I had a similar situation this past June. The tree was just over 2 ft 4” at chest height well over 120 years old. For all the years we’ve lived here I figured the tree was going to be worth a fortune.
Here were the issues :
1) The tree was located near the road and marked a corner of the property. To the mill operator that meant most likely there would be nails or barbed wire in it and that would damage the saw blade at high cost. No mill would take it.
I went over the tree with a metal detector and found one piece of metal. (More on this later.)
2) There was a fork in the tree about 10 ft off the ground and a healed over stub of a branch that had been removed 50 + years ago. The grain was not the desirable kind.
So what did I do? I contacted the Wood working society in my area. People there had contacts with the local old time country museum and they said they were interested. Also the Woodturning society wanted the forked crotch since it most likely had “nice feather”. A guy (huge) came down and set up an “Alaskan saw mill” and cut it into 4” slabs that weighted I’m guessing 400 pounds each.
Sure enough, there were nails and old bullets inside. The bullets were no problem but the nails damaged 2! of his chains. He’d be cutting along fine and then the machine would slow down – no progress. Then it would work slowly. It was painful to watch. I helped wedge the gap open and load the slabs into the truck. After seeing how many hours he worked – all day I refused too take money. He offered $200
The country museum will use the wood to make gun stocks and Chippendale type furniture like they did in the 1800’s. I told them they could have the wood if I got a couple of things out of it.
What did I get from that piece of history? 1) All the tops and smaller pieces for my wood burning stove. 2) The guy cut a 2” thick cross section that I can hang on the wall. 3) He left two of the end slabs that I will use as a table and bench that I can keep in my orchard. 4) I also got a $1500 tax deductible contribution.
If your tree:
a) is in the middle of the woods where it has a lot of competition, so it grows tall and straight, and b) is in an isolated location away from a property line, and c) has a long straight trunk with no knots, you might be able to get some dollars for it.