# Large White/Red Pines



## Tracker01 (Jul 6, 2010)

I am not sure which they are off hand, but on our family property there are some large and straight pine trees. We had a forester come out and do a quick walk over the land in prep for the property changing hands and future management of the property.

What I am wondering if there is any market for a small operation to come in and cut about 4-5 tall straight pines and what some sort of value would be? These are in the front yard and I want to clear the yard a bit more by taking the pines out and leaving the hard woods. Hoping to lessen the pine needles and increase some of the grass growing.

I don't just want to cut them and waste any value that may be there. I am also wanting to look into portable mills to get the lumber for future projects, but don't have anywhere to store it well.

Any insight would be helpful?
Will hopefully post some photos when I am over there next.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

For a sawmill operation to be interested its the Diameter of the trunk, and LACK of nails and metal junk that gets in yard trees.

Many sawmills wont even look at yard trees, due to metal and damage to power tools.

Should be over 12" diameter to even interest anyone, bigger is better.


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## Tracker01 (Jul 6, 2010)

Here are a few photos of some of the trees. 


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Your trees appear to be white pine. I would have to totally agree with RD about getting anybody interested, especially in yard trees. 

Making a whole lot of assumptions (more than I should probably make), lets say you have five 14" diameter trees with 25' of USABLE height to a top diameter inside the bark of 10". The entire volume of those trees is roughly 350 and 500 board feet depending on the scale used, about 450 bf is probably most accurate in the UP. Unless a logger is literally harvesting right next door a good rule of thumb is that they do not like to move equipment unless they can harvest 8 thousand to 10 thousand board feet. Less will work if there is additional pulpwood to make moving worth while. 

In my opinion and based on the assumptions used above, if you have enough timber on the rest of the property to hold a timber sale a logger might be interested in taking them down for you as part of the sale contract. 

There are portable mills around that you can hire to come to your property and cut logs into lumber. Check the local papers for ads. If you don't find any try posting an ad yourself. As far as storing any lumber, as long as it is properly stickered, spaced and in an area of good air circulation it should last at least a couple years outdoors without ill effects. 

You indicate you had a forester out there to look over the property. What did he say about the pines? Also, if your sole interest in removing the pines is to grow more grass some, such as myself, might question your thought process! More grass means more time spent mowing. More time spent mowing means less time for huntin' and fishin'. Am I missing something :yikes: FM


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## Tracker01 (Jul 6, 2010)

Removing these trees could mean more grass/plant growth to then limit the amount of dirt/sand coming into the house. I think it would be better to have to deal with grass than all the needles the trees lose each year. And if I can make use of them besides just cutting them down it would be nice. 

Unfortunately I haven't gotten out much do to remodeling the inside of the house and other projects. Would be nice to have a few dollars from the trees for the remodeling. But hunting season is coming soon!! 

Forester said it will be a few years before the property is ready for a a sale/cutting. 


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## B.Chunks (Dec 3, 2011)

I checked into having a portable mill come to process some 80' oak trees we cut down. Not even worth it unless it's allot of lumber. Most guys weren't interested in a few trees or had minimum fees that made it cost prohibitive.I remember the cost ended up being around the same price as you could buy the lumber for in the store in the end. My neighbor though, cut a few of his oaks down and hauled them to a mill himself for processing and I remember it was really cheap to get done if you take the wood to them. Gotta have a big trailer or a flatbed though.


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