# can i sell my black walnut trees?



## angelobw (Jul 9, 2009)

Hi I live in northern california and have about 80 black walnut trees on my property. Does anyone here know how much they may be worth or where I can find out how much they're worth? I know the price may very depending on size of tree etc. but is there some kind of 'kelly blue book' of black walnut trees in california?

Thanks,

Angelo


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

I can't speak for California, but here in upstate New York they would be worth big money. I'm sure some of the folks here will be able to tell you more. How tall, fat and straight are they?


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## gagewestern (Mar 24, 2009)

hi www.woodweb.com would be a good site to find info


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## Boardman (Feb 7, 2008)

I don't know about CA, but I imagine it's not much different from here in the midwest. People with a walnut tree mistakenly think they're sitting on a gold mine of valuable lumber. This isn't the case.

There's a lot of labor involved in taking a tree down and disposing of the the unusable portions. The main trunk is the only part that's suitable for lumber. All the branches have significant stress in them from bearing all the weight. As soon as it's cut along the length, the stress is relieved and the board turns into a banana. Even in the main trunk, there's a lot of sapwood which is not good as lumber.

Once you've gone thru all the work of taking it down, it has to be taken to a sawmill to be cut into boards. Then it has to be either air dried for over a year, or taken to a kiln - more labor and cost. In short, here in the midwest you still have to pay to have the tree taken down and the sawyer gets to keep the lumber derived from it.

If you have 80 LARGE trees someone may offer some amount of money, but don't expect to get rich.


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

Website: http://www.calurbanlumber.com they are in california..and can tell you everything you want to know…good luck..


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## rob2 (Nov 27, 2007)

There are a number of folks in Northern California that deal with walnut. Do an internet search and investigate. It should be well worth your time.


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## sw_iowa_sawyer (Feb 25, 2009)

Angelo

When this subject comes up and it does quite often you will usually get two types of responses. The first one is that they are worth gabillions of dollars and the second one is they are really worth next to nothing. I can't speak for California walnut but in Iowa the typical walnut tree is worth whatever the current lumber market stump price is. The current market for non veneer walnut lumber is not real good ( again don't know anything about California walnut) so may not be the best time to sell. If, and it is a huge if. you have veneer quality logs then the price can be very good again depending on log size. The last sale I had knowledge of was mostly lumber logs and they brought around a buck a bdft. A good veneer log may bring two or three times that during good times. So I guess both opinions have a small amount of truth in them, you can make money but you probably aren't going to end up a bazillionaire. The most important thing and I can't stress this enough…. CONTACT A STATE FORESTER and have him/her (political correctness ) help you with your sale. If you fail to do that you may end up getting taken advantage of as sometimes does happen when people do things that they don't have knowledge in (some folks will take advantage of your lack of knowledge in lumber sales and current prices) That is why again I will say CONTACT A STATE FORESTER.

Free advise given is worth what you paid for it (but I hope if you do decide to sell you CONTACT A STATE FORESTER and maybe just maybe make some nice cash (although at current tax rates they may have somewhat of dampening effect on your windfall)

Good Luck


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## mtkate (Apr 18, 2009)

Ack. Hope you are not planning to cut down a nice forest!


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

i will buy any trees you want to have removed they are worth about a dollar per board foot from what ever we yield how big are the trees


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## TheWoodsman (Jun 21, 2010)

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT contact lumber companies or loggers directly about selling these trees. They will not give you top dollar unless they know that they are competing against others. The best way to do this is to hire a consulting forester. They will inventory the trees based on size/footage and quality and invite companies to bid on the trees. The sales I've observed have been sealed bids but the prices achieved exceeded expectations so much that the foresters fee was well worth it.

Not sure about the market for western walnut right now but market prices in the midwest are pretty low right now so I would consider putting off the sale until market conditions are better.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

The time is right (at least here in WV, given the economy) to have a portable mill come to your property. You want to find a hungry millowner with a good local reputation. You'll need a place to sticker and dry your new lumber else you're looking at big bucks to rent kiln time. I have a similar situation on my property. I pitched the plan to my fiance' to pour a foundation, buy a mill, cut and sticker the wood on the foundation, then build on it once the wood was dry. She crunched the math and I wouldn't even come out even.


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## dbray45 (Oct 19, 2010)

Around here it can cost upt to 25 cents bdft to have a mill come in and cut it. Becareful about shipping the boards anyplace if it is not kiln dried, have it inspected first. There are too many bugs out there to be sharing. Walnut, so I am told, has a bug now.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

^I'll help Cr1 rid you of that eyesore


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

dbray45 is right check with your state ag dept as to there being a freeze on the movement of walnut right now. It was in the wood working news the other day.
The USDA confirmed some bug in PA.


