Thread: Australian cedar pricing / for sale

Couple of things to ponder on lads, these being the reason why I get hot under the collar on this topic.

what does it take to produce boards that have dried flat at close on 3 foot wide?
depends I guess on if they're back sawn or on the quarter: if backsawn they've either come off a tree over 5 foot diameter, or come off a tree over 4 foot as a flitch, then been dried, then been resawn. If on the quarter the tree that made these had to have been 8 foot across.

Now I can go tomorrow and, if I can write out a big enough cheque, buy a load of red cedar logs that will just hit 4 foot dbh - I know who to talk to on that and in this business it's who you know that opens farm gates as much as the money. But 5 footers? Good luck with that!!! Sure they're out there, but not anywhere I can access them legally. We all hear of the odd monster tree that gets cut occasionally on some patch of privately held remnant scrub... But those trees are gone men... And their like shall be seldom seen again.

How should we price (subject to color and grain) the fruits of 300 years of growing? How should we price the skills and equipment needed to extract those boards from the tree? How should we price the time and care required to season them in good order, without major drying defect, and then finish them accurately?

Not at the same rate as other, narrower boards of the same species that's for bloody sure. Red cedar boards that size - now - are something that might pass through most sawmills once in a lifetime.

Now John, that is not totally correct. You are getting hot under the collar and for good reason. But we must be fair. When it comes to cedar, it would have to be one of the easiest timbers to air dry. Admittedly the majority is back sawn which does create the chance of cupping in thin wides, but generally an easy timber to work with.
Of course there are many other exotics which make a miller tear his hair out as they steadily degrade during the seasoning process. The final yield will often be way below the original tally.
Another important factor to be considered when it comes to procuring exceptional material is difficulty of access. Many of these trees were left by the old hands as they didn't have the means to snig them out. I have a photograph of "The Cedar King" standing on the blade of a D4 dozer being lowered, by chain, mid air, over a cliff by a D10!
Some of the trees we have taken out have taken up to a week to get them to a log dump for trucking. Its the work below ground that takes the time. Produces the best looking timber though.
A timber getter's life is not an easy one. Never was and never will be. Many of the chaps I have worked with over the years have lost relatives and work mates felling.
What price a life?