Drugstore Cowboy

I have a 70+ year old Pecan tree in my back yard.
The trunk is close to three foot diameter at the base with two main branches each nearly a foot. Overall I am guessing it is about 30' tall - probably more.

Problem is -- it has seen better days --- losing more limbs to wind and ice every year. Not much left but the main branches and some suckers.

After living with it for 15+ years it's kind of an old friend.
SO -- when the time comes to have to deal with it --
Rather than simply have it chopped up and hauled off for firewood I would really like to have it milled into lumber I could then use for a table or cabinet or door facings -- something that could stay with the house.

I would be willing to settle for half or less of the lumber if someone wanted to keep the rest as partial payment.

Is this an off the wall idea?
Has anyone out there ever done it? or had it done?
Any remote idea what I should expect to pay?

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bobj3

Hi Cowboy

500.oo to 1000,oo just to take it down that's if you don't want the stump ground out..

Most will not take the tree as part payment for the removing the tree they can't eat the it or pay the help with it , some will keep the base but it will just go into a pile in the tree trimers yard, some make it to the mill but most don't...

I just had one big one taken down and it took them all day plus some to remove the stump....old cotton wood that was about 4ft.in diam. at the base...big sucker..

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challagan

Having a tree taken down by a professional is expensive. I hired some goobers to take a cotton wood down of mine and I am lucky that my house didn't get split down the middle and that they were not killed. I watched this guy take down a neighbor's tree and he did a nice safe job. He showed up at my place with 2 13 year old goobers that were jacking around and were not listening to him and it nearly got him killed. So be careful who you hire. He left the day with a mangled bar on one of his saw and I had no tree and a mangled cyclone fence. I felt lucky that he wasn't killed and my house was still standing and paid him and said get the hell out of here!

Rarely do the people taking it down care about what happens to it unless it is a guy who is in the business to sell lumber and find good hardwood. If you have a saw mill(s) in the area get some quotes and find out if they will mill logs. Maybe you have someone with a portable mill in the area. Hard to tell if they have kilns or possibly your option may be to air dry it. Pecan needs to be milled fairly soon once it is cut down as and laying around it will spalt and rot very quickly. The spalting if caught at the right time can be real pretty on Pecan. Your quotes could be all over the board depending on what is available in your area. I hope you can get it taken down and slabbed at a decent price. It would be nice to be able to make something out of a tree like that.

The cost of having a large stump grinder is high due to the cost to run one of those machines. They are labor intensive machines cause they need the teeth sharpened often. Big tub grinders are even more expensive and are subject to catching on fire.

I write insurance for certified arborists and we pass on Tub Grinders due to the cost and the susceptibility to burning up they get so hot. Then auger up a load of chips into the truck with a hot ember in there and burn the whole truck down

Corey

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RustyW

I must have been lucky. I had 2 redwoods in my front yard that got some disease and died. Not that big around, but nearly 50' tall, 20' from the house, and 1' from the fence. One saturday morning my father in law was coming over with his chainsaw and we were going to remove them. While waiting for him in the yard and contemplating how we were gonna do it. A guy pulled up said he was a christian tree trimmer and had noticed the dead trees and did I want them removed? I said " how much"? He looked up the trunks of both from inside and outside the fence and said " 60 bucks". I asked "what about the limbs and the mess". He said "there wont be any mess we'll haul it all away" I said "so $120 and they'll both be gone?" "No" he said,"60 bucks total". Needless to say, the trees were gone when my father in law got there. This guy made a call to his crew who showed up with saws and a boom truck. They started from the top and finished by laying the saw sideways on the ground to cut the stump within a 1/2" of the dirt. All with no damage to the house or fence. I drove by his place once and noticed he has lots of firewood for sale.

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Rusty

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Drugstore Cowboy

Rusty -
I admit to not knowing MUCH on this score- - but even I know you were BEYOND lucky -- In the 'real' world the guy driving that truck ALONE would have made $60.

Corey -
You were too ---
I'm guessing from your description that this guy was neither insured nor bonded.

Yes -- I know even just getting rid of it is going to be expensive. But I know I can find folks to do that --

I was hoping to find someone who would both cut it down -- AND mill it.
It was the milling I thought I might be able to horse trade on.

Had a feeling that was a LOT to hope for.

As for the stump -- I am thinking of letting it stay as the base for a table.