Bad weather makes for good business

[DR Buck]

We've had some pretty serious weather here in VA the past week.  Lots of rain and some high winds.  Even had a few small twisters dancing around the area.   The phone started ringing on Tuesday.   

1st call :   Do you still do milling?  ....   Can you come saw a cherry tree up for me after the crane lifts it off my house?

2nd call:  Do you want some trees?  I have lots of red oak and a few walnuts that came down in my yard.  Come get them for free.

3rd call: A big tree crushed my neighbors car.  Is it still any good for sawing into boards?  I think it's cherry.

Tomorrow night I'm going down to the local winery to partake in the product they produce.  I got this message in an email from them tonight:  "Last evenings storm took out a lot of trees at our place, and at least a few look like good lumber candidates.  Come take a look, price is right, free for the taking.   A couple of the best one's are right behind the tasting room cottage"


8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Cedarman]

Now isn't that nice to be prepared for opportunity.  That winery job could take quite a while to finish. :D :D

[nas]

3rd call: A big tree crushed my neighbors car.  Is it still any good for sawing into boards?  I think it's cherry.

I've never heard of a cherry car  ;)and why would you saw it into boards??

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

3rd call: A big tree crushed my neighbors car.  Is it still any good for sawing into boards?  I think it's cherry.

I've never heard of a cherry car  ;)and why would you saw it into boards??

I don't know... Some of the old cars in very good condition might be said to be "cherry..."

And if it was a old station wagon "woodie" maybe you could saw it 8)

[Chuck White]

We had high winds and heavy rain on Wednesday 6/10.
We've have been sawing white pine at my mom's place on weekends and figured that we'd would be done and out of there with another 8 hours of sawing!
Now I'm pretty sure we'll be sawing another 6-8 long days, maybe longer.

The storm brought down about 30-40 white pine, many as big as 3' on the butt log and about 50-60 feet tall.
Also had quite a few black cherry come down.  Don't know if they are going to ship the cherry or saw it.

I got lots of calls to see if I could saw and some even said if I wanted the trees, to come and get them.

Like the old saying goes: "When it rains, it pours"

[DR Buck]

Like the old saying goes: "When it rains, it pours"

I like to refer to it as "Wind Fall Profits"
 
I had a bunch more calls this week all related to trees down from last weeks storm.   One was for a red oak "8 feet in diameter"       I think they must have measured circumference.  ;)   Since it was 50 miles away and only a red oak I declined to take it.   Had another call tonight a guy wanted to give me a 60 ft 3 ft diameter red oak.  Just come get it. (40 miles away) Again I declined.  : 

Anyway, getting to the point,  I went last Friday and checked out the trees down at the winery.  On the way in I noticed a LOT of trees down.   Just up the road from the winery I noticed a lone tree pulled up by it's root-ball laying in the middle of a field.   When I got to the winery and mentioned the lone tree, I got an ear full from most of the customers.   Apparently the tree was a very large and OLD Pear tree that everyone around those parts was familiar with.   So I mentioned I should stop and see about picking it.  I've never sawn' any fruit trees except Cherry and I've heard that there might be a niche market for fruit wood.   

I went and looked at all the trees down at the winery.  Lots of them.... Maple, Red Oak, Beech, Ash, Tulip Poplar, Cedar  (Wind Fall Profits)

Well tonight I decided to go and trim out and buck the trees right near the winery tasting room to get them out of the way.   On the way down the road, I remembered the Pear tree and decided to stop and ask about it.   Well it turns out the old guy that owns the property got it from his grandfather who got it from his father and the Pear tree was growing way back then.  Says he has pictures taken at the turn of the century (20th) of his dad in front of the Pear tree.  In fact he told me that the tree had been growing since the Civil War.   And, not only did he give me the Pear tree, he offered up a number of large Cedar trees and a few white pines that all came down last week.     

This story doesn't end here.   

