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Buying logs

Started by ncsawyer, March 01, 2015, 12:22:17 AM

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ncsawyer

I know there is a lot of experience on the forum with procuring logs.  I know some loggers in my area, but it is like pulling teeth to buy logs from them.  I have bought logs in the past from a chip mill. Sometimes they will get some nice saw timber and he will set it aside for me and I will pay him pulpwood price by the ton.  He has a set of scales and I just pay him what he paid for it.  How does everybody buy their logs?  Do you buy them on scale? How do you get the logging crews to work with you?
2015 Wood-Mizer LT40DD35
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drobertson

I've done the exact as you, and I have found loggers that are on private timber, where the owner is just thinning so to speak, then you can contact the owner or the logger best to talk with both, a maybe pick them up the same, or have them delivered, just whatever works, if the weight has to be there for the record then either one of you would need to get weighed, but the log stick should work for most parties.  The advantage to picking up the logs is you can make the call on what you want to load, and what to leave, bigger mill don't really care, they just saw,


  

  

  

 
these are from a private land owner/logger, he had been selling by weight, but these are scaled with a stick,  I hear what you say about getting good ones delivered though, so many tracts are now bought up by mill owners, or they are bid contract jobs, so these I just watch go by everyday, all day long, I say get them where you can,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

ozarkgem

Now that is a load on you truck.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

fishfighter

So, what is the going price for the pine logs? I had ran a ad on craiglist looking to buy some pine logs. Had someone email me back selling some. I don't know what the going price is. Any ballpark idea?

ncsawyer

Yes that is a hefty load for 1 ton truck.  I can remember cutting 5ft pulp wood growing up and we had an old 1 ton truck with a 12ft bed.  If I remember correctly we could squeeze almost 2 cord on the truck.  It looked like it would flip over backwards.  ;D
2015 Wood-Mizer LT40DD35
Woodmaster 718 planer
Ford 445 Skip Loader

4x4American

I buy pine by the mbf on the international 1/4" scale around here it goes for $250/mbf delivered and $180/MBF picked up.  I too have found dealing with loggers to be a pita.  It's their job!  I have also found some good ones in the process, and them are the ones I give business to.  There are so many loggers around here, that I can be picky.  The problem is the loggers I like to give business to are gyppos mainly and they are just a one man show with a skidder.  So no loader to load me up.  Which means that I need a trucker with a self loader to either load me or I need to find a trucker who will deliver.  And dealing with truckers is worse than dealing with loggers.  I've been burned quite a few times, would have loads ordered, and they'd never show, I even went out to one job, picked out my logs, guy said he'd deliver them tomorrow..no call, no show, no answer.  It's the nature of that certain family though, I was warned.  But when you have orders to saw out, I'll take a risk.  Anyways, one thing I've also learned, is get what you can, when you can get it. For example if you have a guy who is supposed to get back to you about a load of logs, don't stop there, keep calling around and try to get someone else.  Then if you do find someone who has what you're looking for and you've got trucking figured out, just call back the other guy and say hey thanks but I got a load. 9x/10 they haven't done anything about your load yet anyways.  Just how i've found it to be.  Doesn't mean your experience will be the same.  Try to get on good terms with them, because good relationships with loggers are important to running a sawmill.  And don't limit yourself, try to become friendly with every logger you can, that way depending on what/where they're cutting you have a better chance of getting what you want.

   

    

 
Boy, back in my day..

4x4American

loading her up proper you are drobertson...is it Dr. Obertson  or D. Robertson?
Boy, back in my day..

