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Logging equipment

Started by dirthawger, December 20, 2017, 11:08:39 PM

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dirthawger

I just started my first logging job but Im doing it with my tractor. Everything i make on this job will go to buying some attachments to make it somewhat effecient. But im going to sell my stump grinder so i can get some actual logging equipment.  This will probably be a loaded question but im asking what some of y'all would say are must haves to make an honest go at it.

starmac

Every area is different and has different needs, so I sure can't help answer, but am thinking this will be an interesting thread.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

dirthawger

yea i reckon it will be haha, i was thinking skidder and feller buncher, i dunno

Skeans1

Is there any niche work in your area or anything you'd like to do?

barbender

You can always buy bigger, better, faster equipment to put up a pile of wood, the real challenge is making sure you can sell all the wood you produce at a profit.
Too many irons in the fire

starmac

Was your stump grinder a full time gig or a sideline?

Is this logging going to be full time or a sideline job?
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

celliott

Tractors are nice because they can do a lot of different things, very versatile equipment. They do have their drawbacks for logging though. Tires and unprotected hoses belly pans compartments being one of the biggest. You just cannot beat a dedicated forestry machine for logging. A Skidder is designed to do one thing, pull wood, and they're very good at it.

I guess you probably need to decide what you want to do. Full time logging, probably best to get a Skidder or other forestry machine. If the logging is just a once in awhile gig and you can use the tractor for hire to do other things there are some very good tractor options in the way of winches, grapples, and forwarding trailers that can be very productive, although you'd likely want to also invest in tire chains, skid plates, etc.
Chris Elliott

Clark 666C cable skidder
Husqvarna and Jonsered pro saws
265rx clearing saw
Professional maple tubing installer and maple sugaring worker, part time logger

shinnlinger

It seems around here its tough to get anyone to log a lot less than 50 acres due to the size and expense of feller bunchers/forwarders and what not.    If that is the case where you live, I would focus on the small(er) lot folks and being neat and tidy,  Some folks just want some trails and are willing to pay for a nice job.  I have a 34 horse CUT that obviously I don't production log with but it does sneak around the trees well and keeps the wife happy by not tearing everything up.  My point is there is the potential for a happy medium and with the right marketing and service you could fill it.
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Firewoodjoe

I see your in the south. I'm sure most of the loggibg it conventional tree length. If I were your I buy a cable skidder with some fat tires. There cheap to buy and one man hand cutting can still put a pile of wood out. Then a knuckleboom for your landing will double your production. And they can also be found cheap. Unless your cutting 40+ cord a day I'd hold off on a feller.

dirthawger

Right now the logging is part time on my days off and i work 15 days a month at my current job so its more than weekends, but the dream is to one day go fulltime. Well we are focusing on small lots right now, this one is 1/4 acre, haha. We gotta start somewhere. Yea a cable skidder would be awesome but with a grapple would be nice. Ive heard of this knuckleboom but I've googled it and they only show me pictures of bucket trucks. Yea im getting grapple for the front of my tractor but which one for the back, farmi winch or grapple? Stump grinding was a side gig but i pay $600 a month on that rig and could probably buy some decent logging equipment for that

thecfarm

You are posting about buying equipment for a tractor from what I read.
How many hp? I suppose 4wd drive?
I myself would say a winch. You can run cable out to get to a log without having to drive up to it. Yes,it would take longer, but make for a much better looking job. And if there is a lot of small trees,no road to be cut to get to the logs. And if running many slides,more than one small log can be winched into the tractor.
You really should protect those valve stems. But the tires have to come off the rims to weld on them.
A forwarder trailer would really do it!!!
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

dirthawger

Well yea id like opinions on which would be better for my 3pt a grapple or farmi winch. But id really like more info on actual logging equipment. I plan on using my tractor until i get enough money for some logging equipment.

thecfarm

You might find a market for small scale logging. Does not pay to move big equipment to do a small job.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

mike_belben

Go drive to all the mills and get price sheets. 

You will generate 10x more low grade than high grade wood out of any yard you get into and need a market for it.  Can you even sell firewood in louisiana?  Firewood prices, pulp prices and tie log prices are critical to unload all the low grade.    In yards, its pretty likely the nicest trees will contain iron.  Mills will turn you away if you get a reputation for iron strikes.


Im not trying to pick on you, but your very basic questions make It sound like a bucket truck is what you should be buying.  The condition of trees and the rate you can remove them is almost irrelevant in tree removal on a charge basis.. Yer gonna get paid.   With logging the quality if the trees and rate you can move them is critical. 

Tree removals will give you logs, and you need logs to learn the market ropes.  A logger buys logs.  A tree removal contractor charges for them.  Start on the easy side and transition over to the harder one imo.
Praise The Lord

Skeans1

If you decide to log start looking into CTL two guys or heck just yourself with a combination machine that does everything from cutting, yarding, to loading trucks. We run a two man CTL operation in the PNW the nice thing is you run on slash, everyone is off the ground, and insurance costs are much lower, production hand falling on good ground is a losing all day everyday with a grapple skidder.

Have you spent any time on a logging side before? If not the best way to learn is to work on one for a while. Then my only other thing I could think of is to contract cut for a company even up here that's super common a good way to get started.

kiko

Not to discourage, but decent logging equipment is not available for six hundred a month.

