My sister living in Hampton Va wants to sell a large Walnut tree she has in her yard. She believes it not to be rotten in the middle but has no idea how to go about selling it or where to put an advert. Any suggestions?
TIA Gary
Try a local mill, small or large, to see if they're interested. Not many want to deal with one tree, and a lot depends on where it's located in the yard--many don't want to deal with yard trees, either, because of the junk that tends to get incorporated over the years. Rough on mill blades to run up on old staples, nails and harder chunks.
Reduce expectations of income from the tree, too. Most people think they're going to get rich off a walnut tree because the wood sells for maybe 6-7 bucks a board foot. But stumpage fees aren't nearly that high even for top trees.
Last time I priced out a walnut yard tree, they wanted $750 to remove the thing.
Here in the UK I'd phone Wood-mizer in Pocklington (miles away) who'd then tell me who their nearest Wood-mizer owner was. They might be interested, they'd generally know a local name who would be.
You've got to look at the tree before deciding. Even if it's awkward to fell, it's usually worth selling a single garden walnut so long as it was coming down anyway. If you're looking to fell it for profit, then it _might_ be worthwhile for a singleton or not, depending on how easy it is to fell (closeness to buildings etc.).
Remember that the valuable part of a walnut is often the root crown, so don't just fell it at the normal height. You want that stump unsliced.
On 12/14/2005 2:01 AM Mr Fed UP mumbled something about the following:
In Hampton, VA, you'll be hard pressed to find someone to buy it. If she truely wants to get rid of it. I'll be up that way in a few months and know someone with a portable mill that I can pay to mill it up. and I can cut up some of the limbs and other pieces for people who want it for turning, but I won't pay her for the tree, as it would cost me over $500 to do that for just 1 tree, and an additional purchase price of even $100 for the tree would make it not worth my while.
Most sawyers won't even touch a yard tree, much less buy it. The find nails, gate screws, swing screws and nails, and around here, pieces of fencing inside the trees. So they all go to the dump after you PAY someone to cut it down and haul it off.
The guys around here won't touch branch wood either, unless it is about
10" or so in diameter and at least 8' straight after sawing/cutting. So unless you have a large trunked tree that is pretty straight and tall, I think you are out of luck.Robert
Yard trees are often more trouble than they're worth, what with the potential for nails and other metal, and the unfortunate tendancy of them being close to things you don't want to drop large trees onto.
craigslist.com might be a place to post a free ad, but don't expect to get rich, even if she can get rid of for free. Could end up costing a few grand to get rid of. Sorry.
On 12/14/2005 11:10 AM snipped-for-privacy@aol.com mumbled something about the following:
Like I said, I wouldn't buy it, but I might be interested in taking it off her hands. I do know a couple of sawyers that will work with me on yard trees to mill them up (I have to do a lot of runs with a metal detector, which cuts into the time, costing me even more). I'm already going to be in the area with my truck and an empty trailer, nothing but a few hours out of my time anyway if the tree is decent.
While I have to agree completely with most of the comments in the thread, I DID want to point out that this can be quite a treasure trove for a woodturner's group. Turners tend to not WANT long pieces, and, frankly, if there is "summers metalint" the worst that will happen is a nick in a single tool. Oh yea...I have a decent quality metal detector I use on "gift" wood, just to make sure. That has proven to be a life-saver in the past. Regards Dave Mundt
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