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Markets are Tough Up Here

Started by Corley5, August 03, 2016, 07:45:17 PM

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Corley5

We've been pounding out cordwood and haven't been keeping track of what's going on in long wood markets.  Well it's really tight.  I've been collecting basswood pulp and pallet bolts.  Basswood is a minor component in this payment unit I'm finishing and now have almost a twenty cord load of each and figured it was time to make some calls to cash it in to get in to the next unit.  The pallet mill where the bolts normally go had a fire a week or so ago.  It was on the local news so I was expecting that possibly they weren't taking wood.  Well they aren't and it may be as long as nine months before they have their mill running again :o :( :o :(  Instead they're buying cants to resaw.  The softwood pulp market for us little guys has all but dried up.  It's been tight since last fall and has gotten worse.  The guy I market mine through has a quota of one train load of basswood pulp a month and that's forecast to get worse in the last quarter.  He doesn't have another load until September and that's not a sure thing but I'm on the list  ;) :)  Until then the pulp gets lighter every day.   Sugar maple flooring bolts took a hit but are coming back.  I had very few on this unit and was sorting them out but never got to ten cords and the older ones were beginning to stain.  They make firewood quick  ;) :)  Grade logs both sugar maple and basswood took their normal summer slump plus some but are forecast to come back as the weather starts to cool off.  I might be able to move the pallet bolts to another mill next week.   They've got an order for pallets and need the wood.  Waiting for a call back.  The hardwood pulp market is limited too but I'd just as soon bank any extra for firewood anyway.   
  Glad I'm in the processed firewood business too.  There's still a hundred or so face cords on order  8) 8)  It's good to be diverse :)  I'll leave the basswood bolt and pulp trees stand for now as well as the grade sugar maple and basswood and come back after I slick out the hardwood pulp and when and if the market comes back for the basswood pulp and bolts.  I'll cut the grade this fall after it cools off.  They're too big for the harvester anyway and not only will they keep better it's too hot to run a chainsaw now  ;D :)  It all keeps better on the stump anyway.  This unit has more grade logs than the last.  That's a good thing  8)  The joys of the forest products industry  ::) ;) ;D. 
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

snowstorm

not much better in the northeast

Ed_K

Ed K

CCC4

Market is stable here, picky but buying. Staves are holding, $1.30 average I think, very few not bought out of the piles by the buyer.

timberlinetree

Chip plant in ct has a near full yard. People must be nervous/getting prepared, selling lots of green firewood.
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mills

Like CCC4 said, staves are good. And picky is the word. Red oak butt cuts are down a little from spring prices. Actually had one marked mineral a few weeks ago. First time I'd seen that in a while.  :( Seems that the prices for the rest of the tree is staying up. Buyers are trying to earn their money. Seeing a lot of nickle variation from one log to the next.

danbuendgen

Quote from: Corley5 on August 03, 2016, 07:45:17 PM
it's too hot to run a chainsaw now

What? Too hot??!! Never heard of such a thing.
Just kidding. What are the summer temps over your way? I hear it gets hotter in the mid west then in New England. Today, when we left the landing, my pickup said it was 90*F. Not too bad in my opinion. I switched to chopping with my 390xp last week. Typically I chop with a 562xp, but (maybe its just me) I think the bigger saw runs cooler this time of year. The little ones make so much more heat, my hands sweat like crazy, more then when I run the big guy. Plus the 562 floods easily in the heat of summer.

Yeah, the wood markets suck everywhere. I can only do one load a week on pine now. Hemlock and hardwood are wide open. No pulp really. I'm lucky, got on a buddy's hemlock pulp quota, but otherwise no pulp markets. And the firewood market is flooded from last year. Mild winter+cheap fuel=Flooded firewood market for the next year..... I hope this winter is COLD COLD COLD. With little snow!!!
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Ed_K

 I noticed my 562 xpg ran hot that was in june before I got sick, the 576xpg ran cooler too, just remember to make sure the heated handle button isn't on  ;D .
Ed K

danbuendgen

Quote from: Ed_K on August 05, 2016, 07:10:38 PM
I noticed my 562 xpg ran hot that was in june before I got sick, the 576xpg ran cooler too, just remember to make sure the heated handle button isn't on  ;D .

