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Might not be the right thread for this, but I am looking for advice on how best to take down a valuable tree and come out ahead. I have a pretty old American elm in my backyard that needs to come down due to where it's located, but it is healthy. Back of the napkin math tells me there's at least $50k worth of lumber in there, probably more to a furniture maker. I would likely mill it to live edge rounds and live edge slabs. ~150 ea 3-4' rounds and ~150ft of 1-2ft wide slabs. I can store it and air dry it. I know I could make much more by finishing and selling the pieces per order or even just raw to individual buyers. To be honest, I don't want to deal with that trouble. I would love to sell it as a lot to a furniture maker or lumber yard after milling and 1-2 years of storing and drying on my property. Am I way off on the potential value of the wood in the tree? What is a fair price to sell the lot for? Would it be weird to ask for a down payment on the lot that would end up covering the cost of taking down the tree and getting it milled? I don't have a ton of money sitting around, but I could eat the cost for as long as need be.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:17
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 17:04 |
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Leperflesh posted:Anyway I don't want to overly discourage you because this is poo poo I've contemplated myself. Actually this was quite encouraging as that's the risks I had figured on. If it changes the calculus I work in a building adjacent industry and work with many different architects, designers, and contractors on a weekly basis. My wife and I are comfortable with stain and epoxy as well so we could always just open an etsy shop and buy a bunch of hairpin legs to bundle with and sell em individually lol. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Yeah you’re way off, lol. If you got someone to take it down for free and let them keep the wood, you’d come out ahead. This is more what I was expecting lol. I need to take the thing down regardless and honestly even getting it done for free would be better than nothing. Edit after reading above linked post: To clarify I am intending on paying for the milling and storing/drying it on my property with me and friends-who-like-beer's muscles. What I'm looking to do is take advantage of the live edge lumber craze to hopefully get at least enough from a medium size reseller or furniture maker to cover the $10k it will cost to get the thing taken down, milled, and gas in the truck. Anything extra to cover the inconvenience would be excellent. I have free access to a few spaces I could set up temporary work shops if needed to finish and stain/seal the slabs if that's what it would take but despite what I said earlier I'm not super keen on actually starting an etsy shop lol. Justa Dandelion fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Mar 20, 2023 |
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Mar 20, 2023 03:52
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:
This figure would be for the final reseller or furniture maker who would be using the wood, not for me selling it. But I figure that the average grey live edge elm 1" slice at 36-48" diameter is going for $150-450 raw from what I was seeing and we'll assume the low end of that, with about 240 usable slices from the ~30' of 36-48" diameter trunk I got plus the 150' (ish) of 12-24" wide 1" thick slabs (again live edge as that seems the best return with least processing). I was seeing about $240 retail for 48"x14"x1" so I figured estimate all the slabs around that price/size for the lower end of width to be safe so about 37 of those 4' slabs total. Again to be conservative I'm only assuming one usable slab per linear foot of branch. It's a little over $44k, so i was off, but I think there's enough wiggle room in there for that to be a realistic figure for whoever ends up doing the final sale. ~60% usable material. Again I'm not a miller and that's why I'm asking. Still feels like a better option to try and recoup something from this tree rather than just eat the $7k I've been quoted (it's a really awkward placement). It needs to come down cause it's like 2' from my house and is doing a number on my foundation and sewer lateral. Plus, it's threatening to drop branches on top of my roof if it ever starts to feel sickly. Idk, I gotta figure slabs at those prices are moving or the prices would be lower and if a reseller can sell unfinished slabs at that price then I figure I can get at least 25% of that (which would cover the cost of removing and milling the tree) if I handle the milling and drying. It's seeming like profiting isn't reasonable but at least recouping some/all of the cost of removal would be great.
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Mar 20, 2023 06:50
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Leperflesh posted:You don't slab to 4/4 green. Your rough sawn should be planned to 8/4 or maybe 6/4 for the narrower slabs. you will need a forklift for slabs the size you are talking about. you dont get 240 slabs for a 30' log, especially because you don't have the equipment to handle a 30' slab or probably even a 15' slab but also you aren't accounting for.waste, you are probably including bark and sapwood in your calcs too. Most limb wood is not suitable for slabbing, at all. I want to know where you are gonna find a mill that can handle 48" dia too. Those numbers are the thicknesses, correct? I don't really know what I'm doing so you're definitely giving me reason to reconsider it. Do millyards not process trees that wide? Not even for making cookies?
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Mar 20, 2023 15:43
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Yo those milling videos are support fascinating. Definitely more than I bargained for and yall are probably right. I appreciate all the advice! I'll let yall know what we end up doing and keep yall abreast. My wife will post if I end up dying in a terrible tree related accident.
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Mar 21, 2023 01:35
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Hey yall, idk if anybody remembers but last year I was asking about milling down a giant tree next to my house. We finally got it taken down (I'll update with photos) and the tree man said it looks like it'll make some great slabs. Got a portable mill and a kiln lined up. I'll update once we get them milled!
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Apr 16, 2024 17:54
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 17:04 |
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Siberian elm. Got the main trunk up the first crotch as one log and it's straight as an arrow which is nice. The portable mill guy is a friend of the arborist and supposedly can handle the log and has a crane to lift it since it's about 4 tons. Roughly 16' feet long, 3' diameter at the narrowest, 4' diameter at the crotch, no visible rot... we'll see about metal in the tree... Also got a whole mess of other logs that are much more manageable.
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Apr 16, 2024 19:01
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