got some storm downed logs by the skin of my teeth! CURLY MAPLE PICS!

[Kelvin]

Well, my urban logging went a little better today.  A tornado ripped through a small town to the east of us.  It killed some folks and ripped up a bunch of houses, but a million tree service guys descended on the town to get the trees off the housed and wires.  The town was blocked by cops, but i was driving my orange crane truck and the wave me through with the contractors.  Of course most of the trees that came down were 100 yr old + trees with rotten parts, but some nice ones were being blocked up nice and small by the tree guys.  I had called the department of public works but they were too busy.  I surveyed the damage and left my cards on a bunch of trees in the city park that were promising.  I didn't want to bug the city guys over the weekend so i called today.  They thought it would be allright if i cut some trees up to remove.  When i got there, there were 100 guys with chainsaws going whacko!  (disclaimer, i do exagerate for effect.  There were probably 20 some guys, and they weren't really whacko, just trying to get some wood)  Where do these guys come from?  We must have a treasure trove.  I saw chainsaws older than i've ever seen before.  Well needless to say we were able to fenagle a couple of walnuts, 2 big ash (oh, well) and bunch of really big spruce.  A bunch of the spruce had been randomly cut 1/2 way through about 4' up form the stump, so 2 trees lost a good butt log.  People were really running around and "tagging" trees by cutting on them.  Well, i guess the wood will be taken care of pretty quickly.  I'm glad i called today, b/c about 10 mins after i got there some pretty big outfits showed up with 10 chainsaws and spread out cutting away.  I think i would have missed my 24"+ walnut log.  Made my day.  Course nobody wanted the pine to burn, but they make excellent tests for cutting!  Now i have 50 soft maple logs and a bunch of urban lumber to cut this week.  Phew!  What a day.
KP

[Left Coast Chris]

Any pics of the haul?

[Kelvin]

 Okay, i went out an took some photos.  The two little piles are what i got from the storm.  You can kinda tell what is the walnut.  Also some big pieces of spruce and a couple of ash logs.  The other pile shows the 50 so soft maple logs i bought from a neighbors woodlot.  Paid about  $.25-$.35 depending on how well i cut it, and how much of it i cut.  I may let some lay to spalt.  It should be a few thousand bd ft. and i don't have anywhere to go with it yet.  Local price on sel and bet, kiln dried soft maple is $1.19 delievered.  Can't believe its so low, but i have a feeling this price, which was given to me by a local cabinet maker is for large quantity and not selected for color, and probably not wider than 6".  Still very cheap for what i would make. 

[Kelvin]

Well here are some more pics of what i've found inside some of those logs!  This sure makes you feel better after getting  beat up by life for awhile.  Refreshing to find some buried treasure!  Now to find people like Daren has who are willing to pay $15 a bd ft for curly maple!

 

[Daren]

Nice find Kelvin ...it ain't going anywhere, the $15. bft guy will find you eventually (DON'T sell it for less). That is actually better looking stock than I get that for. How wide are they, that adds to the value for some of my customers ? If you don't have anyone local those boards should tear Ebay up (run one up the flag pole and see who salutes, better yet 2 in a book) I have sold lesser stock for $17.50 bft there.

Business stuff aside, as a figured wood lover, that is nice looking stuff. I am glad for you, and of course abit jealous but I hope you have a few more in that pile

[Dan_Shade]

those do look good

[Kelvin]

Thanks guys.  Daren, those are probably 8" wide as they are all quarter sawn.  I tend to quarter saw a lot of stuff as it seems to be the only thing that people can't find around here.  I've sold stuff similar, little less figure for $4.80 locally before.  I hope i can do better with this.  We have some 10" and down to 5" but ave. 6"-8".  I like the ray fleck in maple and cherry.  Its really nice when it comes together with the curl.
See ya,
KP

[metalspinner]

Very Nice!  Good score!

Period furniture makers would love to get their hands on that. Curly maple highboy's.

[WDH]

That is some beautiful curly maple.

[Left Coast Chris]

WOW!

Very nice maple.........might check into guitar makers and saw some for them.  The Grizzly Cataloge prices for guitar parts are quite high.  Maybe they would buy some from you?

[farmerdoug]

Check it out with Getoverit.  He is looking for quartersaw wood.

Nice wood, It makes all of the trouble worth it sometimes, doesn' it.