Oh, I know. The heated handle will burn your hands in the winter through gloves! I can't imagine what it would do this time of year!
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xalexjx

i think the wood market is pretty well flooded, im cut to about 40 ton a week of hw pulp and half that for hemlock, just being a little less picky for what wood goes on the processor now for cut/ split which seems to be pretty steady with a lot of my return customers,
Logging and Processed Firewood

Ken

Markets are tough here this year as well.  Some mills have restricted volumes and other low grade products are not moving at all.   Not sure of the reason but there has been a lot of new machines bought over the past couple of years and I think local industry has gone from having a shortage of wood producing capacity to a glut. 
Lots of toys for working in the bush

ehp

mills are pretty full here and that's not a good sign for this time of the year , I'm still selling everything and still at a good price but I can sure feel we are going to get the word no more logs until ?  A lot of guys are cutting this summer that never cut this time of the year . Normally once fall hits its go as hard as you can but I'm not thinking that's going to happen this year

Ramicorn

Same here in NS, most guys on quota, some prices have dropped. Like you said Ken alot of guys have geared up here in last couple years and with biomass basically shut down we have too much harvesting capacity.

Jamie_C

We are in qoutas everywhere now too, and to make things even better we are now restricted to working between 8pm and 10am due to the extremely dry conditions. DNR has put a travel ban on in the woods for the entire province, permits are required for tbe general public to go off of public roads

furltech

I guess there is a fire in perch lake now jamie

Jamie_C

Yeah there is, bunch of my guys got caught up in the traffic jam it caused ... fire trucks, police and rubber neckers

Corley5

  The last couple days have been pretty nice, got a little rain but we need more and it's cooled off.  It was in the upper 60s and mid seventies today.  Hot for us is anything over 85.  If it's in the 90s it's really bad  ;) ;D  A chainsaw doesn't fit my hands very well anymore.  The fit is even worse when the temps are anything over 25F  ;D :D ;) over 70 and I can't even find a chainsaw :)
  One fairly big CTL outfit decided to go into cordwood in a big way.  They bought a bigger Block Buster a couple years ago to use as a side line.  This year because of the hardwood pulp market they went all out.  They out fitted a couple F550s with dump boxes.  Set up a wood yard at their shop's yard, got a little Cat loader to feed the machine instead of the old JD 544.  They got some firewood bags etc.  I talked with one of the owners back in the early spring and the goal was 6,000 face cords a year.  He offered to buy my client list.  Last I heard they'd had enough and were pushing 100" firewood instead.  No $$$$ for them in processed wood.
  When I got my firewood machine almost 11 years ago there were 5 other machines in the area.  There must be close to 15 maybe more now. 
  Been working on a career change and the state of the industry is hurrying that along  :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Mooseherder

I've been wondering how the Vineyard is doing and growing.  Will that be your career change?

Corley5

  That'll be a big part of it.  The vines are well established but they've suffered from a lack of attention from me because I'm spending too much time in the forest products industry.  Next season we're starting they're training over. A year from this coming spring maybe sooner ;) :) I would like to be done with the primary harvesting end of the forest products industry and focus entirely on grapes. 
  We've got another iron in the fire that's getting pretty hot too.  It and grapes should complement each other well  ;D :)  Spring and fall harvests  ;) :)
 
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

timberlinetree

Went by the Chip plant while dropping a load off at the mulch plant. Really full and way in the back corner they are making firewood :-\.

  

  mulch plant
I've met Vets who have lived but still lost their lives... Thank a Vet

Family man and loving it :)

Corley5

  I was able to move a train load of 100" basswood bolts yesterday.  To get this mill to take them I had to agree to ship them all my basswood grade logs.  They want/need 126" logs with minimum 11" tops.  Still no market for the basswood pulp.  I can move 100" sugar maple flooring bolts but the specs have tightened.  They want at least 8" inside the bark on the small end and no stain.  We used to be able to slip in a few 7"s as long as they were straight and a little stain wasn't an issue.  We've been turning the hardwood pulp into firewood as fast as I can get it to the firewood machine.  Still got 75 face cords on order.  I'm ready for cooler weather.  Got some repair work/maintenance to do and clean up what's cut in the woods with the forwarder before we go back at again.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

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