The price of BEECH in the south east

Smcobb0922 · January 10, 2017, 08:09:29 PM

The piece of land my wife and I are just bought is covered in beautiful huge beech trees I'm talking 25"-36" butt cuts and I read on one of the older forums that beech could bring $8 bf so I guess I'm asking is what kind of market is there for Beech in the south east.....and as always thank you for help

WV Sawmiller · January 10, 2017, 09:19:40 PM

S922,

Good luck. I rarely see beech in the sizes you describe that aren't hollow. I love beech for wildlife trees as they provide a preferred food for many animals and they provide great den trees since so many get hollow so quickly. I cut some fallen beech trees a couple of years for firewood and they were without a doubt the hardest wood I even tried to split. Wedges would just bounce out before cutting into the wood. I have not tried to saw any yet.

dustyhat · January 10, 2017, 09:45:50 PM

Mine go mostly in ties but i have sawed some exceptional beech lumber, .50 cents a foot best market i could find in my area of Ky.

nativewolf · January 10, 2017, 10:59:43 PM

You'd have to have a crazy niche market to get $8/bd ft. Common to get that size through central Peidmont into Appalachia. In fact on many clearcuts it was something that often ended up in the burn piles or in slash rows until the chip market for fuels developed. In short, not a huge market that I know of.

Good tie wood, flooring, et all. Nice tough lumber.

Earlier post by WV Sawmiller is spot on about what a great wildlife mast tree, preferred mast for turkey, bear, deer, tree rats, etc. Great great tree. Very neat effect on the understory due to leaf litter choking out competition. About the only thing to come up under a beech forest is more beech (some understory trees also survive- holly, dogwood, etc) so a beech forest looks nice. Wives like them in my experience.

Magicman · January 11, 2017, 08:18:32 AM

A couple of nice Beech logs.

This was sawn for hobby wood. I QS the center boards out and then rift sawed the 4 quarters on the butt log.

Smcobb0922 · January 11, 2017, 08:35:27 AM

Well gents it would appear that I somehow misread the post that I saw......I guess that's kind of like assuming something once again I appreciate the unending wealth of knowledge here and helping keep a sometimes over ambitious jarhead in check

nativewolf · January 11, 2017, 10:13:22 AM

Great trees, you'll enjoy the shade and wildlife for years even if you never mill any of it. If you do start milling it and figure it out you might find that you can get all the beech you want for very little and maybe make a good niche market for yourself (tie's, truck decks, etc). Enjoy them

4x4American · January 11, 2017, 10:49:42 PM

Beech hardly pays anything up here. I can get $650/mbf for sel/btr beech grade lumber and $615/mbf as a tie. It is great firewood and its tough wood. I would rather keep them standing than on the ground for the wildlife. I have over 10mbf of beech in my yard right now, some 2' plus diameter logs that are beautiful. They're all going to tie and pallet stock. It's a shame but it is what it is. I enjoy cutting it

Engineer · January 12, 2017, 09:50:50 AM

Hey Doug if you would be willing to quartersaw a couple of those bigger beech logs, I would be interested in buying it from you green (and cheap? ;) ). Hate to see that go to ties and pallets. I used beech for some shelving, trim and cabinet accents in my house and it is beautiful wood. PM me if you're agreeable to that idea?

To the OP - I agree with the others - don't cut it unless you have a good use for it. Beech is a great tree to have in the forest, it is self-regenerating (roots), makes for fantastic firewood (better BTU's than oak) and makes great lumber if quartered. It has ray flecks like white oak but very tight - maybe closer to sycamore. Also a very attractive yellow-pink color. Great for butcher blocks and cutting boards as it imparts no taste or odor. A part of the building I work in dates back to the 1870's and I think it has a beech floor.