While bucking the logs  a guy walks up to see what I'm doing.   When I explained why I was taking the logs, he told me there was an old Pear tree in a field up the road a little ways that was kind of a local landmark and it would be nice to salvage it.  Then my friend that owns the winery gets a call from a neighbor  asking who is cutting up his downed trees.   Well after John gets off the phone, he tells me the lady down the road wants to see me.  Seems she has a lot of trees that came down she would like to get rid of.   So, after getting done with a few trees there, I head down the road to the neighbors place, to look before it gets dark,  where I am offered about a dozen cedar trees.  One of them is over 3 ft in diameter!     Biggest cedar I've ever seen.   While we were talking, her father arrived and asked me if I had seen the big tree up the road in the field and that it was a 150 year old pear tree.  Say's when he was a kid (and he looked really really old) he used to pick pears from it.   I should see about getting it before it ends up as fire wood.   When I told him I had already made arrangements to get it, he seemed happy.

So,  I'm picking up the pear tree in the morning and a few of the logs I bucked tonight.   

[Chuck White]

DR_Buck
Sounds like you got yourself into a job.

I like your "Wind Fall Profits" phrase.  Very fitting.

Yesterday Sheila and I sawed 1745 board feet at my mom's house.  There are still over 50 logs on the landing.

We'll be back at it on the 21st.  I'll be glad when school's out (26th), so we won't be sawing "just" on weekends.

[TerryB]

Hey DR_Buck

I was just curious what part of Northern VA you're from? 

Not to be too nosy, but all the people in your story seem a lot nicer than anyone I've come across from Northern VA. :  Maybe I've haven't gotten far enough away from the city.  :(

[OneWithWood]

DR,

Do you clean up the stumps and tops or just take the logs?

[Dan_Shade]

Does anybody clean up the stumps and tops for the logs?  I think that would be a seriously loosing proposition.  In my experience, most of the time, the log fetching is a break even adventure when operating in an urban envirnment.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

I have kept out of the para-logging business in favor of just sawing.

Yesterday we started a job in a tornado damage area.  The customer
had pulled up about thirty good sized logs.  When we got there the logs
were turned with the butt ends alternating and way out of line.  Many
of the ends weren't trimmed and they weren't cut to the lengths he wanted
We had to cut a couple of tree lengths out of our way, then relocate a
trailer they had placed for lumber to go on as we cut.  To move the trailer
we had to cut up a bushy little Black Cherry that the storm had brought down.
There is barely enough room to get around everything to work.  Charged
a little extra to get set up due to this situation.

We didn't go down today so that he would have time to tidy up and avoid
more hourly charges.  HOpe to cut Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
After we get his large logs, two other relatives are supposed to bring in
quite a few smaller logs.  We may be set up there a while!

As you say, bad weather can generate business, but it can be a messy business.

[metalspinner]

OWW,
I never do anything with the rest of the tree.  Usually by the time I get there, the log is all that is left, but if any expectation of brush or stump cleanup is expected, I walk away. 

In fact, this past month, I cut and removed a very large dead maple tree from my own yard.  Hauled all the brush to the curb, cut and stacked the firewood, and moved the log to the log pile in the corner of the yard.  I also moved the mulch from the ground up stump to the garden.  This was all done by hand and took me many days of work.  No way would I ever do that for somebody else just for a log that probably has metal in it anyway.  In fact, I should have not been such a cheap skate and just paid the tree service to take it all out for me. :-\

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't call it being a cheap skate, just plain old get it done your own way and now type of fella. A lot of what people hire done in other places, wouldn't support a business around here. If so, only one. People here, even older folks that can stand upright, do stuff themselves. If not, they just let it be and deal with higher priorities. ;D

[metalspinner]

SD,
I understand your point.  In fact, the reason I ended up doing it was because the tree service never showed up to do it. Two months pass and several calls of "I'll be there next week."  I just got tired of looking at this big dead tree in the yard. A chipper would have been nice, though. ;)  My boys, 6 and 8, helped load and stack the firewood and drag brush.  This was their first week of summer break, and I think they wanted to go back to school after helping me. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Oh dad, do I have to?  :D 8)

[DR Buck]

METELSPINNER

I never do anything with the rest of the tree.  Usually by the time I get there, the log is all that is left, but if any expectation of brush or stump cleanup is expected, I walk away. 

What he said.   

However, the above mentioned pear tree was the exception.   After bucking the logs, I parked the trailer next to the pile and loaded everything with the knuckleboom loader, including the stump.    This was because the old fella that owned the pear tree was extremely nice.   He thanked me for saving the tree and offered me a number of large downed cedars as well.   Besides, he sells hay and my cows eat hay.   This could be a new supply source for me.   Just a little extra now might get me a better deal later.