Evergreen Man

I'm in the same boat as you, can't find some one willing to sell me logs. The few guys that have got back to me are 450-550 Mbf, the price is determined by supply and demand in the local area
I used to think I was crazy, then I realized: I'm the only normal one.

drobertson

Quote from: fishfighter on March 01, 2015, 08:07:42 AM
So, what is the going price for the pine logs? I had ran a ad on craiglist looking to buy some pine logs. Had someone email me back selling some. I don't know what the going price is. Any ballpark idea?
Not sure elsewhere, but I am paying $220 a thousand, in the past it's averaged $180-$200,  Having a good goose neck would help, if you have the truck to pull it.  Getting oak for me now is the challenge, timber tracts are being bought up in the blink of an eye, I'd say talking to some bigger mills, which I've done in a pinch, will get you some logs,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

ozarkgem

do you have trouble getting pine?
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

sandsawmill14

If you can get setup where you can buy logs the way the big mills do you can probably get all the logs you can saw. But that means sawing alot of pallet stock and rr ties so you have to find where to sell that but you will be able to pick your logs for the custom orders. ALWAYS count the butt logs when buying this way though we had a logger selling butts to another mill because they were paying $100 per thousand more so I told him all or none he took them 1 load of tree lenghth and seen how they could pay that for the butts. :D :D :D
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Farmer Jim

Quote from: 4x4American on March 01, 2015, 08:29:10 AM
  I too have found dealing with loggers to be a pita.  It's their job!  I have also found some good ones in the process, and them are the ones I give business to.  There are so many loggers around here, that I can be picky.  The problem is the loggers I like to give business to are gyppos mainly and they are just a one man show with a skidder.  So no loader to load me up.  Which means that I need a trucker with a self loader to either load me or I need to find a trucker who will deliver.  And dealing with truckers is worse than dealing with loggers.  I've been burned quite a few times, would have loads ordered, and they'd never show, I even went out to one job, picked out my logs, guy said he'd deliver them tomorrow..no call, no show, no answer.  It's the nature of that certain family though, I was warned.  But when you have orders to saw out, I'll take a risk.  Anyways, one thing I've also learned, is get what you can, when you can get it. For example if you have a guy who is supposed to get back to you about a load of logs, don't stop there, keep calling around and try to get someone else.  Then if you do find someone who has what you're looking for and you've got trucking figured out, just call back the other guy and say hey thanks but I got a load. 9x/10 they haven't done anything about your load yet anyways.  Just how i've found it to be.  Doesn't mean your experience will be the same.  Try to get on good terms with them, because good relationships with loggers are important to running a sawmill.  And don't limit yourself, try to become friendly with every logger you can, that way depending on what/where they're cutting you have a better chance of getting what you want.

   

    

 


I don't know about other areas, but around here most log jobs are guys cutting for a local mill that has already paid for the standing timber or the loggers are cutting on sawmill company property so the logger has no right to sell logs from the job.  In both cases, the crew works directly for the mill.  In other instances the loggers have been contracted by the landowner and the logs are to be sold by bid, as a group, without logs being siphoned off with no record for the landowner.  Dealing with loggers may be a pain and it may be their job,  but most of the time around here they have no right to sell to individuals.  Also, unless a guy is buying triaxle loads or more at a time, the pain may be the logger's as a little time here a little time there while only moving part of a load does add minutes or an hour to his already long day.   Finding the mill the logger sells to and buying logs from them or buying a small tract that bigger crews don't want tends to be more reliable for getting logs if a guy doesn't have his own.
 
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."  J.B.Books

IndianaJoe

The buyer for the local big mill is my neighbor and good friend. I am just getting into this game ,and asked him if there are any quality trees in the area that he just isn't interested in. His reply was that I could get all the trees I could handle within a 20 mile radius of my home, because the property owners had only a couple of trees and that only a few trees was not worth the cutting crews time. If this is true I could possibly be sitting on a goldmine.

4x4American

The big mill 5 min up the road from me has a fancy pants metal detector.  If it senses any metal in a log it culls it.  I want to try and buy these culled logs for cheap from the mill. 
Another thing, there's a guy with a log yard down the road from me.  He is an "acquirer of logs".  Pretty much he stocks up on whatever he can and sells them to the mills when no one else has what they need.  I have bought from him before, problem is, he's the middle man so you pay more. 

Farmer Jim-
Around here, everyone and their brother either cuts trees or digs in the dirt.  There are alot of loggers and mills.  The bigger mills will buy standing timber, and lots of them just own a bunch of their own land in which they harvest on some sort of a schedule.  But there's so many loggers that are cutting on a landowners property who just sell the logs to whatever mill is paying the most/buying what they're cutting. 
Boy, back in my day..

