I think everyone got excited about timber prices with the global price squirting up over last year, but I would imagine things are dying on their arse right now
If you are milling then I think it's reasonable to look at about £1.50 to maybe £2.50 per cubic ft for standing Oak with good access at what's usually called fencing grade, but is basically small timber frame building grade. The fact that the trees may be local to you and the owners are on your side can make it worth more (or more useful) to you than you imagine.....
From a small mill's point of view, it's nice to sink money into a larger number of smaller trees than a smaller number of large trees. If you buy 4 big trees and one is a nightmare you have chucked a lot of money away instantly, but if you have one or two dodgy trees among 30 others it's not so bad
Softwood-
B Bob-
found a price of £12.78 m/3. standing,but it wasnt clear if was softwood or broadleaved ???????
I would think that was standing softwood on a large scale. That works out as £0.36 per cubic ft (35 cu/ft to 1cu/m), so may even be for pulp or bars rather than sawlogs, you'd have to get confirmation from some of the softwood boys on here.
For what it's worth I'd hazard that most chunky sawable softwood used round here (SE England) on mobile or estate mills would go for 80p to £1.50 per cubic ft depending on species, so nice Larch, Douglas and maybe Western Red at the top end. But it's quite a bespoke thing, and I'd rather pay more for having the convenience of wood available locally with room to mill alongside when an order comes in.
I may be miles off the mark for other areas and people's experiences on a larger scale, but it'd be nice if more people piped up and chipped in. As someone else said, I can look at barley, pig and potato prices any day of the week.
Presentation and timber sales-
Having come into timber from an arb background, I understand that at no point in ALL arb courses are even the very basics of timber layout, handling, crosscutting and felling for timber quality discussed.
As a mobile sawyer I regularly cut timber for people who have ruined the value of their own trees with careless cutting and storage. All I can do is make the best that can be made from the available trees.
Sadly, it is primarily because the timber industry does not help itself in advertising or making available any information to the majority of people at the chopping edge.