Sweet chestnut prices

[Gnomic]

Has anyone got opinions on prices achieved for cut logs ?

We are a charity managing 100 acres of woodland including some sweet chestnut.

We're planning to have 9 acres coppiced over the next 3 years and there seems to be quite a bit of interest. What sort of payments could we expect ?

We'll also have some ash and sycamore logs, is this worth anything ?

Thanks in advance

 

[gdh]

If it's decent diameter (6inch+) it's worth around £55 a ton stacked at roadside or £20 a ton as a standing crop depending on a number of factors.

 

That's as firewood, you might get a premium if it's suitable for fencing materials.

[doobin]

There's a big demand for chestnut fencing products currently and short supply. However that is probably more down to a lack of people willing to do the splitting etc than a lack of supply of timber.

[lux]

There's a big demand for chestnut fencing products currently and short supply. However that is probably more down to a lack of people willing to do the splitting etc than a lack of supply of timber.

I know where to find some nice rails [emoji6]

[Acerforestry]

You could contact John at Torry Hill Chestnut, standing timber always sought - and frankly unless its very poor quality it is utterly wasted as biomass . Phone number is on web

[Squaredy]

On 26/04/2021 at 12:32, Gnomic said:

Has anyone got opinions on prices achieved for cut logs ?

We are a charity managing 100 acres of woodland including some sweet chestnut.

We're planning to have 9 acres coppiced over the next 3 years and there seems to be quite a bit of interest. What sort of payments could we expect ?

We'll also have some ash and sycamore logs, is this worth anything ?

Thanks in advance

 

If any logs are large enough and straight enough for milling (say a foot diameter and more) then they may be of interest to a sawmill and are worth more.  Sweet Chestnut may be worth £110 per ton when felled and stacked at roadside (but only if decent quality) and Ash and Sycamore are worth around £70 or £80 per ton.  

 

A lot depends on quality of the logs which means how straight and free of knots the stems that are felled are, and if there are other faults like shakes.  Also of course accessibility is critical - felling the trees may be easy, but they need to be economically moved to a track or roadside where a timber lorry can collect them.  If you haven't already, you should talk to forestry workers to assess all this, as no matter how valuable the logs if they cannot be extracted then forget it!