Large oaks advice please

[stigwood]

Hi Guys I'm looking for some advice please.I have a small woodland in South Bucks with a stand of some 30 large Oaks (2000 hoppus feet ) & 20 large Beech (1300 hf ) The stems are approx 30-45 feet clean & 20-30 inch dia at shoulder height.I have permission to extract these.What I'm looking for is some advice as to the best way to market these (standing or roadside) and some idea as to their value,thanks Stigwood

[muttley9050]

I'm in bucks and after some oak saw logs. Would have to be roadside as I don't fell, PM me if your interested. Gladly come and have a look at some point to assess value.

James

[delabodge]

lol didnt think you`d be far behind on this one james! (did you get it?)

[urbandekay]

If James doesn't want them all may be in the market for same later in year

[unimog 72]

If James doesn't want them all may be in the market for same later in year

put it out to tender to 3 firms to get best price we fell and extract oak pm me

[stigwood]

Thanks for the advice so far guys. Who would you recommend to contact ref getting a fair price ?

[agg221]

Fair price for which aspect - felling and extraction, or sale?

 

There are several dispassionate millers on here (ie they are too far away and will not buy it) who will offer an opinion on what they would pay for it but they would need pictures and would be putting caveats on their opinion regarding quality.

 

Selling standing timber means the buyer takes the risk, so will offer lower. Selling roadside means you have taken the risk on quality (the butts can now be inspected properly) so if they are good you can expect an overall higher price, but any bad ones you may not sell at all.

 

That said, if I was in the market, I would reckon on woodland-grown timber of that size being pretty clean if there are no obvious external defects. That's a good length/diameter which could be put to a range of uses including construction and is also a nice diameter to mill, so I would expect to get a fair amount of interest.

 

Alec

[openspaceman]

Selling standing timber means the buyer takes the risk, so will offer lower. Selling roadside means you have taken the risk on quality (the butts can now be inspected properly) so if they are good you can expect an overall higher price, but any bad ones you may not sell at all.

 

It sounds like quality timber. I found if there was a decent proportion of planking buts or beams it paid to sell them presented at stump and dressed out. If possible remove any that are too poor for sawing from the parcel. Measure and list each stem. The invite 3 or 4 buyers to make offers. I've been caught a number of times by "friendly" buyers wishing to uplift and pay on monthly account. I also found there was much less ground damage if I undertook the extraction, which is often not a high portion of the value, even a farm tractor can pull 1000Hft a day off an easy site.

 

Fencing oak or framing beech I would just deliver straight in to a mill.

 

Buyers of the better grades still seem to be out there, Chantler, Whitmore, Vastern, EW at Cocking, Wests, the chap on here from Bedford and many more but you won't be thanked for asking them all to have a look.

[lgl]

Some fair points made, roadside Oak in most cases makes more than standing ,buyers will always cover themselves against a percentage of shake etc. If you do decide to sell at roadside engaging the right fallers to do the work is a must as presentation of logs sells them.

It is better to offer it as a parcel, letting someone take a few sweet butts will devalue the rest of the parcel and what you gain will be outweighed by what you lose on second lengths.

Splitting the Beech off and selling it as a parcel or giving the option will have advantages.

I would be happy to have a look at the timber.

[openspaceman]

It is better to offer it as a parcel, letting someone take a few sweet butts will devalue the rest of the parcel and what you gain will be outweighed by what you lose on second lengths.

 

This latter need not always be the case but it will put buyers off. If you are prepared to sell the second lengths delivered in with some beams as long as the mill can get some posts or scantling off them they were still worth £2/Hft+ and selling off butts at £4/Hf (all 1990 prices as I've been out of it a long time) meant you had to do your sums before making a decision. The mills that want planking butts will normally sell off the second lengths to another mill.

 

Splitting the Beech off and selling it as a parcel or giving the option will have advantages.

 

Yes they tended to be separate markets

 

Lots of beams less than 500Ht are more attractive to people with mobile mills and decent oak through the log seems to attract £3.50/Hft