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## schuft (Apr 6, 2011)

Some great ideas have been posted. Now here's a super crazy dumb idea: Harbor Freight sells a portable 280cc saw mill for $2500. You could harvest and mill those babies yourself! You'd have an almost endless supply of western walnut! Think of how much gas money you'd save not having to haul walnut back from your lumber supplier! You'd save thousands of dollars! Well, hundreds maybe. Enough for a bagel and cream cheese?

Hey, I said it was a super crazy dumb idea.


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## vernonator (Feb 21, 2011)

Did you guys look at the age of this post berfore you replied? He posted it 775 DAYS ago…and it was his one and only post. He and his trees are LONG gone…..


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

good point….............................................


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## TheKingInYellow (Sep 25, 2008)

This is a lot of responses to a 2 year old thread


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

He probably cut them down, got caught by some tree huggers, turned into the epa and is serving a life term for disposing of his own trees.


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## Cozmo35 (Feb 1, 2010)

8.00 a bf in Dallas


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

cr1, I don't think we're getting any logs.


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## angelobw (Jul 9, 2009)

I haven't cut down the tree or sold them yet. I'm just letting them grow. The price is increasing and the trees are getting bigger. I'm not sure how to go about selling them and I have a small business to run.


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## angelobw (Jul 9, 2009)

yeah this is a very old post lol.. but I haven't done anything about these old black walnut trees….


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

how big are the trees do you have photos i just bought a hundred bf from pa and am having it shipped to ca


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## angelobw (Jul 9, 2009)

~100 8-10 inches black walnut trees.
I just shot this video:


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## angelobw (Jul 9, 2009)

Our property will look like crap without them.. I probably won't sell them.


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## greg48 (Nov 7, 2010)

Angelo,
I do not believe that walnut trees require a "state" forester or Licensed Forester to develop plans for the harvest of your trees. However, a local licensed forester will be able to guide you in formulating an inventory, appraisal, and help you in selling them for a fair market value. It won't cost you a dime to make an initial contact. The "state" forester "CDF" can only advise you of the pertinent local and state regulations. He/she cannot (should not) refer you to any particular licensed forester.
Give it a try, you have nothing to loose and you do not have to clear-cut your walnut grove unless your converting to a different use.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

Angelo your trees will be marketable in about 100 years they are far too small to cut they would yield a tiny amount of lumber no my friend i suggest you do speak with cdf as i am resending my offer it is a nice grove and will really be harvest able in about 100 years sorry here is a tree planted in 1860 it stopped producing nuts and was then ready for harvest before it began to die and rot







when your trees are this size and stop producing nuts they are ready to harvest

not i repeat not before this stage of life to destroy a young stand like yous would be morally wrong i wont do it most decent loggers wont do it


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## Schwieb (Dec 3, 2008)

There's not as much useable wood in those trees as you might think. You might harvest a couple of them and see what the quality of the wood is. I'm betting you'll find more sapwood than you want. By the time you square up these short logs, you'll be lucky to have a couple of 1×6's. Looks to me like they need about 25 to 50 more years.


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## bravozulu (Aug 10, 2011)

Angelo, I live in Trinity County. Two lumber mills within a mile or so from my front door.

In the 530 area code, call Schmidbauer Lumber. They probably have a website. Trees are worth money. Hardwoods, more so.

Gary


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

Hey thedude50 that looks like one they took down by my office on the esplanade in Chico two weekends ago. Probably planted by John Bidwell himself LOL


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

ya it was about 6 months ago i got the photo from this guy who saws logs for me when i buy a tree or two he sold that wood for close to 100k the center slab went to Microsoft for a board room table it weighed in at 800 pounds or so wow what a desk i wish i had the room to have a desk like that then tree was up near you in the north valley above sac and not to far from you i think he said it was 180 years old or something like that do you know who cut the wood and who is sawing it


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

I dont know who cut or sawed it. I saw them sizing it up. It was huge. There are about 8 more in a row in front of North State imaging. They were pruned badly (topped) at some point and are in the process of dying.

The city auctions the trees off. There are trees around town that have "Property of butte county" plaques on them because they have huge burls. There are many thousands of them. The City doesn't plant trees like that any more though. They grow too big. I think it was a Victorian Era thing to plant Black Walnut as street trees. I'll snap a pic of a couple tomorrow and post

Scot Wineland harvests walnut trees around here but he sells blanks for rifle stocks not so much for lumber. Kinda pricey too.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

ill have to get info on those auctions


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

do you know how to get into the auction do i need a bond


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

PM'd you a link


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## tom427cid (Aug 21, 2011)

True,True
Last logs I had milled it was $15 per tooth if we hit metal,not to mention all the logistics(read hassle) to borrow a trailer,load the logs,get them to the mill,load the boards back on the trailer,set up place to air dry,cut stickers,cover it,etc the only good thing that happened was his helper didn't show up and I tailed the boards and best of all we didn't hit any metal.He knocked a nickle a foot off the price. The lumber was worth all the hassle.
tom


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