Farmerdoug

[Todd]

Kelvin...congrats!!

I'm glad it came to you...seems to take forever sometimes, don't it?

[Kcwoodbutcher]

Aren't you glad you didn't let that lay around to spalt?

[Ed]

You did good Kelvin and you have a nice whack-o-logs to cut up.

I do think you are being overly optimistic on the value of the Maple. It's Soft Maple (Silver Maple) not Hard Maple. It sometimes will get a little more per board ft than "plain" boards but sure as heck not $15.00 board ft.

I pay the same for curly or plain Soft Maple at my lumber source.

Ed

[Daren]

I pay the same for curly or plain Soft Maple at my lumber source.

Ed

Oh for Pete's sake Ed...don't say that too loud  . Watcha trying to do run me out of business ?  (or is your supplier trying to run himself out of business  , who would not charge more for figured wood) O.K. I will bite, what do you pay for curly maple ? From the sounds of it I need to head north with a trailer and a pocket full of cash. Who is selling for $3.00 bft (even soft) curly maple...I am buying 

[Ed]

I get lumber from a small local mill that makes solid paneling and flooring. They usually don't sell lumber. It's worth much more as a finished product, $3.00 a lineal foot for 6" wide paneling. They were nice enough to sell me some curly soft maple a while back out of some lumber they had run for themselves. It was less than $3.00 a bd/ft 

Attached pic is a cabinet door I made with it. Sorry about the flash refelection. 



Ed

[Daren]

sure as heck not $15.00 board ft.

Kelvin and I have talked about this in private, since we are talking about it in the open...I don't get $15.00 for 6" wide boards. I get it for 24" wide ones.
Recession in Michigan or not (It is heading this way, I can feel it in the breeze, slow summer here really at the mill) I would never sell curly maple for less than $5 bft-EVER. $10 bft is more realistic...if you have the customers and I do. If I lose them, I can find more just as easy.
You all do what you want to/have to to keep the lights on. I kid around alot, but was dead serious about buying your "market depressed" curly maple for $3 bft if it looks like the stuff in Kelvins pictures.

I got into figured lumber because I could not compete with local kiln dried oak for $1.50 bft (or less). If the $ of curly woods gets cut because of everyone dumping market depressed lumber on the market for 1/2 price...obviously that hurts my pocket book 

[Ed]

I can see you getting a premium for material like that. Not a problem there.
It is rather misleading when Kelvin's picture shows a board that appears to be 10" or so wide (nothing to gage size by) and then states you get big $$$$$$$ for the same material with no other explanation.
I'm not bashing anyones ability to find a niche market and sucessfully tap into it.

The link will get you to Johnson's Lumber price list, curly soft maple is on the second page, upper left corner. They aren't that far from Kelvin, so IMHO they would be considered his competition.

http://www.theworkbench.com/pdf/current.pdf

Ed

[Daren]

IMHO they would be considered his competition.

Ed

Ok, I would agree. They are his "competition". They are getting $10.43 bft for select curly soft maple. I would think clear/quarter sawn with that curl in the pictures would fall into that range  ... I am no lumber grader, but my customers would as well (that is the bottom line really)
But you mentioned niche, that is what I am. Sawmilling is a portion of my operation, I do not make a living solely on it. I could not with a $5000 manual mill. I saw what I get, sell what I saw. If I have to sit on it for awhile to get my price, no problem. My stuff is long paid for.

[SwampDonkey]

Curly red maple in log form is worth a lot more than $3 a board foot and our timber up here is not unusually large. As you know we are on the edge of the hardwood range. 'Special' figure buyers come to the marketing board yard and scale and pay on the spot for the logs. One fellow goes all over the place finding figured wood. Curly red maple isn't worth as much as yellow birch curl or rock maple curl, but it's in the $6/bf range. We had one rock maple with bird's eye, I forget the exact dimensions now. But, keep in mind a 40" dbh, sound, small heart, rock maple is rare in these parts. That log was worth $1500 cash on the spot at the woodlot owner's yard. 


Another thing that baffles me is why Miller Veneers drives half way across the continent for logs, not exceptionally large, for upwards of $6000/mbfm. They must be driving through millions of acres of hardwood to get here. Do your States have laws against transporting logs across State lines? It's not meant as a joke really, we cannot transport logs from crown lands out of the province, must go through some type of value added process. That could even include chipping.