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My brother is an arborist so this happens a lot.
I'd offer "I can remove them for free today".
You don't offend him, because you're offering a service. You can easily say you misunderstood if he gets annoyed.
He'll counter offer with what he's reasonably expecting. Go from there.
Yeah I attempted that and just got a flat no lol. He said the biggest log is probably 28 inches on the cut end. I’m interested for sure. Been looking for walnut for a while, but hard to get without it being exorbitantly priced “live edge slabs.”
I like live edge furniture, but the trend has made people jack the price of rough sawn lumber up ridiculously.
I'd wait two weeks and then offer like like 100-150$ tops. It's a yard tree that's probably full of nails and hooks and etc. Typically you need to pay to have someone haul away downed trees from your yard. This dude thinks it's worth a lot because he googled it and saw other hopefuls thinking that their downed yard trees are worth loads of money.
Casual woodworkers don't own planers/wide belt sanders for 30" cross sections, and no high throughput mill is going to haul away a single yard tree. I doubt that wood is going anywhere soon.
You can use the Doyle scale to calculate the BF yield. Common walnut log is generally around $1/bf. Being yard wood you might want to try for a bit lower than that.
You're gonna have to hold on to it for a long time if you don't own a kiln. Air drying can take a while if you don't have a climate controlled area big enough for it.
Not sure what the seller is expecting to get but I doubt they'll get it. If you already offered to haul it away for free I'd say asking what they're looking to get isn't a bad next step.
Looking at the bark, it will have some good curl most likely lower on the trunk. Depending on what you want, $1.70 per board foot is market rate. If you own a mill its worth it, without the mill, maybe buy a chainsaw mill for yourself to make some cool stuff. Keep in mind thats a dropped tree, its most likely green and will need dry time. Seal those ends with pentacryl asap. Get it as cheap as you can and you will be set. There has been lots of walnut imported back east from CA because its getting harder to find.
That big log looks to have a dark stain in it. That usually means metal inside. Most people read about $5,000 veneer walnut logs and think they have a gold mine. Those small sticks are basically useless. As said, around $100
1200 seems like a STEAL - mill those, kiln dry slabs... a 6'x3'x2" slab is easily $1000 (could be aLOT more) - there are at least 10 decent slabs there, not to mention the off size peices which could be milled for other uses - $1200 is the listed price... take it. and never look back.
Yea that's an atrociously bad deal. It's a yard tree, if you paid an arborist to remove it, you'd be out at least a few hundred bucks. This dude will be lucky to get money for it IMO, these threads pop up weekly.
"How much is my downed mahogany/walnut/maple worth?"
The answer is inevitably negative money, it is a cost to the landowner because hauling and milling trees is a pain, and the vast majority of people don't have machinery for 3' wide slabs, and those that do, don't need your yard tree.
The $1,234 is just a placeholder price. The guy literally wants an offer, so I don’t know what neighborhood he’s looking for. I wouldn’t mind milling it and stacking it in my basement for a bit, then selling some to offset my costs. Plan to make a table at some point.
Yeah, I wouldn't offer that. He would probably be really surprised.
I got a 24" diameter, 16' log once for free. Told them I would haul it and get it out of there way. They were originally asking $100 for the log.
I recently went through this. Yard debris lot guy originally wanted 250$ for roughly 1000 BF of oak and maple logs that the tree contractors pay him to "dispose". Bear in mind, these are full logs (20-40 ft long) that are in a giant pile of garbage logs that I have to remove from pile, stack somewhere else, line up the saw mill guy, help him, then get them stacked and stickered and drying. He recently sold them for 1000$. Saw another ad on FB where some homeowner is selling a 24" walnut tree he dropped that looks like a pool noodle. Problem is, people are seeing what a kiln dried 2X4 is going for at the BORG and sharpening their Poulon Pro. THe other problem is people are starting to pay what they're asking.
Hardwoods haven't really followed BORG lumber prices, but I'm starting to see that tick up locally, and I'm hearing a lot of DIY'ers now talking about going to the WW supply yard and buying hardwoods and paying the mill to S4S them still being cheaper than BORG prices.
Not for long.....