Bogue Chitto

I don't do much logging, but did a lot with a tractor after hurricane Katrina.  Logging with a tractor is hard on it.  I put a lot of damage on on my John Deere.  If you can put a forestry package around it. 

starmac

Are you planning on having trucks with self loaders come in and haul your logs, or are you going to need a way to load them, if so some type of log loader would be a high priority I would think If you are hiring trucks, it needs to be substantial to load them in a timely manner, or you will have trouble getting and keeping a trucker interested.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

starmac

How much equipment can you afford to move in for a 1/4 acre job. I know every where is different and log prices vary do to type and location, but around here 1/4 acre would not pay to even move the basic must have in.

I hauled for some small outfits. The most efficient one, shovel logged. The only equipment he had was a shovel (large one) and a 650 john deere dozer with a logging package.
Him and one more guy could easily load out 2 loads a day 5 days a week. This was pulp, this was clear cutting, and at temps averaging below zero, change any of those three things and it would have slowed his production considerably.
I hauled for another guy that had only a blade runner excavator with a thumb and a saw period. He could with a lot of effort get a load of saw logs out a day. He was contract cutting for the mill, and they had built the roads for him, or at the minimum, he would have also had to have a dozer. His excavator was barely adequate to unload my trailer, infact he finally dropped it and it cost him his profits for a few days or a week.
The mill he was working for let him limb with the excavator, any other mill would have probably have cut his production in half, as it was he went belly up  during the second season anyway.

There is another guy that seems to be pretty successful, with minimal equipment. He hand cuts uses a bobcat to skid and load on a small single axle truck with bunks and a dump on it. he has a feller hired and another guy that limbs and tops and just does firewood, either delivering in 16 feet lengths, or hauling them to his own yard where he has a processor and sells processed firewood. He also has a 450 JD dozer he uses.

All of these guys have minimum  move in costs, because they do not use a lot of equipment, and they log big enough parcels to be on the same cut for 2 to 4 years between moves.

So as you can see, there are a lot of variables and ways to profit without a lot of equipment, you just have to find what will work for you.

If your stump grinder is paying it's own way and putting some bucks in your pocket, I would think hard before selling it, I know grinding stumps pays more here than small time logging for the hours put in by far.
These were both old time experienced loggers
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

longtime lurker

Loggers get paid on production, and production with small gear on small lots is hard to get for a whole lot of reasons. I would be trying to get paid for "stand improvement", "property development" "access roads" "dam building" "clean up work" etc where you are being paid to be there to do the work and the logs are a bonus or are a deduction from the landowners bill. Thats a lot different to paying to be there to get logs out.

Whole lot of variables depending on location but I'd be thinking skid steer or small dozer or excavator in order to market the service and log on the side.

Theres a whole whack of difference between gear that pays for you and you paying for gear and i think mostly it would be a struggle trying to build a business from nothing without good timberland these days. SKidders are great for logging but pretty much useless at anything else: aint no one going to pay you to push dirt or clear vegetation with just a skidder.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

starmac

I am curious, on jobs such as the 1/4 acre job you are currently on, do you have to do anything with the tops or cut down any unmarketable wood??
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

Firewoodjoe

If u want to full time it forget the tractor. If the wood lots your buying will alow tree length then your cheapest highest production machine using a chainsaw to fell is a cable skidder. Ctl is exspenise to buy. You need to google some of these terms and Google southern logging.

luvmexfood

I do some logging here on the farm using a tractor. Without a doubt a winch would be the first addition. Make sure you have a good saw. I started using what I had. An older stihl 029. Gnawed on a lot of larger trees getting them down and it was a booger to start. Last straw was when I geared up one morning, carried everything down in the woods and it would't start. Went saw shopping without a lot of money. Bought an Echo 590. What a difference. Cut a  30dbh hard maple down in less time than I would have cut the face cut with the stihl. Still not a pro saw but a good step up for part time use. If I could, I would kick my own rear for not getting a bigger saw when I started.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

dirthawger

yea ill have to google CTL and slasher and southern logging. But i talked to a couple small loggers in my area and they charge the land owner 50-100 a tree to cut it down. But i was hoping to offer my sawmill service along with logging. But yes a loader is definitely a must have for me,  im hauling with my 1 ton and will need a bigger trailer cause i can only haul 5 tons but saw timber where im selling goes for $48 a ton and $22 a ton for pulp

mike_belben

Charging a land owner per tree is the tree removal business.  Logging is paying a landowner for a tree.  Stay on the side youre on for now.. until you can grade a standing tree in winter from 50feet. 

youve got a stump grinder and a sawmill.   a bucket truck and a chipper will complete the package and get you a lot of work.  Bring the nice logs home to your sawmill.  You can parbuckle them onto the trailer if you have to.   

Timber markets as well as the stock markets are in bubbles right now.  A downturn is overdue and when it comes a lot of outfits will go belly up.  Thats when you should consider buying into logging equipment.  Even at firesale prices, CTL harvester logging takes a CDL and $100k.  The proceeds from a typical used stump grinder might buy you a few saws. 

What model tractor do you have?  Front loader?  4wd?  3 point hitch?
Praise The Lord

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