Peter Drouin

If you're going to buy logs you better have a lot of $$$$$$$ and pay the same $$ as the big mills. And when I truck load shows up you better buy it or they won't be back. Then the word gets out you turned away a nice load of logs. Not good.

In NH most all the loggers and mills know everyone in the game. Good luck
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License NH softwood grader.

sandsawmill14

Peter is exactly right  if treat them right they will tell everyone that asks, if you treat them wrong they will tell everyone they see

  got these friday smiley_thumbsup
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Billikenfan

Guys like (us/me small operation) are a pain in the but for loggers.  You have to take everything on the truck just like a mill.  That mean small, crooked, and soft centers.  You also have to pay at least what a mill does or sometimes over pay.  Going to the site and paying cash with a 12 pack really help.  Maybe show up around lunch time with a sack of cheeseburgers to get your logs.  If you go in the morning a bag of donuts helps also.  I buy a lot of shorts and firewood logs also.  By buying the logs nobody wants I get good ones too.  I have a great market for firewood so it works well for me to.  A tip for the guy running the job or loader will also get you invited back.  The guy I buy from now I take my skid steer and load myself.  I also load other guys who show.  I don't charge for loading the other guys because it helps the logger out. 

Scott
2015 Woodmizer LT40  Hydraulic 35hp
Mountain Home Firewood Kiln. Beaver Wood Eater Firewood Processer.  John Deere 260 Skid Steer.

YellowHammer

I buy from both independent loggers and big mills.  It's true saying that "money talks, BS walks." I pay a little more than market to get their attention, but it's not that much really, compared to the cost of not having logs. 
YH
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

fishfighter

I did talk to the guy that contacted me for some pine logs. Problem is he is well over 100 miles away. :'(

The search is still on.

Mean time with all the rain and mud, I had moved a bunch of dirt and I am building a logging road to my mill using scraps that I had cut off and a bunch of small gum trees logs  had pushed over. What a mess I have.

Evergreen Man

Quote from: fishfighter on March 02, 2015, 06:43:32 AM
I did talk to the guy that contacted me for some pine logs. Problem is he is well over 100 miles away. :'(




100 miles away? You mean 'just down the road' don't you? The one guy I'm considering buying from is at least 300 miles.
I used to think I was crazy, then I realized: I'm the only normal one.

Southside

You are not the only one with a mess, trust me.  We have had almost 2 feet of snow over the past week, the 1st foot melted and left the ground thawed, then the second foot arrived and is slowly melting - keeping the ground complete soup.  Even the cold nights won't allow any freezing since the snow is insulating the ground.  I can hand fell and run my tracked processor but have to leave trees where they fall.   Hoping for some dry weather soon, I don't like to make giant ruts to just have to go back and fix them.  Here we have red clay, acts a lot like your blue clay in that it sticks to everything and holds water like crazy.  So yea - even the loggers can't get logs!!! 
Franklin buncher and skidder
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Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

fishfighter

Well, another 3 1/2" of rain so far today with more to come. Everything is flooded. till more rain to come over the next few days.

AdirondackMill

I'm inundated with logs. I've taken in a million BDF already this year. My problem is guys trying to sneak in a load of crap because the shavings plant down the road shut them off.
3rd Generation Sawmill in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Making big timber is what I love.

4x4American

Last person who tried digging a hole round here said there was 5' of frost
Boy, back in my day..

Gideon_70

Quote from: IndianaJoe on March 01, 2015, 10:32:59 AM
The buyer for the local big mill is my neighbor and good friend. I am just getting into this game ,and asked him if there are any quality trees in the area that he just isn't interested in. His reply was that I could get all the trees I could handle within a 20 mile radius of my home, because the property owners had only a couple of trees and that only a few trees was not worth the cutting crews time. If this is true I could possibly be sitting on a goldmine.

This is what I do.  I have a log arch that runs behind my little tractor, and I can load in the street.  So I contact local tree trimmers and offer to pick up the trees for them.  They save money, I get trees often for free, and I keep sawing.  But I only do personal sawing, so a dozen trees a month is enough to keep me happy.
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