On Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:54:56 -0800 (PST), Sonny
wrote:

I'm kind of interested in this root ball. I'm hesitant because I don't have an immediate project in mind, but I can imagine a possible potential.

https://cenla.craigslist.org/art/d/h...766271800.html

I don't generally price this sort of "lumber". Considering I'd have to travel about 200 miles to collect it and all the work involved to produce a finished project, I'm of the mind that I might pay a gratuity for its availability, rather than pay for the wood stock itself.

I suspect the owner would like a fairly nice fee for it, but I don't want to pay anything for it. I'm inclined to ask to be paid to haul it off. I think the owner is a lady and I'm not sure she knows too much about lumber prices/pricing/logging in general, etc. I don't want to tell/imply, to her, that she doesn't know about lumber, etal, though her ad is directed to craftsmen. Seems she doesn't/may not know the work involved, hence the relative worth of the wood stock. I don't want to insult the lady as to her knowledge or with regard to any fee she may want or with my negotiation (pros & cons) for a possible low-price offer.

As for as I know, there is no precedent for pricing root ball stock as a wood product (lumber). This sort of stock is generally discarded, i.e., one pays for it to be removed.

Though you all might not have interests in this sort of "lumber", What value might you place on the root ball, only, so that the lady would be satisfied with some sort of (gratuity?) offer, if anything at all?

If you owned the root ball, would you expect it has a value and, if so, what value?

Thanks.
Sonny
Withn the size of that thing I can imagine there are LOTS of nice
projects hidden away inside it - its FIVE FEET in diameter for crying
out loud!!
The roots are nearly worthless. The work is intense; the results,
minimal. The buttress where the trunk flares out just above ground
level is where the best stock wood comes from. Don't waste your time
trying to clean up and saw anything from below ground level.

There may or not be a "burl" at the bottom - hard to tell from that
picture - and if there is, it's GOLD. It doesn't look obvious if there
is one there however. Still a lot of nice patterned wood in there for
gunstocks and other fancy items - as well as some nice bowls and other
turning projects - and a couple nice tables - just for starters.