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out of firewood business

Started by cityncountryguy, January 27, 2015, 12:29:58 PM

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cityncountryguy

Ok, This is just strictly for entertainment purposes only. With my friend who is a logger , telling me  " a triaxle trailer of firewood is  getting good money " I thought to myself, well long as I am culling out the trees that need to be removed to keep my 70 acre wood lot healthy, I might as well cut and sell a trailer load.
  Now, this is where it gets interesting. I always enjoyed taking out the needed trees over the past few years, under the guidance of my friend showing me what to do. But now, I start after deer season, like I am on a schedule to get this trailer load sold.   BIG MISTAKE  !!!!.....
   I was dropping the needed trees, and cutting them to 21 to 22 feet long, then skidding them out, and stacking them on the edge of my meadow at road side.
Well, I am sure men who do this for a living, would of felt pity for me, seeing how long it was taking me. Then after my aches and pains doing this work, I start to find out the sale for the load is not as fast as I thought, unless I give it away for real cheap. I look back and think of the expenses I totaled to get this load together, and wondered to myself, how do these guys make it look so easy ???
So, I am going back to taking care of my trees, taking out what needs to be taken out, never again  with a schedule in mind, and thought of a sale. But I will then again be loving working in the woods, and taking care of my woodlot.
After my short career in the firewood business  ,lol  ( was just a  one shot deal )... I have a great respect and admiration for the people who are doing this to earn a living.
Moral of the story..... If it was so easy, everyone would be doing it.........

Mandothis

How long have you been working on that 70 acres?  How many trees would u say you clean up a week?  What type of machines do you use?  Do you do anything else on the land besides forest managment?  Any homesteading or business ?

cutter88

Lol well said :) it's defently a business u have to do for then love of the game not the money haha
Romans 10 vs 9 
650G lgp Deere , 640D deere, 644B deere loader, 247B cat, 4290 spit fire , home made fire wood processor, 2008 dodge diesel  and a bunch of huskys and jonsereds (IN MEMORY OF BARRY ROGERSON)

cityncountryguy

Quote from: Mandothis on January 27, 2015, 12:33:24 PM
How long have you been working on that 70 acres?  How many trees would u say you clean up a week?  What type of machines do you use?  Do you do anything else on the land besides forest managment?  Any homesteading or business ?

I originally purchased the place with a deer camp. Built a new home five years ago on it, to be ready to live there when retired. ( not far off ).
Hard to put  a number on the number of trees I cut a week. I am an avid hunter, love my deer and turkey hunting. So no trees get cut in May, and Oct. thru December. Probably been cutting trees steady in the woods for the past  five years.
I love to cut my trees all winter if the snow is not to deep, and I only cut early morning  thru the summer. My main goal is to keep my trees healthy for the wildlife, and for selective logging.
My equipment is a husky 450, a kubota B3200 tractor, and full safety gear. O yeah, need a new hard hat after I crushed it with the tractor on the firewood sale.....

coxy

all that big money you where going to make on that wood now has to go to a new hard hat  :D :D :D :D :D :D

cityncountryguy

Quote from: coxy on January 27, 2015, 02:47:55 PM
all that big money you where going to make on that wood now has to go to a new hard hat  :D :D :D :D :D :D

After the diesel, fuel and bar oil for saw, a couple lost lynch pins, a couple new saw chains, I be lucky if I have money left over for a new hard hat...lol......

coxy


Ed_K

 The way your doing it is just fine. If it takes 6 months to get a tri x load, so what, as long as your having fun and not pushing so hard you get hurt. And in the end if you sell a load it helped pay for the fun and some of the expenses.
Ed K

lopet

A thinning job to cut all the crap out will never make you any money, no matter what gear you're using. You just do that on your own land to improve the stand and have some nice logs harvested sometime down the road.

What keeps me in business is, I am not paying anything for a standing tree or stumpage.  People offer me fence lines to clear, square off a field here and there. When it comes to a thinning job I always walk the lot with the lo and mark some trees, who I think should come out. And then I say to him, and on top off those I will take anything what's crooked, diseased leaning, down or dead ( if any good ) and i will clean up your trails and landing. Are you OK with all that?

So i am taking pretty well anything what will never make a log plus a little bit more to make it worth while my effort.
People around here understand, that they can't have both . Getting a pay check when they log the lot and getting a pay check from the clean up guy.  With the EAB having arrived here, I don't think I will be out of wood anytime soon.


      
Make sure you know how to fall properly when you fall and as to not hurt anyone around you.
Also remember, it's not the fall what hurts, its the sudden stop. !!

