Timbergreen Book Reviews

I just ordered a few of Jim Birkemier’s books http://timbergreenforestry.com/ I have been trying to wrap my mind around value added forestry this last year so I thought I would give them a read. As forest management goes it is no news to most of us who are shooting for worst first, but there are still some good tidbits throughout. Jim has a very energetic anti establishment way of writing that is both confusing and entertaining. Kind of a Joel Salatin for wood.

As I read through the books from oldest to newest the trends of cutting less and working with more small pieces of cull wood emerges. It appears that now most of his wood goes into wood flooring that he installs and small wooden “trinkets” and craft type things.
http://www.timbergreenwoods.com/

Most if not all of his wood comes from his own woodlot.
My hang up is that I have a few landowner adding up to a few hundred acres that I will be managing for and I would need to sell a lot of cutting boards and ornaments to justify that scale. One of the take homes that I have from reading is a bit more confidence in getting a small sawmill and kiln drying operation together to market wood to the many skilled craftsmen in my area. I also have friends who own and operate a reclaimed wood flooring business who can be some potential markets for kiln dried character grade wood.

Im hoping that while commercial markets are low I can sell some of the smaller cull trees as value added kild dried wood and when prices are good I can move some larger volumes of sawlogs to help generate a small surplus income for the landowners. Might be a stretch but worth a try.

If anyone wants to check out the books I can pass them on.