Logger wants to use my mill?

[Sawyerfortyish]

I let a guy run my firewood processor part time for one week. It only cost about 1200.00 to fix it after that week and he split 10 cords of wood at 120.00. It took about two weeks to get it running like it did before he started running it.  If I lend my equipment to anyone (I couldn't find an @ss kicking smiley in all those smileys )I would expect to have it kicked.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Only so much help and only so many days in the hour.  Your logger will find if he buys a mill that he can not run it and log at the same time.  Either the mill or logging equipment will set idle thus not making money.  Or he will have to hire more help which will not know how to saw and waste lumber and tear up equpiment.  Pallet stock is a market of pennies.
   I would offer to saw for him and charge a bit less for blocking and ties then 4/4 stock.  But the thing you will have to consider is the waste problem.  You do not have a holler to throw it all into and when you start shucking a couple thousand feet aday several days a week you will make a pile fast.  Also there is hauling and paying.  He hauls in and hauls out and pays when it leaves the site.  Next is building and loader which you will need.  Coin and time for that.  Then when you are all geared up and going good he will go back to the Amish guy becuase it is a cash deal and the price of sawing dropped 2 cents per bdft. 
   Now I have gone to large mills several times to saw for them.  I set up out of the way and they bring the logs to me and haul off the lumber and slabs there at their site.  I just saw and make piles of lumber like they want.  On Friday I get paid the tally and come back on Monday.  Maybe you should go to his place and have him furnish a helper and loader while you just saw for him.  Do a couple days a week and get paid and leave the mess and lumber laying for him to mess with.  That is why they put wheels under them little Orange machines.

[Kirk_Allen]

Arky you make some great points..........as usual!  Thanks.

He is going to stop by again sometime this week and I will throw that out to him.  I get the impression from speaking with him that part of the issue he is having with the other guy is trust.  As most of us do, if a blade is damaged its $20.  In the last 6 months this guy has charged him for 15 blades.  When he has asked to see the blade the guy cant show them to him becuase he has already set and sharpened them. 

I told him a simple solution to that is buy his own blades and send them to WM for the resharp program. 

If I hit something and know I can fix the blade I rarely will charge the full $20.  Just depends on how bad of a hit it is.  That being said, if this logger is cutting everything into stringers and ties I am betting the logs are less than desireable and may very well be from some fence line that a farmer is clearing so he can plant 5 more feet of corn 

[DanG]

Go ahead and tell him he can use the mill....in exchange for the use of his logging equipment.  You could get a lot of your projects outta tha way with his feller-buncher and skidder.  'Course you'll need the lowboy and the delimber and the loader, too.  You won't be needing them but a few weeks, and by that time, he might have figgered out how to saw with your Woodmizer.

Make that offer to him, and he'll start singing a different song, I bet.

[jimbo]

  some things i want loan out  to any one  . tools ,trailors ,guns , wife

[fstedy]

Kirk
You are right on with option #1 and #2 plus the ideas from Arky eliminate your problem of getting rid of the waste wood also it saves the logger money from having to transport to your site. Business is Business he's a logger and you're a sawyer. Never lend equipment its a no win situation you will end up with hard feelin's at best or a lost customer and friend.

[Buzz-sawyer]

If you are getting the belsaw, would that be a option for this type of cutting?.......You could use the speed to slam out tiesand afford to charge17-18 cents and crack out some bd ft .
I havent run on of those belsaws, but I would think alone you ought to produce 2000-3000 bdft a day with proper set up.
2000 bdft a day is $360.@18 cents.

He gets about 800 bucks for ties.....and you have to cut about forty ties.

So, if you can square one up in twelve minutes that is an eight hour day.

I think if I lived where you do ...with access to all those tops left in the woods, I would get a truck and cut 'em in the woods and haul ties straight to the plant. Most plants add one dollar per tie for transportation fee.
If you hauled eighty ties that load would net about $1840

[etat]

Go ahead and tell him he can use the mill....in exchange for the use of his logging equipment.  You could get a lot of your projects outta tha way with his feller-buncher and skidder.  'Course you'll need the lowboy and the delimber and the loader, too.  You won't be needing them but a few weeks, and by that time, he might have figgered out how to saw with your Woodmizer.

Make that offer to him, and he'll start singing a different song, I bet. 

   

 

[OneWithWood]

Kirk,
Much good advice has been put forth.  I can only add this - if you lend out your mill, he or one of his employees will be milling and you won't.  Think about it 

[leweee]

My wife.....Yes....(don't have one )
My dog..... maybe
My gun,chainsaws,sawmill......NEVER

[oldschoolmiller]

Unless you are standing over his shoulder i would say no, but i guess it all boils down to the $$
If he is paying enough for you to stand there all day, and is responsible for the maintenance, then i guess it would be OK 

[Kedwards]

I would say NO! nicely of course    I have had people ask the same thing to me and its always no go buy one. If they decide to buy one they ALWAYS try and take a whole day of my time to figure out which one is best for them I tell them my consulting rate is the same as my sawing rate. This has really helped quell with the eager beaver syndrome to muscle in on the sawing action using my knowledge and time.