Corley5

  I put myself out of the firewood business for the winter.  Well, mostly.  I've been turning away orders from anyone who isn't a long term client and most of the old timers I've got trained to get their wood early and get enough to last all winter but there's still a few  ;) ;D  I did a five face cord load last week for a long time customer, there's 150 bundles to do tomorrow, a five cord load and a 1.5 cord for two more long term customers in two weeks and a good heavy rounded up load for myself in the next few days.  I don't need the wood but with weather being not too bad any I do for myself is that much less I'll need to put in the shed next season.  It's a fight to do firewood this time of the year and I don't miss running the firewood machine day in and day out and delivering it in all kinds of nasty weather.  Start up times are longer in the morning.  Travel times are longer for deliveries.  I don't miss it all.  The load last week was the first that we ran since the New Year.  I'd rather sit in warm cab and kill trees than stand outside and run the firewood processer.  I can move all the 100" hardwood I can cut.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Lumberjohn

Well, I wouldnt be worried about a time frame, I dont see the firewood market getting below a certain price like logs fluctuate.
You are taking them out anyhow, keep piling them up.
I would say 50+ trees would make a load depending on size. straightness, length etc.

loggah

Anyone in the logging business will make sawlogs out of any piece of wood that will make a log, even pallet logs pay better then firewood, we never got much firewood unless we were doing a clearcut area , most of the old growth hardwood we cut on goverment property had big bully pulp and thats where it went to the pulp mills.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Lumberjohn

I would tend to think that a load of firewood would tend to sell quicker than a load of low grade, scrappy undersized logs would? for close to the same money. And there should be a tad less work in it.

loggah

you get as much for a load of hardwood pulp,as you would for firewood,and usually you get paid from the pulp mill!!! around here if you unload a load of firewood ,when it lands on the landowners property,its theres and you will get paid sometime. Ugly oak pallet was going for $400 per M this summer.
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

Peter Drouin

Quote from: loggah on January 28, 2015, 05:17:59 PM
you get as much for a load of hardwood pulp,as you would for firewood,and usually you get paid from the pulp mill!!! around here if you unload a load of firewood ,when it lands on the landowners property,its theres and you will get paid sometime. Ugly oak pallet was going for $400 per M this summer.



I see it all the time Loggar, The truckers I talk to would rather sell the hard wood for pallet then go to a customers house and try to put the load where ??? ??? ??? ::) ::) ::)
And then get a call to say they need 2 more wheel barrels full to have there 7 cords. :D :D :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

lopet

I guess it varies from region to region.  I ' ve  been offered truckloads of logs delivered in my yard, all hardwood for $ 2300.
With  not having a pulp mill near by trucking is big issue if they have to drive 20 min one way to unload or two hours. They claim they have 15 - 16 cords on a tandem with pup. That makes it about $ 150 a cord. With processing and delivery I would like to double my money, but around here I can't get $300.  I will keep this in mind until I don't feel like getting them myself anymore. ;D
There is a lot of logging going on right now just in my area and I heard the local mill is paying 150 per mbf for infected ash and they leave the tops. So you need about 5-6 trees at 16-18 " diameter to make a 1000.  For the Lo it's a salvage cut and take what you can , before they all die.
Make sure you know how to fall properly when you fall and as to not hurt anyone around you.
Also remember, it's not the fall what hurts, its the sudden stop. !!

reubenT

I never sell any firewood,   it always takes so much time and work to process, that what little it sells for wasn't worth the work to get.  I'd rather burn it myself and enjoy the result all winter.  And I added a bunch of wood to my neighbors woodshed.      Oh I see those fancy firewood prices out west.   But after paying shipping I'd still be getting the same price for it that it sells for locally.    And now after learning what charcoal is good for in the soil,  I've decided I'll process lots of firewood from my junk trees (as I can spare time) and run it through a charcoal kiln,  grind it up, use it for carbon in the soil where I'm clearing some places for growing good food.   It's a carbon that's stable and won't oxidize with warmer soil temps.   (not a problem in northern half of the country,  yer soil temp stays cool enough to prevent it)   Got a lot of stinkin tom (tree of heaven)  and buckeye that's worth nothing.   It's not much good for firewood either, too soft.  But anything makes good charcoal.

beenthere

Where might reubenT be located? Help understand your posts if you would add your location to your profile (just click on your name and your profile will show up there).  thanks
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

WH_Conley

Firewood around here is $150.00 per cord. Pulp is bringing about $23.00 a ton, $69.00 per cord. Then factor in fuel, saw chains and delivery charge, maybe another $30.00, it doesn't leave much in the form of a pay check.
Bill

Lumberjohn

I dont think he is doing it for a living, he said he was culling trees on his woodlot. All low grade stuff doesnt leave much in the pocket no matter logs, pulp, or firewood.
Pulp/firewood cuts a little better when there is some good to cut along with it.

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