THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SELLING TIMBER

Answer:

One of the most important factors to making the most money for your Black Walnut Trees or High-End Hardwood Standing Timber is to understand there are key months to sell your Standing Timber while Timber Markets are up.

The best time to sell Black Walnut trees in Ohio or high-end Hardwood Standing Timber will always be in the fall and winter months. Typically Timber Markets will start to go up in mid- October every year as the temperatures drop.

The worst months to sell Your Black Walnut Trees or High-End Hardwood Standing Timber in Ohio will typically by July and August every year. Generally Standing Timber Markets will start to drop through the spring each year as the temperatures heat up and become the worst through through the summer.

Most mills will keep low inventory throughout summer months,  and Veneer prices drop tremendous on numerous species. 

Answer:

This can be very tricky to answer ! " in a nutshell" we measure each  trees "DBH" or 4.5 feet from the ground then determine the trees usable height and grade. This method is used by all Timber Buyer to determine a trees value. However it is extremely important to understand!

It takes years of in the field experience to accurately evaluate a trees grade and to accurately determine the amount of usable lumber it will yield ! 

TIMBER MARKETS- Are constantly changing going up and down like the stock markets! Our company specializes in Ohio Grown Black Walnut Markets and High-end Hardwood Standing Timber markets! We are constantly networking with top Veneer buyers and Lumber buyers from around the world to ensure our clients the most prestigious prices for each Log!   

Our Forestry team has worked and trained aside top veneer and lumber buyers from around the world to learn these markets inside and out! 

Most people don't know this but there are truly only a handful of companies in Ohio there specialize in Black Walnut Trees and high-end Timber and most of these companies do not actually cut Standing Timber,  they only buy cut Logs from Logging Companies and Sawmills. 

Over the past 8 year Ohio has had a huge spike of Logging Companies that claim to specializes in buying Black Walnut trees! It is extremely important to understand all Logging Companies are not created equal and there are only a small portion of companies that truly have the experience in these markets to ensure you get the money you deserve and most importantly have your trees harvested by an experienced company that will take the time to protect valuable future timber crops from being damaged! Even if a company pays well for the trees they harvest, we often see these companies  with lack of experience have excessive damage to up-and -coming Walnut trees loosing you possibly thousands in future harvest. 

Answer:

The number of trees needed to sell Timber is typically dictated by what species you have? The size and quality of the trees you have? 

Some species have high market values and may only take a few trees such as Black Walnut trees & some species have very low market values and will take a larger number of trees to cover moving Logging equipment in and out and cover logging cost and labor and have enough money left over to be worth while to both parties.

There is no set number of trees needed for us to be interested in purchasing your trees, however since covid trucking logs costing has almost doubled for all mills in Ohio making it tough to do smaller tracts.

As a rule of thumb a test to know if your trees are large enough to sell is by wrapping your arms around the tree, if you can't not touch your finger tips or can barley touch them, you most likely have a large enough tree to sell. 

With all species in Ohio with any Sawmill - a grade log is a log 14" and diameter on its small end or the upper end going up the tree. 

So Timber buyers are looking for trees that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd log in the tree will be at least 14" to have grade logs all the way up the tree.

Answer:

A quick test landowners can use to determine if your trees are large enough to harvest is to wrap your arms around the tree.

If you can not touch your fingertips or can barley touch them,  you most likely have a large enough tree to sell.

In allmost all species of Timber in Ohio,

 a Grade Log must be at least 14" on the small end. 

So what Timber buyers are looking for is a tree that has logs 14" and bigger for the 1st , 2nd and 3rd Logs. 

It is also a misconception that Timber Companies want huge trees and you want to let your woods grow to be enormous! 

Throughout the industry there's a say " BIG TREES BIG PROBLEMS "! 

In short basically means that when a Timber buyer is evaluating these large trees they will typically bid carefully for numerous reasons because  through their experience they have learned the larger the tree the bigger the chance cut bad! Having holes in the butt , shake or decay and they also know these large trees are can be dangerous for the loggers to cut and extremelylabor intensive to cut without damaging other trees with the extremely large crown tops and are harder on the equipment to get the out of the woods and on the trucks. 

Another key not is over the years sawmills have went to Bandmills with thin blades and these mills can not handle the large logs. So it is better to cut you Timber before they get to these large diameters.

Answer:

A FORESTRY BASED LOGGING COMPANY- Has an extensive background in Ohio Forestry Management and can expertly mark your timberlot using professional Forestry techniques and accurately evaluate your Standing Timbers overall health, Vigor, maturity and marketable value and help you make a wise management decision that best meets your exact needs and wil handle each and every aspect of the Logging and Timber selling process from start to finish and will ensure each job is completed to Ohio's BMP standard ! Protecting your land and future valuable up and coming Timber crops from being damaged.

Answer:

A  private Forester typically will charge you 15% of the total Gross sale of your Standing Timber. They will come in and mark your Timberlot and make a detailed inventory list the put the Standing Timber up for bids and typically the highest bidder will get the job. 

HOWEVER!  IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND! 

We have noticed Foresters over the years over marking woods to get the gross value up to get a bigger paycheck! An average select cut would be approximately 6 -8 trees an acre depending on the trees size and the crown or tops of the trees size.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE PART OF THE SALE!

IF You use and higher a Forester it is extremely important to be a part of the SALE! 

Over the years we have noticed the Forester working with companies and getting kick backs from these companies! 

How to know if your Forester is doing his job?

As good practices a Private Forester should ALWAYS - Give every landowner a detailed  inventory list of each Trees marked its species, estimated board feet the grades of the trees and approximately how much veneer was estimate in each species and they should as well give you a list of top paying Master Logging Companies in your area ! so that you can directly mail out bid sheets to as many companies as you'd like!

This is your right !

 They are your Trees and it is always in your best interests to do this if you choose to use a Forester!

If they do not give you you bid sheets and companies to send them to they are most likely working with companies for a kick back!

  I would highly recommend voiding your contract with them immediately ! This is unfortunately a growing problem we have noticed over the past 10 years.

Answer:

Most people don't know this but most sawmills in Ohio typically only specialize in 1 or 2 species! So they may pay well for those 2 species however pay little on other species.

Another important factor is most mills have very little Forestry background experience and over the years most mills sub contract out the cutting and skidding of the Timber they buy! Unfortunately this often leads to rushed work and excessive damage!

Answer:

Over the past 7 or 8 years there has been a tremendous amount of pop up Logging Companies! These companies lack the proper experience to accurately evaluate your timber and often have very little to no Forestry Management experience. They just see your trees as a paycheck and often will over marking and cut woods setting the woodlot back 20 to 30 years and damaging valuable future timber crops!