Question about pistachio

[Aaren Palmer]

Hello everyone
Let me start by saying thanks for the oppertunity to ask my questions in your forum. My husband and I are going to be clearing part of our pistachio orchard soon and would like to see the wood made into beautiful pieces rather than burned up as firewood or in a landfill. I have been looking up pistachio wood for turning and it seems to be hard to come by and very beautiful when used for woodworking. The trees we have are from 6" in diameter to about 24" in diameter. I would like to sell them but my husband only has a chainsaw to cut them with so we are unable to cut good turning blocks. Now, my question is what is a fair price to charge per tree? We are not looking to get rich just make a fair amount for what we have. Any comments are appricated
Thanks for your time
Aaren

 

[Charles Henderson]

Hello everyone
Let me start by saying thanks for the oppertunity to ask my questions in your forum. My husband and I are going to be clearing part of our pistachio orchard soon and would like to see the wood made into beautiful pieces rather than burned up as firewood or in a landfill. I have been looking up pistachio wood for turning and it seems to be hard to come by and very beautiful when used for woodworking. The trees we have are from 6" in diameter to about 24" in diameter. I would like to sell them but my husband only has a chainsaw to cut them with so we are unable to cut good turning blocks. Now, my question is what is a fair price to charge per tree? We are not looking to get rich just make a fair amount for what we have. Any comments are appricated
Thanks for your time
Aaren

First, I would like to thank you for being thoughtful as to the resting place of the wood. We much prefer the tree live on in our work rather than rest in ashes. We're silly about that kind of thing, but seriously we appreciate it.

Second, yes Pistachio is valuable and can be hard to find. Turners are usually the only ones that can make good use of the wood because of it's typical small size. It's availability depends entirely on your are of the country. It's available, and pretty cheap where I live. It's not one of those situations where you are going to get it's true value in boardfeet, because there are a limited number of people willing and able to take it. Hence, the reason it's so cheap for me. If I pay for it, it is usually around $5-15/per foot of an average sized log (around 10 inches).

Third, knowing your location will be of great help to us. If you have a Pistachio orchard, then you may very well live very close to me. I, and my club, would be happy to help you rid yourselves of it (I'm being very serious). If you are not close by, then any woodturning club will likely be happy to help you. I would suggest contacting the closest one to you, and we can help you determine which one to call. I'm sure whoever you contact will try to make a fair deal with you.

Finally, and most importantly, is that you cut the wood so that it won't go to waste. If it is cut into short sections and left unsealed, then the entire bunch will be wasted. Make sure to get a good woodsealer (available from woodcraft, woodworkers supply, etc), or you can make your own by diluting elmers glue with water (but I'm not sure of the ratio to mix). Seal the ends of each cut to prevent cracking. Leave the logs in sections around 3' for logs 10" or less, and longer for larger pieces. For the logs that are 24" I would leave those at least 5' long, but that can be unmanageable for most people without a winch and loading system.

I hope some of this is of help to you

 

[Aaren Palmer]

Thank you for your response

I didn't even realize that I didn't say where we are We are in Kern County, CA just outside of Bakersfield. Hope that helps

 

[Martin Hasemann]

Pistachio is a most awesome wood to turn and build with. It has a very unique character that begs to be turned.

Too bad you're so far away or I'd offer to cut for you, however there may be some easy hope for you.

There are a number of 'exotic' wood sellers on the web that would probably pay well for it, if it's cut correctly. Cali seems to have their share of them out there, so search the web for the folks that deal in exotics.

Also, for your larger logs, look around for someone with a portable mill. Out here in Ohio some of these guys charge a base fee for setup then charge anywhere from $0.20 to $0.40 per linear foot to mill them to your specs. Just skip that you're cutting up pistachio until you get a quote as they may try to up the price knowing you will be making quite a bit on the wood. A portable sawmill will have MUCH less waste than a chainsaw and if you have that many trees you may get an awesome living room floor out of it besides what you can sell.

 

[David J. Borek]

You can also call Woodmizer company up and they can get you a few numbers of portable band sawmill owners (in your area) so you can call them up and see if you can trade some wood for the cost of them comming over with a mill and sawing up your trees for lumber to be air dried and stickerd out to air dry first and @ EMC of 20% pop it in a kiln to slowly kiln dry your wood. Turners would rather have it wet so endseal it with a green wood sealer @ WOODCRAFT SUPPLY CORP. or go direct. to AnchorSeal look in the AAW Resource Directory under suppliers, or Google it. Norman is a nice man, the owner loves what he sells and it works good enough to use on musical instrument grade figured quilted and curly big leaf maple. I am also intyerested in some of the green /wet stuff. All of it at cutting should be coated with a heavy coat when wet cuts are exxposed. Call me toll free at 1-(866) 744-9663 David J. Borek http://www.Blankity-Blanks.com or email me at djborek@zeecon.com Austin, Texas "The live Music Capitol of the World"

Good luck cutting it up. If you have any prolbems please call me and I can assist you over the phone at no charge. 1 (512) 263-8355 office line.