Mates rates question for not-valuable timber

[Mr. Ed]

 

Can you all give some advice? 
 

So my mate - a new friend but a true friend - has about 33 usable metres (minimum straight lengths of 2 metres) of one [?] year felled Alder stems. The first one I’ve sliced looks like it’s at a good state of colour and no rot - one little pocket the size of a 50p coin on this first cut. I want to use it for floorboards by the way, and we’re very happy with wild colours - this house is going to be rustic in every way - and are also happy with the relative softness of the timber - it’s for domestic use in a small house. 
 

I’m collecting them - from just a few miles away- and cutting them, but without him having hoarded them I’d be in a pickle for this project. 
 

The question is, what should I pay him for them? There doesn’t seem to be any commercial market to judge by. 
 

And any tips on milling them woold

be appreciated muchly. I’m cutting to 28 mm to finish to 22. They’re between 21 & 29% humidity now and I’m knocking up a little dehumidifier kiln over Christmas to gently get them down further, once cut. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Mr. Ed

[trigger_andy]

21 minutes ago, Mr. Ed said:

 

Can you all give some advice? 
 

So my mate - a new friend but a true friend - has about 33 usable metres (minimum straight lengths of 2 metres) of one [?] year felled Alder stems. The first one I’ve sliced looks like it’s at a good state of colour and no rot - one little pocket the size of a 50p coin on this first cut. I want to use it for floorboards by the way, and we’re very happy with wild colours - this house is going to be rustic in every way - and are also happy with the relative softness of the timber - it’s for domestic use in a small house. 
 

I’m collecting them - from just a few miles away- and cutting them, but without him having hoarded them I’d be in a pickle for this project. 
 

The question is, what should I pay him for them? There doesn’t seem to be any commercial market to judge by. 
 

And any tips on milling them woold

be appreciated muchly. I’m cutting to 28 mm to finish to 22. They’re between 21 & 29% humidity now and I’m knocking up a little dehumidifier kiln over Christmas to gently get them down further, once cut. 

What would he get per ton as firewood? Any less than that and you’re taking money out of his pocket. That in my mind is a good mates rate. 
 

£50-65 a ton? You’d be doing well at that I’d say. 

[Mr. Ed]

That’s a good idea for starters, but it wouldn’t be much - the timberpolis calculator says 30 metres at 30 cm width makes a bit over 2 m3 and Coford tells me that air dry alder is about 500kg per m3. so that only makes a ton - it looks more than that! 

[muttley9050]

That’s a good idea for starters, but it wouldn’t be much - the timberpolis calculator says 30 metres at 30 cm width makes a bit over 2 m3 and Coford tells me that air dry alder is about 500kg per m3. so that only makes a ton - it looks more than that! 

Andys prices would be for green firewood not seasoned I guess.

[Johnsond]

Slightly off topic, That's a cracking log arch 👍what make and model is that?. You towing it on the road ??. 

[Bob_z_l]

7 minutes ago, Johnsond said:

Slightly off topic, That's a cracking log arch 👍what make and model is that?. You towing it on the road ??. 

I saw that too. 
Road legal?  Under 750kgs maybee's but is it? 

[trigger_andy]

Andys prices would be for green firewood not seasoned I guess.

That’s true. I was thinking green.

As it’s semi-seasoned double that. 🤣

[Mr. Ed]

I was thinking giving him 250 or so for the lot - a useful chunk of change and a great help to me (and he kindly admits that he had no idea when he was going to get round to processing it, and that it was going to start going off soon. I wonder what sort of percentage of the finished timber value is the typical raw material cost for a commercial sawmill  - 20%? 50%? I have no idea.

The arch is made by Irish Forestry Products in Limerick - they've got them on special for €600 or €700 now, but I paid a bit more. As to legality, the route I went is only half a mile on the equivalent of an A-road, the rest of the way is on single-tracks where it'll be the most legal thing on the road! I did somewhere find an exemption from mudguards for timber vehicles, but I'm not going to look again: "only slightly illegal" is a reasonable description. 

[Johnsond]

14 minutes ago, Mr. Ed said:

I was thinking giving him 250 or so for the lot - a useful chunk of change and a great help to me (and he kindly admits that he had no idea when he was going to get round to processing it, and that it was going to start going off soon. I wonder what sort of percentage of the finished timber value is the typical raw material cost for a commercial sawmill  - 20%? 50%? I have no idea.

The arch is made by Irish Forestry Products in Limerick - they've got them on special for €600 or €700 now, but I paid a bit more. As to legality, the route I went is only half a mile on the equivalent of an A-road, the rest of the way is on single-tracks where it'll be the most legal thing on the road! I did somewhere find an exemption from mudguards for timber vehicles, but I'm not going to look again: "only slightly illegal" is a reasonable description. 

Slightly Illegal 👍😂belter 

Thanks for the info 👍

[Paul in the woods]

20 minutes ago, Mr. Ed said:

I was thinking giving him 250 or so for the lot

 

Sounds like a good deal for him. I burn a fair bit of alder but even when logged fresh it burns much quicker than say ash. When it's been down a year it'll burn even quicker so I'd only value it at half the price of ash for firewood.

 

On the other hand where are you going to get some similar logs from.