winter the loss to rot was significant. Obviously you must do whatever you think is best for your situation but once cut there is no way back. All the best whatever you decide to do!

[oldclaypaws]

We'll let it regenerate from the stool

Interesting.

I'm hoping some of mine will too. The consensus seems to be they don't, although an FC coppicing leaflet reckons theres a 70% chance of a 100 year oak regenerating; I'd be well pleased if they did, but will have to wait and see.

[Compo]

I'd be very surprised if there was no shooting from the stool - we always leave as decent a stump and as much of the buttressing intact as we can to give the tree a fighting chance. Whether or not the regrowth persists successfully depends on a range of things but we'll keep an eye on it and if it looks promising we'll make sure that it has sufficient light by trimming branches from surrounding trees and fighting back the inevitable Sycamore colonisers. Our Oaks are not as old as yours - 100 yrs. max. but in a couple of hundred years they'll be something to see. Can't wait!

[Jackdaw]

I went through the same thing a year or so ago. FC visit, info collecting on prices etc. Decided, in the end, that it was more hassle than I could be bothered with.
Then again, I'm sure if I was short of a few quid, my determination to follow through with the idea may have led to a few thousand beer vouchers.
All the time the trees are not losing money Ill probably leave them to increase in value, and as most of the Oaks are less than 150 years old, I've plenty of time before they start hollowing out and decreasing in value.
Good luck with your venture though, and would love to see a few pics of the felled timber once down.
Rgds J