Clearing trees, what to do with wood?

Hey guys, new to the site but read alot of good info. Starting in the new year ill be starting a big job In California clearing around 200 acres of solid eucalyptus trees. Going to be pushing them over with a D6 and picking them out with an excuvater with a thumb attachment, question what is the best way to get rid of all the wood and make a profit at it? Been looking into chipping it up with either a horizontal or tub grinder and selling it to biomass plants. Any idea what the going rate per ton is nowadays? Or what is the best option? I appreciate the help guys thanks!

Here's a link listing properties and potential uses. It might help you figure out where to look for your buyer.


http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_rp009/psw_rp009.pdf

Ring it up and sell it by the chord
- Eucalyptus species

Family Myrtaceae. Hardwood origin Australia. Approx 500 species of eucalyptus in existence.

All of these make extremely good firewood as the wood is so dense that is has prolonged burning time, and high heat out-put.

Generally sourced from purpose grown firewood production woodlots.

As a fella who has cut firewood on a production basis a 200 acre clearing job will need a good processor and a large market to get rid of it. Plus a large amount of labor to cord it up for sale. That amount of ground in average size timber will produce several cords of firewood per acre. If cutting it up for firewood I'd take the trees out with a hoe and push stumps and brush with the dozer. A dozer strains the trunks of real hard woods which will make them really mean to cut and bad to pinch a saw, only thing worse is tornado damaged trees that are twisted.

John

Thanks guys for the replies! I have also looked into selling the wood for firewood, but as stated above i would need a good firewood processor. Ive been looking mainly at cordkings and the alike. The property is extremely dense with trees, which the trees arent real alrge in diameter the largest maybe being 24-30inch the majority being around 12-20inch range. Im just thinking the massive amount of wood I would have but if thats my best option then ill go with that.

Woody85, I sent you an email. Also what is the terrain like on the project?

With the proper chipper, you may be able to sell the chips to a paper plant. In general, First you take anything large and straight enough to saw lumber out of, then you take anythign that will chip out, and burn or grind the rest.

Yuke wood is not sutible for lumber.

I've been out of the power plant and boilermaking buisness for almost twenty years now, but I bet the nearest pulp mill to SoCal is in Eureka, if they're even still there. I also thought that biomass steam generation power plants were a thing of the past in California, but with the advent of gasification of biomass, issues with particulates and the like may be over.

Have a look at this link, it might give you a few ideas. The age and the species may determine what you can do with the timber. It would be good to get something out of them.

http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/bsantos/section2.htm

ddigger said:

Yuke wood is not sutible for lumber.

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Depends which species your dealing with.
Here in Aus., a stand of Spotted Gum or Blue Gum, of the size that Woody has, would be worth a fortune as millable timber.
Others don't even make decent firewood.
Where they grow in our part of the world, a D6 would struggle to cope with any number of 24-30 inch trees, even with a good tree pusher
Any one know the common name of the eucalypts you have there.?
Cheers, Greg

If it's the shaggy bark, forked trunk, typical SoCal euc, it's landfill material I think. Burn as much of it as the law allows, before hauling the remainder to the landfill. (I don't imagine SoCal air quality management allows any burning... too bad)

Years ago I saw a few smart contractors try to do the same as you want to do, find extra value in the timber, when they had to clear highway-side euc tree windbreaks for hwy widening, on the central CA US 101 hwy. Trees were all the same size and at the blacktop hwy, easy harvesting. Every bit of timber handling was a loss of money. They never found a market to recover value; I doubt things have changed for the better since then.

Here in north east Calif, in forest fuel reduction projects, thinning and clearing trees, chipping and hauling to co-generation plants is a $500-1000 per acre charge or expense. That is, it's $500-1000 higher price than leaving the trunks and slash on the ground...

PS: "Going to be pushing them over with a D6 and picking them out with an excuvater with a thumb attachment" You will need some chainsaws, too!

It's a rite of passage. Getting rich in the firewood business
Don't forget us little people when the checks start rolling in