# Pecan lumber value



## kls

I'm doing a construction project on my house and have 4 nice pecan trees that unfortunately need to come down. The trunks are each 2-3 feet in diameter and some people have suggested that the lumber might be valuable for furniture making. I'm wondering if I might be able to offset the cost of having the trees removed by finding a sawmill or arborist who would like to take the wood for lumber. Does this sound like an idea worth looking into? And if so, are there any recommendations on how to go about it? I'm located in Charlotte, NC. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


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## Nomad62

Pecan is quite hard to dry without a lot of movement and splits, but what you get from it is well worth the cost and trouble; it can be absolutely beautiful. It takes a lot of patience to work with as well, it is hard and tempermental. If you can find a local sawyer who will slice it up at a decent rate I would deem this a wonderful opportunity. I'd do it for you but Oregon's a mile or three too far from you ;-)


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## Jeff28078

Pecan/hickory is, in my opinion, a beautiful wood. I did my kitchen cabinets and a roll top desk out of it. If it was already cut and dried I'd take it all. Do a Charlotte Craigslist search for David's Sawmill. He's in Rock Hill and will cut your trees into lumber. Not sure if he can arrange to get them to his mill, though. Good luck.


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## HerbC

You will find that most (just about all…) sawmills will not pay anything significant for your trees. Yard trees frequently have metal in them and it just isn't worth it for the mills to pay for your logs (they don't do the logging themselves so you would need to take care of that aspect by doing it yourself or hiring a tree service/arborist to fell the trees, cut them into sawlog lengths and transport to the mill…)

Pecan is a beautiful wood but many people find it very hard to work with. It frequently dries poorly with a lot of distortion during the process. The dried wood is very hard and often quite beautiful if you can successfully work it.

You might want to pay a sawmill to mill the logs into lumber for you and try to dry it yourself.

Another great use would be as a "smoking" wood for bar-b-quing…

Good Luck!

Be Careful!

Herb


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## WDHLT15

I just sawed 1500 BF of pecan. As timber, the value is about $30 a ton on the stump at most. That is about $250/thousand BF. Not a whole lot. If they are yard trees, as has been stated, there is 100% probability that they have metal in them, and no one will likely pay you anything for them.

Sawn into lumber and air dried, it can be worth $3.00/BF or $3000/thousand BF. BUT….........it is a lot of work!! I think that it is worth it, and I also agree with the advice to have a local sawyer saw it into boards for you to use or to sell to other local woodworkers. There is one sawyer in Rock Hill that I know of, and if you decide to go this route, send me a message and I will try to hook you up.


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## doughbowlmaker

...pecan is graded the exact same as hickory in NC where I live. It can be some pretty wood but is rough on saw blades and if you'll notice where there's heavy logging - they normally (at least in my area) leave the hickorys standing.
The threat of them having nails in them would discourage a sawmill regardless of the type of wood…


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## Burl_Eric

Watch this video and consider again.





 HalDougherty posted it here on LJs recently.

Get a measurement AROUND the tree at 3'-4' and let me know what that number is.

I get a lot of calls about Pecan logs and their value. I have sold only one Pecan log and it was 14' long and 40" across. I don't see a lot of demand, if any for the lumber. The price is just not usually worth it.

If you would use the wood yourself and want to go through the cost, drying time and work, it may be worth it. I don't think it's a money making opportunity.

Just my 2 cents.


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