Measuring and Grading Timber – A Master Class
Have you ever had a child challenge you to a new game he had created. As you play, you discover you can’t win because of all the unwritten rules the child makes-up as you play so he is sure to win.
Well, selling timber seems like that kind of game because timber buyers try to play by the rules they create for their advantage. This segment will help you with actual rules, and so, help you make more money.
Let’s start with timber terminology and how timber is measured and graded. It is essential to understand these common terms when negotiating with timber buyers.
1. Log trim – all logs cut for sawmills require 4 – 6” additional length per log length. This is allows for waste while cutting
2. Sawlog – a standard 16 ft timber log
3. ½ sawlog – a standard 8 ft. timber log
4. Log Lengths – for hardwoods (oak, maple, walnut, cherry, etc.) logs are bucked at even lengths of 8’, 10’, 12’, 14’, and 16’. However, some saw mills will accept cherry logs of 9’.
5. Standing or Stumpage Timber – marketable trees standing in the woods.
6. Veneer Logs – Best grade of logs. Less than 2% of your merchant grade logs.
7. Log Grades – log cut and grade by length, diameter, and number of defects on the log.
8. DBH – Diameter Breast Height of 4 ½ feet, taken on the uphill side of the tree.
9. Timber Tree Scale – a scale to determine the number of board feet in a standing tree based upon tree’s diameter at DBH and the number of saw logs.
10. Timber Cruising – taking samples of tree measurements in the woods and estimating total volume.
11. Pulpwood – can either be sold by volume or weight.
12. International Tree and Log Scales – the measuring scales the Forest Service uses to determine board feet.
13. Doyle Tree and Log Scales – the measuring scale the forest industry uses to determine board feet.
14. DIB – the measurement of a log at the small end of the log, the measurement is the Diameter Inside the Bark.
15. Log Grade – a standard developed by the forest industry to determine the quality of a log. Log grades are based upon log length, diameter DIB, and the number of defects on the log.
16. Log Defects – all defects on the log. Such as knots, limbs (removed), frost cracks, holes, rot, all damage except bark removed.
The Forest Industry can be as intimidating as going to the computer tech to get your computer fixed. They talk fast and their fingers move like lightening. They don’t understand why we don’t know anything. However, there is help for us novices and it’s FREE!
The agricultural community has county extension offices, local/county Soil and Water District offices, State Regional Service Foresters, local and multi-county forestry organizations, and neighborhood tree farmers to help provide assistance. Individuals in the county and state offices will meet with you and help you learn the basics such as how to use a timber cruising stick to measure your timber. They also provide workshops with hands-on learning experiences.
However, with the C-19 shutdown, most of these services are shutdown or done only by phone. With the shutdown, you may need to take some action now because you have been laid off or lost your job. Maybe you need to make some income and a car just pulled up your driveway and the guy offered you $10,000 for your timber. Boy, you could use that right now! But stop a minute, remember that child’s game - who is going to win this one? Not you! Do you even know what you have standing in your woodlot and what it might be worth?
Thousands of landowners make this mistake every year and lose money (a lot of money) and lose their marketable timber for the rest of their life. This is where a consulting forester, even with his/her 10% fee, is worth his weight in gold.
In 1988, due to Ash Decline, my dad wanted to sell some timber. He was offered $22,000 (about $40,000 in today’s market) for his timber, cut at 16” diameter at 1 foot above the ground. Dad worked with a service forester and sold the timber for $86,000 ($160,000 in 2020 dollars), with nothing cut under 16” at DBA, not at ground level, preserving younger trees. Because he did this, we were able to have a timber sale in 2012 and are planning another on in 2025 or so, depending on timber prices.
So, how do we get started to determine your timber’s value?
1. Identify your property boundaries.
2. Identify tree species you may want to cut.
3. Figure the number of saw logs and determine the number of board feet per species.
4. Watch these 2 YouTube videos to learn how to determine board feet:
a. Measuring Standing Trees – University South Dakota Extension 4:34 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsQixpPC9tM
b. Tree Measurement – Alabama 4-H training video. 10:12 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kzuq6ecKI
5. You can purchase a timber cruising stick at your local Soil and Water District office. They generally will teach you how to use it to determine diameter, number of logs, and determine the board feet of a log.
