The Virginia Cooperative Extension has produced a technical note aimed at forest landowners.
The publication is aimed at landowners interested in selling their timber. These landowners need to understand how timber is measured in order to determine whether they are getting the correct price. This is complicated by there being different methods for measuring standing trees and logs. The publication, titled “Forest landowner’s guide to the measurement of timber and logs”, attempts to explain the different measuring methods, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The document begins by explaining the measurement of standing timber. Terms such as stumpage, cubic feet, cords and cunits are explained. Timber sellers also need to be aware that tree species, quality and size of trees, the location of the woodlot, prevailing market conditions, terrain, the amount of wood they have to sell, and distance from the market all influence the price that buyers will be prepared to pay. Timber buyers will carry out a timber cruise, which is a survey where the diameter, height and other quality factors are measured. The difference between measuring pulpwood and sawtimber trees is explained.
The measurement of logs is also covered, with specific American aspects included such as general features of log rules, the Doyle log rule, the Scribner log rule and the International log rule. The document provides a comparison of log rules, with a table showing volume differences for log diameter classes using the three methods. The document concludes by saying that landowners will obtain the fairest market price by using a sealed, competitive bid process from reliable bidders. Source: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/420/420-085/420-085_pdf.pdf