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The prices below are for English oak, but many other UK grown timbers have markets and uses.  Ash, sycamore, chestnut, lime, hornbeam, birch (yes, birch), plane, true cedars (Lebanon / deodar), yew and poplar all have markets for small quantities, often in your own locality.  Prices for these are incredibly variable and are often based on what you are offered at the time, but are generally in the £ 2 - £ 6 / hoppus ft. range (see table below for conversion).

The prices for sawn material are slightly more predictable, but do depend on grade, quality, quantity, sizes, weather, how far down the stack you go before you find the board you or the customer want etc.

Veneer or better quality trees  - you will NOT get a pension cheque for your single butt of field grown whatever, no matter what anyone has told you about how valuable they are. 99% of veneer merchants contacted recently asked "how many have you got?" and when told "just the one" laughed and put the phone down. Best to get it sawn into boards and make some nice furniture with it.

However, before you rush to sell your freshly felled harvest in an uncertain market, take a moment to consider whether you have a need for timber yourself.  Does your barn need repairs?  What about the fencing, gates, stiles, stables, doors and such?  Worried about the costs of going to the merchant or imports of foreign timber, sustainability?

Top of range prices are for exceptional pieces / sizes / figure.  My apologies to those of you who think in metric, here in deepest Surrey we still use hoppus feet!

All prices are @ road / good rideside

Cordwood/firewood grade 50p - £ 1/ cubic foot (£10 -30/ tonne)

Fencing grade £1-1.50/hoppus ft.  £ 28-£42/ cubic metre

Beam quality £2.50-£4/hoppus ft. £ 70 - £110/ cubic metre

Planking/clear £3-£8/hoppus  £ 84 - £ 220/ cubic metre

Green/fresh felled and sawn £ 16 - 20/ cubic foot

Air dry (one year/inch thickness) £ 25 - 50 / cubic foot

Kiln dried  £30-60 per cubic foot

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Undermanaged Woodlands and Timber Quality – Charles Willment offers some general advice on assessing and managing woodlands for increased timber value.  (from October 2001 Issue)

Timber Quality – quite simply the better the tree, the more likely you are to be able to sell it, and you can offer it to a wider market with higher returns.  But what makes the ‘perfect’ tree? 

Veneer grade trees need to be straight grained with no defects - knots, rot, cracks or shake. Veneer is produced by peeling the log like a toilet roll, so a shape as near to a cylinder is most desirable. The market will take most species, especially oak, sweet chestnut, sycamore and elm. Quality is more important than size, but a diameter of at least 2ft (600mm) is usually needed.

Planking grade should be nearly as good as veneer, but some small defects are acceptable - small live knots etc. 

Beaming will accept some cracking and larger knots.

Fencing - just about anything straight and over 8 inch (200mm) diameter. 

The rest - I am afraid, is due for firewood, pulp or woodchip.

Most broadleaved woodlands contain a mix of the above grades, but it is very likely that the best timber was removed before 1945 and not replaced, or the management structure (if any) failed to select and help on the better trees. It is therefore very likely that you will only have the potential to reach the lower range of markets and values. 

All is not lost however; with a little personal input and sweat you can greatly improve the future worth of your woodlands, whether it be for your own benefit or future generations. Future buyers of your woodland will also appreciate the fact that your wood contains prime quality higher value timber.

The key to high value trees is spacing, selection, thinning and pruning.   Without giving a full course in woodland management I will pass on a few tips for the woodland owner to enjoy.  Walk through your woodland; look for the tallest, straightest, cylindrical, branch-free, tree. Make a small mark on it, or tie a bit of coloured string around it. This will be your or your children’s ‘pension’ or ‘P’ tree.

Over the coming years make sure that it has enough light and water - remove any immediate competitors around it (thinning). Prune off any lower branches that may appear, whilst they are still small. Continue to pick more ‘perfect potential’ trees, mark them, prune them, and give them space.  Every year select more ‘P’ trees, even new or young trees show their potential early and can be encouraged, like our children, to grow straight and true, with a little help, of course.  Besides, pruning is excellent exercise (saves on gym fees too) and the fallen branches will also add to the habitat value of the ground and shrub layers.

The leaves are starting to turn and fall, there is a break in the rain, even a glimmer of sunlight. Now is the time to take that walk, maybe with the new pruning saw you picked up at Woodfair. Go on, you know you want to.  And please DO NOT nail things to trees, or hang fences/gates from them.  

Next issue: felling, extraction and presentation of trees for sale - what we like, and don’t like, to see.  If you require further information on selecting ‘P’ trees or any other aspect of woodland management please call Charles Willment at Treespanner Timber Tel: 01342 871529 M: 07713 083625.

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From the Saw-Miller’s perspective: 
A Christmas Message from the Trees!
Long ago you planted us. You weeded, watered and pruned us. You removed or prevented pests and diseases from us. You watched us grow straight and true, an inheritance for the future.  So why, for  goodness sake, did you nail that fence / sign / lightning conductor to us last year?

The jolly sawmiller was sorely miffed when his nice shiny sawblade had ALL the teeth ripped from it by the lumps of metal that you hammered into us.

In this season of goodwill towards everything, please spare a thought for the destiny of the trees that you are responsible for.  I have a wonderful collection of items that I have discovered in trees.  Barbed wire, nails, staples, angle iron, hinges, electric fence holders, threaded iron bars, bullets, shrapnel, brackets, drawing pins, lightning conductors, concrete and bricks. Yes bricks!  A colleague of mine once found an entire single shot poachers rifle in the top of a tree. Would have been worth about £1500 if he had not sawn halfway through the barrel! Wonder what happened to the poacher?

Now you know why most sawmills turn their noses up at your offerings from gardens, hedges, fence lines, fields and street corners. Sawmill blades do not come cheap.  So, a festive plea, a Christmas wish: no matter how strong the urge, resist with all your might the desire to attach things to trees.

Yes, I know: you lost your cat…are holding a local bazaar…the new fence goes through there…it would look so pretty with lights up it…bird or bat boxes can be fixed with 6" nails…the new house sign would be perfect there…do I need to go on?  Use wooden or plastic dowels if you must.

And I DO NOT WANT any more trees that have had ‘tree-houses’ built in them. A pair of 6" nails every 18 inches.  Oh how we laughed.

Ho Ho Ho!  Merry Christmas!

Charles Willment, Treespanner Timber

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