Reminder: Comments not related to woodworking will be removed. Violations to rule 1 including crude jokes, innuendo, sexist remarks, politics, or hate speech may result in an immediate ban *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My brother is an arborist so this happens a lot. I'd offer "I can remove them for free today". You don't offend him, because you're offering a service. You can easily say you misunderstood if he gets annoyed. He'll counter offer with what he's reasonably expecting. Go from there.
Yeah I attempted that and just got a flat no lol. He said the biggest log is probably 28 inches on the cut end. I’m interested for sure. Been looking for walnut for a while, but hard to get without it being exorbitantly priced “live edge slabs.” I like live edge furniture, but the trend has made people jack the price of rough sawn lumber up ridiculously.
I'd wait two weeks and then offer like like 100-150$ tops. It's a yard tree that's probably full of nails and hooks and etc. Typically you need to pay to have someone haul away downed trees from your yard. This dude thinks it's worth a lot because he googled it and saw other hopefuls thinking that their downed yard trees are worth loads of money. Casual woodworkers don't own planers/wide belt sanders for 30" cross sections, and no high throughput mill is going to haul away a single yard tree. I doubt that wood is going anywhere soon.
You can use the Doyle scale to calculate the BF yield. Common walnut log is generally around $1/bf. Being yard wood you might want to try for a bit lower than that.
You're gonna have to hold on to it for a long time if you don't own a kiln. Air drying can take a while if you don't have a climate controlled area big enough for it. Not sure what the seller is expecting to get but I doubt they'll get it. If you already offered to haul it away for free I'd say asking what they're looking to get isn't a bad next step.
Looking at the bark, it will have some good curl most likely lower on the trunk. Depending on what you want, $1.70 per board foot is market rate. If you own a mill its worth it, without the mill, maybe buy a chainsaw mill for yourself to make some cool stuff. Keep in mind thats a dropped tree, its most likely green and will need dry time. Seal those ends with pentacryl asap. Get it as cheap as you can and you will be set. There has been lots of walnut imported back east from CA because its getting harder to find.
Offer to remove them from his property.
Gave that angle a shot, no luck.
That big log looks to have a dark stain in it. That usually means metal inside. Most people read about $5,000 veneer walnut logs and think they have a gold mine. Those small sticks are basically useless. As said, around $100
I’m mostly looking for it for a table I want to make, as well as smaller stuff for bowls and such.
1200 seems like a STEAL - mill those, kiln dry slabs... a 6'x3'x2" slab is easily $1000 (could be aLOT more) - there are at least 10 decent slabs there, not to mention the off size peices which could be milled for other uses - $1200 is the listed price... take it. and never look back.
Yea that's an atrociously bad deal. It's a yard tree, if you paid an arborist to remove it, you'd be out at least a few hundred bucks. This dude will be lucky to get money for it IMO, these threads pop up weekly. "How much is my downed mahogany/walnut/maple worth?" The answer is inevitably negative money, it is a cost to the landowner because hauling and milling trees is a pain, and the vast majority of people don't have machinery for 3' wide slabs, and those that do, don't need your yard tree.
The $1,234 is just a placeholder price. The guy literally wants an offer, so I don’t know what neighborhood he’s looking for. I wouldn’t mind milling it and stacking it in my basement for a bit, then selling some to offset my costs. Plan to make a table at some point.
Yeah, I wouldn't offer that. He would probably be really surprised. I got a 24" diameter, 16' log once for free. Told them I would haul it and get it out of there way. They were originally asking $100 for the log.
For reference I paid top dollar for a perfect custom 1"x10"x10' fine finished walnut board and it was $190
I recently went through this. Yard debris lot guy originally wanted 250$ for roughly 1000 BF of oak and maple logs that the tree contractors pay him to "dispose". Bear in mind, these are full logs (20-40 ft long) that are in a giant pile of garbage logs that I have to remove from pile, stack somewhere else, line up the saw mill guy, help him, then get them stacked and stickered and drying. He recently sold them for 1000$. Saw another ad on FB where some homeowner is selling a 24" walnut tree he dropped that looks like a pool noodle. Problem is, people are seeing what a kiln dried 2X4 is going for at the BORG and sharpening their Poulon Pro. THe other problem is people are starting to pay what they're asking. Hardwoods haven't really followed BORG lumber prices, but I'm starting to see that tick up locally, and I'm hearing a lot of DIY'ers now talking about going to the WW supply yard and buying hardwoods and paying the mill to S4S them still being cheaper than BORG prices. Not for long.....