A lot of cedar

[Don R]

I was approached by a local guy who has a pile of cedar. It is about 300 ft long, and about 15 ft. high. It has been down for about a year, and it is piled as it was dropped. the leaves are all gone but the trees are untrimmed. All the branches are still on the trees. I can have it all if I come and take what I want, He will burn what is left. I can use some cedar, and would like to take the logs. My question is, do you think it is worth the time and effort to dig through this pile trimming the logs out, and hauling them home, or am I wasting a lot of time on a low yield project. Man, It's a big pile that I will have to seperate with my tractor to start trimming. Thanks for any advice. Don

[Tom]

If the logs are of any size, and are Eastern Red Cedar or Southern Red Cedar,  the hearts, at least, should be good.  Take anything that will square six inches. 

Someone who is into Rustic furniture making could take the whole thing and make everything from chairs and picture frames to cedar chests and house trim.  He probalby wouldnt' leave a stick.  Even the little pieces make drawer pulls and door  handles.

What you take depends on your imagination and capabilities as a builder or whether you have a market for the boards.  To saw only stuff less than six inch wide is quite time consuming.

You can consider things like Cedar chips if you aren't into sawing it all.  Rent a chipper and bag the stuff.  Somebody will buy it.

[Furby]

ERC ???
I would take something at least.
Actually, I'd probly take as much as I could!  ;D ;D ;D

[isawlogs]

 I think that only the very top ones that the sun beet down on might be cracked a little . If you are not paying for the wood  I would take all that I could , all of it that would make at least 4X4 , thats if you have space to put the logs ... that will make a lot of logs , alot of handling but only time and gas and or fuel , you could end up making some good money with this . the logs will last a long time . I have sawn some EWC that was down for 5 years and it was still good , only took a heavy slab to get past the weather checks and came out with very nice wood . Actually if you do have room to store it I would even get some poles for fencing ... and cut some fence post while I was at it ...  There is a market for it all .

[macdon]

Cedar up our way sells for $1.00/fbm.  wish someone would offer me a pile like that. I just bought 33 logs 8 ft mim 8" small end $13.00  each delivered. You could make a few $ with that pile.  I sawed cedar that was down for a long time. It is usually still good In fact the color is a lot deeper makes great lawn furniture.   Don

[Part_Timer]

Salvage what you feel you can.  Anything you can make use of is better than letting it burn up. Hate to see the burn piles blazing.

[Daren]

I would jump on it. Dig out what you think is worth sawing. From a post I made earlier I hear it can lay for a long time (years), if you have a place to pile it you may not have to hunt for cedar for awhile (like I am). If you have equipment to get to what you need (skidsteer, loader) and a way to haul it it sounds like found money to me. Other guys will post on this, but even the "waste" is not waste, it would be a shame to burn it. Really that is an great situation if he is going to burn it anyway, you don't even have to clean up after yourself. Dress the logs and pile the limbs back, sure beats felling and skidding or having to haul the limbs off yourself if you can't burn onsite. Good luck.

[Gipper]

Don R

As someone aleady said, there is no waste to cedar!  Sawed some for my wifes' uncle last summer.  In addition to giving me half the lumber, he made us a couple of chairs during the winter, that he could have easily sold for 250.00-300.00 each.  The slabs are now stacked and drying for rustic furniture projects.  When I sawed it, I placed tarps under the discharge chute.  The sawdust was bagged and later used in doggie bedding and scattered in the dog lot.  He didn't bring the limbs, but at the Paul Bunyon Show last fall, I saw rustic furniture made from cedar limbs and slabs - very beautiful stuff, and expensive. :D  This fall he is bringing another load - I asked him if he would bring some of the better limbs also.

The ones not big enough to saw might make good fence posts.  Could have sold a bunch of them last week if I had had them.  My advice would be, if you have a place to store it, take it all, including some of the best limbs.  Cedar will store a long time without a great deal of damage.  If it were me, I would have done been haulin' it home! ;D