[Trainee Farmer Ted]

Hi everyone,

Got an overcrowded mini plantation of about 70 Scots Pine trees, between 40 and 50ft tall, ranging in trunk diameter between 6" and 12" At the very least they need seriously thinning out, but I am inclined to have them down (and replant some new ones) as they are right where I would like to put up a new shed.

Would they have any value??

[bloomer]

depends on how easy they would be to cut and clean up for the timber trade...


its possibly too few to be worth having cut commercially


remember depends where you are even on your own land you may need a permit to cut them down (theres a limit to what you can cut each year)

[Trainee Farmer Ted]

I could (safely!) get them down

[bloomer]

if your anywhere near a sawmill it might be worth having a chat with them see if they want them

[Trainee Farmer Ted]

Would you care to estimate a ballpark figure?  I have absolutely no idea what if anything they might sell for. Or could I make them into fenceposts or something?

[VEG]

You may well need a felling licence

[FiB]

As raw timber ( trunks cut into 10 ft lengths) I paid 40 for a large trailer 15x8x6 ft full. I think softwood gets abot £20 / tonne.  ( and I vaguely remember my chainsaw instructor shocking me with the economics of commercial forestry ( not very many pence profit per stem.... Of course if you are harvesting, removing and transporting yourself....   We have similar and use ourself for various projects and firewood. Have you thought of planking them yourself if you have a need for animal shelters etc? Granfor (??) Alaskan chainsaw mill is brilliant.

[Treud na Mara]

Evening Farmer Ted,
We are hoping to put up a reciprocal-roof-frame round house as a goat house and if you are anywhere near us we would bite your hand off for 20 of your cut trees! And I'm sure we could negotiate a price. We currently buy 2m length logs and pay £28 per cubic metre from our local community forest. Apart from using this for firewood OH has used it to build animal shelters and also straining posts for tree exclosure fencing to protect newly planted trees for about 10 years. They will rot but should last long enough for the trees to get going.

Hi everyone,

Got an overcrowded mini plantation of about 70 Scots Pine trees, between 40 and 50ft tall, ranging in trunk diameter between 6" and 12" At the very least they need seriously thinning out, but I am inclined to have them down (and replant some new ones) as they are right where I would like to put up a new shed.

Would they have any value??

[Trainee Farmer Ted]

Cheers, thanks for the offer!

I have looked on a map, we are about 620 miles south east of you. It would be closer to get some from Norway if you had a boat!

I quite like the idea of recycling them myself into fence posts or a building but was concerned that particularly for fencing they might not last very long against commercially treated timber.

[bloomer]

traditional rustic log cabin as maybe a shed or something,


i always fancied building one of them!!!

[spandit]

Whereabouts in the country are you, Ted? You can ask over on Arbtalk - they will have a better idea

[shygirl]

iv used untreated trunks as posts, some last and some dont depends on the type of wood.

[pgkevet]

http://www.woodsolutions.com.au/Wood-Species/Scots-Pine

Listed as scotts pine = low durability 1-5yrs in the ground ; which is a shame.

Locals tell me that before concerns of toxicity and contaminations they used to boil up creosote, pitch and old engine oil and dip their fence posts into that.

Whether 70 trees is enough to justify McGivering some way to pressure treat is moot. It's probbalyw orth asking around in case there is a small saw-mill in travelling distance.

I've been clearing fence lines of fallen timber and frankly the effort to log, lug, cart and split and stack 20-30 tons of firewood would have me burning coal if i didn't have to tidy up anyway....

[Hamish Crofter]

If you were near me I'd pay you to let me cut them down and take them away!

[shygirl]

scots pines are very favourable with conservationists due to the wildlife they can support, compared to something like sycamore.