6. I use a tape measure to determine the diameter. I measure around the trunk at 4.5’ DBH and divide by 3. Usually, trees are measured and then rounded down to the closest even number. For example, a 13” diameter tree would be rounded down to a 12” diameter tree.
7. To determine the number of sawlogs, you can make a pole of ¾” and ½” PVC pipe. Glue 10 ft sections together, cut another 5 ft section and glue it to the top pipe. Since we cut trees at one foot above the ground, mark the bottom of the pipe at 9 feet. And again at 17 feet. (This will let you see an 8 ft. sawlog or a 16 ft. sawlog.) With the pipe leaning against the trunk, you can measure 1 ½ sawlogs. If the tree truck is higher and you can raise the PVC pole straight up and measure 33 feet up. (16 ft. sawlog x2)
8. Another way is to measure a telephone pole and practice taking distance measurements. (66 ft works best) until you can estimate the number of sawlogs, whether full- or half-lengths.
9. Remember, a majority of trees in Appalachia don’t have more than 1 ½ grade saw logs. The remaining logs are blocking materials.
10. Now, with the diameter and number of sawlogs, you can use the log scale to determine the number of board feet.
11. In our area, we use either the International or Doyle Tree/Log Scale. The International Scale tends to grade out larger board feet for small diameter trees, while the Doyle scales out more board feet for larger diameter trees. Remember that these are estimates and not exact measurements. Here is a link to the Doyle tree scale:
12. Which scale you use and the number of total board feet will help the buyer determine how much money to pay for the timber.
13. By knowing your tree species and the number of board feet of each species, you can get a good estimate what your harvestable timber is worth. Get a timber price list from the sawmill and you can calculate the total value. This is the price you would receive if you delivered the cut sawlog to the sawmill yourself. Remember to use 40% of delivered price for standing timber. The other 60% is for harvesting and trucking, and the lower value of grade 2 and 3 logs.
14. A basic rule of thumb is the standing tree usually decreases in diameter every 16’ of length. So a 12” DBH (at 4 ½ feet) tree will generally be only 10” DIB at 17 ft above ground. Most mills don’t want logs smaller than 10”.
As I stated, the loggers and truckers get 60% of your timber value. So how do you get that value add-on for your timber? Are you capable of felling trees and limbing them? Do you have a way to haul the logs out of the woods and a possible way to get the logs to the sawmill? This is Value Add-On product. Let’s examine what it would take to tackle this adventure:
1. Are you proficient with a chain saw?
2. Do you have PPE and 2 good working chain saws AND a 35 HP or larger farm tractor?
3. Can you cut trees using the directional felling technique? This not only is for your safety but also helps to prevent the felling tree from splitting (‘Barber-chairing’). A split log is only good for firewood.
4. Do you have a way to load logs on a trailer or truck?
5. How far is a respectable sawmill? Not all sawmills are honest.
6. Do you understand the requirements of the sawmill for the logs?
a. Butt log trim 4” – 6” – 8”.
b. Length
c. Diameter size
d. Limb trimming
e. Species
f. Seasonal restrictions
g. Delivery times (8a-5p or 8a – 10a only)
7. Does the sawmill pickup at roadside for you? What do they charge or are they buying from you at roadside?
8. When will you be paid and do you have a written contract before the logs are loaded?
9. Know each species’ price before cutting!
When you decide to venture into the Value Add-on procedure of harvesting your own timber, please check local log prices before you cut. Black Walnut is still $1000/thousand board feet, White Oak is $900/M, but Cherry is off by 33%, selling around $600/M. Hard Maple is still 50% off, selling at $400/M, but with summer heat, log staining is a problem and most mills don’t buy them in the summer. All these unwritten rules are like that child’s game. Mills want logs delivered in less than 2 weeks from when they were fallen. (Winter season is longer) Cut logs deteriorate, so they can’t be cut and left for months or years before they are sold.
The true key to timber value of other species is not the total number of board feet, but the grade of the logs. Logs are graded by diameter at DIB of the small end of the log, the length of log is even measurements, plus trim, (8 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 16 ft. in height) and the number of defects on the log (holes, rot, knots, limbs, frost cracks). So before you start cutting, learn the basic concepts for log grading. Go online and read Guidelines for Grading Logs, Woodland Info @woodlandinfo.org, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension. https://woodlandinfo.org/files/2017/09/FEM_074.pdf
At the end of this article is the log grading scale you will be using.
