Trying to learn a few things before I buy land

[DAK]

Wow this has been some great input, sounds like you never stop learning in this trade.  Although its a bit overwhelming, the idea of producing hardwood is sounding very interesting.  My biggest mountain to climb will obviously be purchasing the land and equipment.  I am understanding that I could buy "junk" logs for relatively cheap, so that makes me wonder if anyone that already owns a mill would cut, plane, and route a tree into tongue and groove for a price or would the price most likely be too high?  If anyone has ever heard of smaller mills doing this than I could easily start this summer and just use my friends farm as a place to store the logs and possibly convince him to turn an old barn of his into a kiln. Is a makeshift kiln extremely difficult to make? Thanks again yall.

Dan

[beenthere]

DAK
This vidoe may be of interest, and just posted up on another thread. Is pretty specific to mfg flooring, using volunteer help.


That other thread mentioned was about quarter sawing to get the rays to display themselves better in the product.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,48563.msg700693.html#msg700693

[tjdub]

The trend up here is to liquidate before the sale

In my area there was a 80 acre half woods, half tillable parcel for sale (realtor owned it)  A local guy was interested, he went through all the hoops and all the paperwork and bought it.  Well, what do you think happened while he was concentrating on the closing process?  The realtor had it logged at the last minute without telling him.   Imagine his surprise after he took a look at his 80 acres after signing those papers!  Be sure to get what you're buying in writing because until you take ownership, the seller still owns the trees.

Also, don't put too much trust in realtors, they know all the tricks.  Ideally, when you buy land, there should be 4 people involved (1 seller, 1 buyer, and 2 lawyers).  Unfortunately, that's not often possible in this age.  These days it's just 1 seller, 1 buyer, and a bunch of bankers and a realtor doing their best to rob both parties

[jeffreythree]

Dan, glad to see someone who educates themselves before buying.  I was looking for a different kind of property when I bought my small place that ended up being mostly  wooded.  I read as many of the landowner/nonprofessional books I could find on the subject and read any relevant thread I could find here, after the purchase  .  The realtors would either say "It's a good deal" since it had just been clear cut, or "Look at all this timber you could sell" when in reality it was to junky to bother cutting and risk a lower land price.  I realized after purchase that I should have looked into who buys timber in my area as well.  Oh well, live and learn on that end.  It led me to produce retail craft products (I was already a serious woodworker) from our wood that have made quite a few more payments than a couple of loads of pallet or hardwood pulp ever would, even after the purchase of a small mill.   The best part is my top seller has become things made from cedar elm, a "junk" tree we have a lot of.  I am slowly making things better while making a buck .