Sell Black Walnut trees?

golf12

Hello everyone.. Wondering if any of you can shed some light on something for me.. I have an 1890's farm house that I'm renovating and one of the additons is a garage. This unfortunately means removing 3 beautiful 100+ year old massive black walnut trees. I've been told that I may be able to sell these trees as the wood is very valuable. Especially wood this old.. I don't know if this is true let alone where to start.. Would just be sad to see them cut down and simply "disposed of".. Any insight would be great!.. Thanks..sb

DangerMouse

walnut's hot right now, yup. maple too. not so much oak for some reason around here....
be sure to get at LEAST 3 estimates from potential buyers. use google to find buyers in your area.
there are a LOT of ripoff buyers out there, i see it all the time around here. so be careful and you should make a few $$$ for sure, depending on how the trees are shaped, how thick, how much of the trunk is usable, etc.

DM

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Tom Struble

i would also send DM a couple of pcs for that valuable info

jcalvin

unfortunatly fo me, there is only one professional logging operation where I live. they cut it, haul it, dry, saw,..... they do everything. i had to do some grading on a lot last year that was full of black walnut trees. called them out and they offered me "we might be able to pay $1000 if you will bring your equipment out here for us to use in taking down the timber". you could park the log truck on a state paved road and almost any graple could reach all the trees and the road without moving.

needless to say, i cut up a bunch of, mediocre at best, firewood last year. saved more in electricity in heating my home with it than i could have made selling it.

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Cal

You hired WHO?
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DangerMouse

*sigh* that's just plain sad..... boy, could i have used that walnut.....

DM

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jcalvin

I know I know. It kills me everytime I lay another piece of wood in the fireplace. What was I supposed to do? I HAD to get rid of the wood immediately and I have no where to store it. The only 2 options was to sell it or burn it. I took major offense to the company rep that came out and all but slapped me in the face when he quoted it so low and then wanted my equipment and my men to do the hard work. So to me, that left only one option. On the other hand neither myself, my parents, or my grandmother had to buy any firewood this year.

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Cal

You hired WHO?
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DangerMouse

so who buys firewood??? i'm just inside on a break from the woods and chainsawin'! heh heh
just downed branches today, easier for these old bones to drag back to the house, but it all burns!

DM

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golf12

You guys are great!.. DM I'll take some pictures soon and see about getting an opinion from you on their value.. Thanks again..sb

jcalvin

a couple years ago, no one even burned it. now that oil, propane, and electricity have gotten so expensive, people around here have been chiseling the mortar out of their chimneys. used to, there was wood for free everywhere, not any more. can't hardly find any limbs. there was a guy a few years ago said "so who buys water? its free. its all over the place."luckily, my parents own a nice chunck of land covered with wood. just nice for a change not to have to crank up the dozer to winch the wood out of the "hollers".

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Cal

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DangerMouse

i have my own woods, and 'friendly neighbor access' to 80 or so more acres. i will not cut green wood, only standing dead and/or dry branches from the ground. it keeps their woods (and mine) looking nicer, and removes termite and carpenter ant food.

DM

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skymaster

Move the addition and leave the poor trees alone

gma2rjc

I have 4 black walnut trees in my backyard. About 10 years ago I called several local saw mills that buy trees. All of them said they weren't interested in buying just 4 trees. One said if I had 50 or more, they might be interested. Another one told me they'd buy them if I cut them down and bring them to their mill.

I heard on the news that the manufacturing and sales of guns has gone up 59% since the election. Gun manufacturer's use Black Walnut wood to make gunstocks, so it seems like the trees would be in high demand.

Out of curiosity, I called The Great American Gunstock Company and their rep told me that if you contact your State Forestry Department, they might be able to give you a list of companies or people who buy trees. The number of the company I called is: (530) 671-4570. I got the impression that company buys B.W. trees because he asked where the trees are located. I don't know what state you live in, but you might want to google 'gunstock manufacturer's' or something similar to see if you live close enough to one of those companies.

downunder

Instead of a logging outfit, are there any "forresters" in your area? Basically a middle man but sometimes they can advise a market for you. I had the opportunity to get some black walnut for firewood several years ago from a lot that was being cleared in town. It had some old clotheslines, etc in it but the man cutting it showed me where to avoid. Actually, he did woodworking and was using a good bit of it for that and gave me what he couldn't use. I was glad that most of it went to good use. I nearly cried everytime I put a stick in the heater with that nice clear grain.

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anthony matano

who buys black walnut. i have some. anthony

Daniel Holzman

If you buy black walnut from the lumber mill, you will pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 per board foot for kiln dried, planed lumber. One option if you cannot get the right price from a lumber company is to cut the trees yourself, and hire someone (or get yourself) an Alaska chain saw mill, and mill the trees to 5/4 thickness. After a year air drying, the lumber will be worth at least $2 per board foot. Of course, this puts you in the lumbering business, which is probably not what you had in mind, but unfortunately the spread between the final value of the product and what you can get for standing timber is very large.

As for firewood, well around my area the current price is $300 per full cord for split, seasoned wood, so perhaps you should consider going into the firewood business. A lot of work, and it does seem a shame to cut up black walnut for firewood, but it does burn after proper seasoning.