Best return on milled Oak & yew trees

[Essex arborist]

Ive got oak & yew stems approx. 6m long x 750mm Dia.

 

I want to mill but not sure what would be my best cash return; do I mill into beams, posts or make a piece of furniture like the guy on here that made a picnic table and sold it for £450?

 

In need of some sound advice please?

[agg221]

Return will, to a large extent, correlate to onward processing skill/appeal of product.

 

There is an assumption I sometimes run across that the value of a butt must be very high, because the finished product you would make from it could potentially be very high. This doesn't take into account the time, effort, external costs and skill (=training/practice which you then recover against the job). I quite often hear on butts 'but that's less than I could sell it for as firewood'. Yes - that's true, but that's because in selling a butt you're not putting in any effort, whereas if you turn it into firewood you are doing all the cutting, stacking, paying for the space while it seasons, then delivering it. If you value that time and fuel cost/wear and tear on kit and compare it with sticking the same butt on someone's trailer and taking the cash, then doing something else with the spare time and cash (like firewooding something less desirable for milling) then overall you come out on top.

 

Boards will only sell to someone who wants to use boards, but that is someone with time and a hobby, or someone expecting to make the cash return on their own time, so they will be deducting the cost of the material from their labour. As such, you get a fair return for your time and effort, if you are efficient, but you will get a pretty poor return vs. a commercial sawmill with a much more efficient set up. You also have to take account of the fact that they will want a particular number of boards, of a particular size, for a particular job. You have to guess what those may be sufficiently in advance of their (unstated) need, so the boards are ready when they want them, or mill to order, or have a large stock hanging about to cover all eventualities.

 

The oak is about the right size for beams - the ratio of diameter to length would be good. It will take you less time than boards, so you will make less cash per tree, but more trees processed per day.

 

Posts will not make much - it wastes a lot of the value of the length so it's a cheaper product. Less niche though (selling a single beam relies on finding someone wanting exactly the right size - a pair of gateposts however don't have to be box heart, and can be sold more readily.

 

You'll get most value if you put in still more labour and turn it into a product - nobody is doing any on-processing so no more margins to account for. However, that takes more time, and more skill, with more risk of getting it wrong and generating more waste. You also need to dedicate more time to sales of end products.

 

Hope this is of some use?

 

Alec

Edited November 7, 2012 by agg221

[kernowstu]

True words spoken agg21

[professionalmonkey]

Alec is spot on.the market for timber products is a fickle one(local/sustainable versus cheap/imported)there is no such thing as fairtrade.cut out the speculators/middlemen and the world would be a better place....adding value to timber from your own efforts is personally rewarding.i do it for that reason primarily any other gains are a bonus.it can't all go for logs and its more fun than telly!

[delabodge]

I agree with alec, I cut my timber up 90% of the time for my own use, then also keep stock beams, of 6x6 ,8x8 etc for the odd builder you wants some,there always handy for another building in my yard too,

I turn all the timber into benches,tables etc and get a good return on it, as I have a market of shows I have been doing for over 15 yrs, even the small bits get used for bird boxes etc, and all slab wood goes to firewood, givig me a return for my millig time and fuel.

I`d plank the yew in various thicknesses, and decide what you want to do with end product of the oak and go from there,, good luck,,,

[Essex arborist]

Return will, to a large extent, correlate to onward processing skill/appeal of product.

 

There is an assumption I sometimes run across that the value of a butt must be very high, because the finished product you would make from it could potentially be very high. This doesn't take into account the time, effort, external costs and skill (=training/practice which you then recover against the job). I quite often hear on butts 'but that's less than I could sell it for as firewood'. Yes - that's true, but that's because in selling a butt you're not putting in any effort, whereas if you turn it into firewood you are doing all the cutting, stacking, paying for the space while it seasons, then delivering it. If you value that time and fuel cost/wear and tear on kit and compare it with sticking the same butt on someone's trailer and taking the cash, then doing something else with the spare time and cash (like firewooding something less desirable for milling) then overall you come out on top.

 

Boards will only sell to someone who wants to use boards, but that is someone with time and a hobby, or someone expecting to make the cash return on their own time, so they will be deducting the cost of the material from their labour. As such, you get a fair return for your time and effort, if you are efficient, but you will get a pretty poor return vs. a commercial sawmill with a much more efficient set up. You also have to take account of the fact that they will want a particular number of boards, of a particular size, for a particular job. You have to guess what those may be sufficiently in advance of their (unstated) need, so the boards are ready when they want them, or mill to order, or have a large stock hanging about to cover all eventualities.

 

The oak is about the right size for beams - the ratio of diameter to length would be good. It will take you less time than boards, so you will make less cash per tree, but more trees processed per day.

 

Posts will not make much - it wastes a lot of the value of the length so it's a cheaper product. Less niche though (selling a single beam relies on finding someone wanting exactly the right size - a pair of gateposts however don't have to be box heart, and can be sold more readily.

 

You'll get most value if you put in still more labour and turn it into a product - nobody is doing any on-processing so no more margins to account for. However, that takes more time, and more skill, with more risk of getting it wrong and generating more waste. You also need to dedicate more time to sales of end products.

 

Hope this is of some use?

 

Alec

 

Thanks guys thats really useful information in particular Alec for a very detailed answer.

 

I'd be happy to mill the timber and make furniture more from the satisfaction of creating an object of beauty and if I can sell then that would be a bonus too.