How many of you guys log/or saw lumber as your full time job?

[Woodhauler]

I myself have been in the logging business since high school full time! Started in grammer school working with dad on school breaks! Seems like a hundred years has gone by but its all been worth it! ;D

[furltech]

I log full time also ,same here started pulpcutting as a kid now i am 42 and just bought my first mechanical harvester and i also have a old tj 230 forwarder and one manual cutter who is on the verge of retirement .

[snowstorm]

I log full time also ,same here started pulpcutting as a kid now i am 42 and just bought my first mechanical harvester and i also have a old tj 230 forwarder and one manual cutter who is on the verge of retirement .

what did you get for a harvester??

[Mark K]

I log full-time or work in the shop on equipment of mine or others to generate a little extra. I've cut wood most my life with my dad. Started really getting into cutting saw logs and pulp about eight years ago as well as running the mill. Went full time this past spring after we sold our dairy. It's been a struggle this fall with all the rain but the mill I cut for has enough work for me for a long while. Starting to get on my feet again. Couldn't imagine doing anything else. 

[JDeere]

I log full-time in the winter and have a sitework company for the rest of the year. Next week we are moving to a 27,000 acre parcel where Maine, New Hampshire and Quebec come together.

[crtreedude]

Well, my company does - does that count?

When I was a teenager, I cut firewood as a way to make money some winters, but aside from that I haven't cut that much wood, personally. Someone has to man the office, unfortunately.

[CX3]

I log full time.  I also sell around 150-200 cord of seasoned oak a year.  I started out as a log cutter for a guy, enjoyed it so I bought my own equipment and started bidding timber.  It has worked out well so far, I love it. 

[paul case]

i think i fit in here.
i run a manual bandmill 3 or 4 days a week. haul my own logs and cut most of them too. i cut lumber for a couple pallet makers and some grade and ties occasionally. i also cut for customers on their logs or mine. most is either farm lumber or specialty products.
i also pastor a church and have an 80 head cow/calf operation where we make all our own hay. i farm this with my dad who also has 70 cows himself.
i think that is really considered muilt-vocational, but full time none the less. pc

[tlandrum]

ive been cutting since about age 13 or 14 and im now in my later 30's logging full time for myself and been self employed since 18. would you get the dust in your veins you become addicted.

[Cedarman]

I am a little like cr, mostly point my finger and let others do the sawing.  Run the skid steer a lot. Maintain the moulder, started a logging job with 60,000 feet of cedar to get out.  Taking everything 1" and up.  Total clear cut for oak regeneration.  I even saw sometimes.  Been doing it for 20 years now.  Love it, as anyone who has been around me knows I can talk "cedar" 24-7.  About 1/2 the day is phone work and e-mails.

[furltech]

I just bought a small setup it is a kubota kh28 carrier (big mini excavator) with a patu 400sh stroke head, not super fast but there isnt much it wont limb and my outfit are not speed demons anyway, i shoot for steady .

[HousewrightVA]

Cedarman,
What do you do with 1" stuff ?

[Papa1stuff]

He makes pencils !! ;D ;D

[Kansas]

I am kind of like crtreedude and cedarman. In the early days, I both logged and ran the mill. I haven't done either for years. Dealing with employees, suppliers, bank, and customers takes up all my time. I have had a chance to cruise a few timbers lately though. Forgot how much fun it is to be back out in the timber. One thing about logging or running the mill. You can see the fruits of your labor pile up. Now I am reduced to the other stuff. Inlcluding all those "I got this 60" diameter walnut tree in my yard I planted 25 years ago. What will you give  me for it?"

[Autocar]

I started with a sawmill in 77 and now just log, but getting to a place in my life where I pick my jobs and don't get to excited anymore  8)

[plasticweld]

Logging is not my only job, I own two other companies but spend about 60 to 70 hours a week in the woods. I own a construction business that has seen a 70 percent drop in business, a internet business that specializes in repairing and painting motorcycle parts from all over the world and the logging business. Last year I worked only part time as a logger because the other companies where doing well. Logging was always something we did to keep everyone that worked for me busy during the slow times so all the employees would be able to get a pay check and never collect un-employment. It has gone from a fill in business to the mainstay with a down turn in the economy. We run two skidders and will cut about 3/4 of a million feet this year, I work for the most part 7 days a week. I would love to know if anyone can make it in this business working part time or even 40 hours a week. While the woods has always been a place for me to make money the last 33 years it has alway required much more than a causal effort. I figured while I must not be a smart as my fellow loggers I would have to make up my short commings with longer  hours :}

[treefarmer87]

it the only job i want to do, i have been doing it for a few years now, cant do anything else

[Cedarman]

Housewright, 1" cedar poles are sometimes used in furniture building.  We have several customers that buy tractor trailer loads of 2", 3" , 4" and some 5" poles for furniture building.  Sometimes they want 1" so we need to keep several hundred around.  Universal Studios in Fl had us send 2 huge pallets of 2" x 8' or so ugly cedar poles that were aged so that they looked like sticks the hippogriff would use to make a nest.  (hippogriff is the big bird Harry Potter flew in his movies).  If you go on the ride , you can see the hippogriff on a 15' diameter nest of cedar poles.

About 10 years ago we sent about 8000 cedar 1/2" to 1" tops to 2" base x 8 to 10' long to Scandinavia for a Viking fence.  We cut these off the nature conservancy near Murfreesboro Tn.  They got their glade cleared and we got some good value.  I could cut 500 poles in 6 to 8 hours.  We then gathered 15 to a bundle , used baler twine to wrap and put them on a trailer pulled by a 4 wheeler.  Then when we had all the bundles we needed, they brought in a container and we stuffed it full.

I stockpile the 1" in bundles and wait for an e-mail or the phone to ring.  They will stay nice for 2 or 3 years off the ground.

2", 3" and 4" we either sell rough or run through a German peeler to smooth them out.

[bill m]

I would love to know if anyone can make it in this business working part time or even 40 hours a week.

Winters I work 6 or 7 days a week logging and take most of the rest of the year off. The rest of the year once in a while I might do a small clearing job ( 1/2 acre or less )  or cut a few special logs for some timber framers. Other than that I spend time working around my yard or in the woods on my mountain bike. Oh, and some time for hunting in the fall.

[Corley5]

I cut timber and have a firewood processing enterprise.  It's full time sometimes more hours than the family would like.  I also have a hay business and am venturing into the production of wine grapes this spring.  It's all better than working for someone else  ;) ;D ;D ;D

[doghunter]

I log and sawmill full time sorting everything for the best money have been on my own since 1976 my father and uncle logged since 1946 several partnerships over the years but now just myself and 2 part timers [my father who is 76 still offbears at our 0 frick manual mill] like it this way less headaches and time for other things  [kids,volunteer fire dept,the wife,and a little hunting and fishing]