Specialty markets offer great opportunity to a forest owner. I just had a call for 20 cords of pine logs for a log cabin. To be able to market such a small batch of logs is very important to an owner with just a few acres of trees. House logs are more valuable than cordwood or sawlogs. When managing a pine plantation today, go immediately to a crop tree management plan with small house logs as the intermediate product.
Large house logs and then veneer logs are usually the best final product from a plantation.
When you have a large amount of under utilized wood, search out the best market opportunity and find your niche. Wood offers so many specialty markets today that an ambitious forest owner should be able to create income from just about any forest. Look for your opportunity. In the log home industry, there are many big markets that buy logs according to set specifications. Their prices are generally higher than normal log markets, but they can be slightly more selective.