Does Log grading really make a difference? In the late 1970’s, I attended a log grading workshop at Hocking College. Soon afterwards, I was talking with a friend who has a tree service company. He was clearing an area that had a black walnut stand. He told me he had taken 1300 board feet of the black walnut to the mill and got almost $900. I asked if he had graded out the logs, “Nope, just cut 16’ and 8’ lengths.” I told him I would be out after work the next day. I took several students with me and graded out the remaining logs. We graded 890 BdFt and left about 1/3 of the logs for firewood. My friend wasn’t happy. Until he went to the saw mill with the graded logs and got over $1200 for them. The log buyer told him that if he had graded the first load he would have gotten 50% more money. He is now a believer, plus he sold the firewood logs for over $100.
The basis of log grading is to cut logs at lengths that will grade as highly as possible. Trees grow merchantable logs in various lengths, not always in 8 ft. increments. Our goal is to cut the log lengths that provides the best grade (and highest value), not necessarily the most board feet.
Some Guidelines:
1. Get Chalk at the dollar store to mark your logs and practice the various options before cutting. Use the chalk to mark your cuts.
2. Use the some junk logs to practice on before starting on the good logs
3. Always measure DIB diameter (inside bark diameter) on the small end of the log
4. Always take at least 2 or more DIB readings because logs aren’t round. Then average the diameters, always down to the nearest whole number
5. You determine grade based on defects on the log face
6. Higher grad logs are worth more money
7. Sometimes a partial log is cut out of the middle of the log to improve the grade in the upper log
8. Grade 1, 2, 3, logs are measured in even length logs (8 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 16’), with exception being a 9’ cherry log taken at some, though not all, mills. Check with your mill for other exemptions.
9. Portable mills can cut shorter logs (less than 8’) and various lengths. You can use this wood on the homestead or sell to specialty markets (i.e. wood carvers)
10. Some marginal logs delivered to the saw mill may not be accepted or may be accepted without payment
11. Try to cut and sell logs at seasonal peak prices
12. Keep your best grade species to cut when the market prices rise, unless you don’t have a choice
13. Try to cut only mature timber 18” DBH or damaged trees
14. Remember that 10” – 18” diameter trees are the fastest growing with the best ‘rate of return’ trees you have in the woods ---- protect them. ‘Returns’ are between 5 – 15% per year! The bank is paying 0.25% interest.
15. Also, as the tree grows larger in diameter, it can be growing into the next grade, from a Grade 2 to a Grade 1 and that transition means approximately a 20% increase in revenue.
16. Grade is determined by log length and DIB diameter. A perfect 14” diameter, 10 ft cherry log is always a Grade 2 log. It needs to be at least 16” in diameter and with today’s market, it has to be 18” in diameter to be a Grade 1
17. Use your chalk to mark your potential cuts and decide what is the best cutting option. When you have a butt log Grade 1, that’s easy, but sometimes the butt log is a Grade 2 and the upper logs may be a Grade 2 or 3, so adjusting the length of the butt may increase your income. The chalk makes it easy to see what you want to do.
18. After you cut and grade your logs, you can haul the logs to the mill, have them picked up or hold a roadside log sale and contact several mills to give you a bid to purchase the pile.
19. Remember, log grading is based on the best 3 faces of a log, so always place the worst side down on the ground, because the buyers expect that. They aren’t going to take time to roll each log over to check the hidden face.
Here is a practice scenario of how to grade a log. The log is white oak, 24’ 8” long. Possible sale prices are Grade 1 - $900, Grade 2 - $700, Grade 3 - $450.
Top DIB – 17”. The log has 3 defects marked by an 'X'.
.
Choice C is $52.50 more than Choice A and $249.38 more per truckload.
Choice C is $17.50 more than Choice B and $80.99 more per truckload
(a triaxial truck hauls 1,500 board feet of timber)
As you can see, the figures don’t lie. Learning to grade your logs for sale is an essential way to maximize your woodlot income.
My next Master Class will be An Introduction to Pond Management. See you then!
Enjoy the Summer weather,
Bob
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