Road side Oak.

[trigger_andy]

What are people paying for Oak Roadside? I was out seeing a Forestry guy today and he's wanting £150 a ton roadside for logs about 750mm in diameter, as thats what my Mill will take. He'll load my trailer too. I can only take a couple of tons at 3m long. If I wanted 5-6 tons in longer lengths he could deliver.

 

How does this sound?

[Big J]

Fairly cheap. £150 a tonne is less than £6/hoppus foot and for such small quantities, that's very reasonable. 

 

Reasonable quality oak starts at £5/hf, very good quality is £8-10.

 

 

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, Big J said:

Fairly cheap. £150 a tonne is less than £6/hoppus foot and for such small quantities, that's very reasonable. 

 

Reasonable quality oak starts at £5/hf, very good quality is £8-10.

 

 

Cheers J.  Its all still standing so will not get to see the quality till mid next week when its down. I'll do two runs at 2 tons each then.

[Big J]

5 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Cheers J.  Its all still standing so will not get to see the quality till mid next week when its down. I'll do two runs at 2 tons each then.

Just remember that with oak any defect that manifests itself at the butt will almost always be worse once the log is milled. There are rarely any nice surprises when cutting oak.

[trigger_andy]

3 minutes ago, Big J said:

Just remember that with oak any defect that manifests itself at the butt will almost always be worse once the log is milled. There are rarely any nice surprises when cutting oak.

True. So if there is noticeable shake then just leave it?

[Big J]

Heart shake is normal, to a degree. Avoid anything with star or ring shake though. It's always (and I mean ALWAYS) worse once you open up the log. The is especially true if the log has any bend in it, as it'll split along the shake with extra vigour.

 

I'm no great fan of oak, if I'm honest. 

[Squaredy]

54 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

What are people paying for Oak Roadside? I was out seeing a Forestry guy today and he's wanting £150 a ton roadside for logs about 750mm in diameter, as thats what my Mill will take. He'll load my trailer too. I can only take a couple of tons at 3m long. If I wanted 5-6 tons in longer lengths he could deliver.

 

How does this sound?

I agree with most of what Big J has advised you.  I would just add that you should do the deal once the logs are down and you can look at each end.  And look out for hollow knots, which often lead to rot below the knot, which can travel some way down the log.

[trigger_andy]

9 minutes ago, Big J said:

Heart shake is normal, to a degree. Avoid anything with star or ring shake though. It's always (and I mean ALWAYS) worse once you open up the log. The is especially true if the log has any bend in it, as it'll split along the shake with extra vigour.

 

I'm no great fan of oak, if I'm honest. 

Cheers,

 

He also has Sweet Chestnut on-site, one is an absolute monster. Will end up as Sleepers he said. Must be 5-7' diameter at least, for a good 10 foot. Lots of bulbous protrusions. A mix of the two pictures below really. Worth buying? I could Mill up on site and its only a few meters from roadside. Would need to buy a new Mill though.  

[Andrew McEwan]

Surely that should be on the ancient tree inventory,  not to mention full of defects re.milling

[Big J]

It would absolutely criminal to fell that. What is his justification?