Yew tree in Birmingham. Any offers?

[devon TWiG]

This is all leading to the " highly valuable black walnut tree "cartoon again isn't it ha ha.. To be fair most turners do not want tons of the same wood , and only do it for a hobby so in that respect are not really ideal customers .... It also depends where in the country you are as well .a few yards i know of that stock plenty of milled timber ( yandles of Martock being 1 of them ) has a great deal of time and money tied up in their stacks ..

[devon TWiG]

How much is this worth then? 66 sitting on stump

 

Tommy ... if it was close to me and I could cut in to chunks on site the bits I wanted ( no milling ) £100 + for a pick up load ( 1 ton ..ish ) Yew can be very nice but it can also have a lot of shake in it ...

[agg221]

if cash is king then you can make more from milled boards as 1m3 of firewood will sell at £100-£120 but a cubic metre of timber at an average of £35ft3 will sell at £1200+.

 

even if you spend a few hundred getting it milled you'll be quids in.

 

True to a point, however I think the figures are slightly different.

 

Take a log 2m long by 80cm mid-diameter, ie one cubic metre.

 

Assume it is cut for logs into 8 equal lengths 243mm long - each saw cut being 8mm width. This wastes 3%. Splitting wastes effectively nothing, but assume a few bits come out too small, so another 1%. Shrinkage of the remainder by around 10% means a seasoned log volume of 0.86m3. Split, this will be almost exactly 2m3 of loose logs, saleable for £200-250.

 

Take the same log and mill it through and through, with a bandsaw mill taking out a 3mm kerf, into 50mm boards. Assume you go down to a minimum 150mm width, which will still cup badly but you can leave it thick as the last one so it can still be planed up the same.

 

Assuming minimum taper so the top is still 75cm diameter, with no dips or bends to reduce this and shrinkage to 45mm thickness, the log yields 2off x 740mm, 2off x 720mm, 2off x 680mm, 2off x 620mm, 2off x 535mm, 2off x 405mm and 2off x 150mm.

 

This gives a total saleable volume of 0.69m3. Assuming your £35/cu.ft this generates about £850.

 

Still worthwhile, but indicates that there isn't quite as much in it as is often assumed, particularly when you then factor in the time and the fuel cost.

 

Alec

[TurtleWoods72]

So has anyone bagged this tree yet or shall I swoop in with my MS391 and shiny shoes?

[se7enthdevil]

True to a point, however I think the figures are slightly different.

 

Take a log 2m long by 80cm mid-diameter, ie one cubic metre.

 

Assume it is cut for logs into 8 equal lengths 243mm long - each saw cut being 8mm width. This wastes 3%. Splitting wastes effectively nothing, but assume a few bits come out too small, so another 1%. Shrinkage of the remainder by around 10% means a seasoned log volume of 0.86m3. Split, this will be almost exactly 2m3 of loose logs, saleable for £200-250.

 

Take the same log and mill it through and through, with a bandsaw mill taking out a 3mm kerf, into 50mm boards. Assume you go down to a minimum 150mm width, which will still cup badly but you can leave it thick as the last one so it can still be planed up the same.

 

Assuming minimum taper so the top is still 75cm diameter, with no dips or bends to reduce this and shrinkage to 45mm thickness, the log yields 2off x 740mm, 2off x 720mm, 2off x 680mm, 2off x 620mm, 2off x 535mm, 2off x 405mm and 2off x 150mm.

 

This gives a total saleable volume of 0.69m3. Assuming your £35/cu.ft this generates about £850.

 

Still worthwhile, but indicates that there isn't quite as much in it as is often assumed, particularly when you then factor in the time and the fuel cost.

 

Alec

 

 

don't over complicate the matter alec, 35.31ft3 (1m3) of timber sold at £35 = £1235.85p:lol:

 

if you need to sell quickly then log it up for a couple of hundred but i'd happily take the time to quintuple that figure...

[TurtleWoods72]

:scared1:Yikes!

 

I didn't realise Yew was poisonous!

 

https://woodturningblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/is-yew-wood-toxic/

 

I'm going off the ideas of sawing this up without some serious PPE.

 

[Gary Prentice]

:scared1:Yikes!

 

I didn't realise Yew was poisonous!

 

https://woodturningblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/is-yew-wood-toxic/

 

I'm going off the ideas of sawing this up without some serious PPE.

 

 

More questions than answers in that article really

[Johnpl315]

I am not sure I would use wood for food/drink items but I don't think it can do that much harm.

Lots of glasses/cups/enamel and crockery contains some unpleasant stuff.

I was in California earlier this year and pretty much every food utensil in the shops had a sticker with a disclaimer saying that it contained chemicals know to cause cancer.

At least wood is a natural product!

[_Andy]

Has the it been logged up, if not where abouts in Birmingham is it?

 

Thanks Andy

[OliB]

I quite like the look of a standing Yew tree, and have been known to get my self in trouble walking in parks etc by commenting to whoever was accompanying me that "I love Yew". I've had a couple of very surprised looks before realising my error and correcting myself, "not You, Yew. Taxus, Taxus"!