Dear Experts, Please help me in what I thought
would be a relatively simple search on the
computer.
Due to excessive leaning, caused by years of
less than professional trimming to clear lines
by PG&E, A very old Redwood tree on my property was
cut down a few weeks ago.
There has been much discussion as to how old
the tree is and I would very much appreciate the
formula you use in determining the age of Redwood.
the other question I have is as it was cut into 5
large pieces, each approximately 12-15 feet long,
what is a fair assessment of the value of this wood
should, for example , I wish to sell one piece,
as is , that measured 2ftwide and 12ft high?
Should you be able to answer these questionsd or
provide formulas by which I could answer them myself
it would be greatly appreciated.
Or perhaps you are aware of some place that this information is readily available
the location of which you might divulge to me.
Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Kelly Marumoto
408-294-2149

Reply to post by Kelly Marumoto, on August 18, 2000 at 13:12:36:

Determining age of a tree is straight forward, count the rings, sometimes a microscope is needed. I ball park it by making two or tree one inch counts and then averaging.

As for sawlog value, the dia. measurment is made on the _small_ end, inside the bark. A board foot is 12x12x1in thick, to figure bf in a 4ft log (.22*d2)-(.71xd).

Say there is 300bf in the log and they are paying $.10/bf at the mill. Your log is worth $30 delivered.

There in lies the rub, even if you can find a sawmill that will buy urban logs, how do you get it there? Many tree companies look into this. Large sawmills wont touch urban/homestead logs dur to meatal contamination. It ruins the saw and stains the wood.

One of the companies I currently work for has a portable mill, we don't buy logs but will pick them up for a fee or allow them to be dumped in our lot.

The reason for this is that people want their lumber finishd and/or kiln dried and/or graded. "I'll take all the hard maple in 6/4 you have if it is s2s, kd and #1 white for $2.00/bf."