Finally sold some lumber today

ozarkgem · July 16, 2016, 08:19:33 PM

I looked in my book and the last sale I made was May 26. I don't sell a lot of lumber but I like to sell a little along for upgrade and blade money. Been a long dry spell.

bkaimwood · July 16, 2016, 08:56:57 PM

Congratulations...hang in there, buddy!! My slowest lumber sales started a few weeks back, and is protected to be slow through when the kids go back to school...then drop back off for 3 weeks around Christmas...then the busiest follows...this has been a 2 year trend. Sawing jobs have been very busy, but are slowing, projected until early fall. Everyone's situation is different, just gotta try to recognize the patterns, and adapt....

WV Sawmiller · July 16, 2016, 09:43:29 PM

Ozark,

Congrats on the sale. Maybe the dam is broken. I prefer to do mobile sawing and hope one day to grow up to be like the MagicMan :D. I do sell a little lumber from salvage (dead/dying ash and fallen trees) and thinning my poplar which is pretty plentiful. I try to custom cut but always end up with some excess side lumber so I store it but try not to keep too much in stock. I'd rather have the logs ready to cut to order than the wrong size lumber already cut. I advertise in the local trader but it also gets my foot in the door for custom sawing their logs.

Today my favorite customer, a young man with a custom furniture business, called desperate for 300-400 bf of poplar for orders he already has. I am committed next week so went out late this afternoon and cut a decent poplar tree (18-20 inches small end first log) and bucked off 4-10' logs and snaked the 2 bottom logs out off the steep wet slope. One is already on the mill ready to cut in the morning. I should be able to cut them tomorrow and have enough to get him out of the jam Monday morning before my other family commitments kick in.

Kbeitz · July 16, 2016, 09:54:19 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on July 16, 2016, 09:43:29 PM
Ozark,

Congrats on the sale. Maybe the dam is broken. I prefer to do mobile sawing and hope one day to grow up to be like the MagicMan :D. I do sell a little lumber from salvage (dead/dying ash and fallen trees) and thinning my poplar which is pretty plentiful. I try to custom cut but always end up with some excess side lumber so I store it but try not to keep too much in stock. I'd rather have the logs ready to cut to order than the wrong size lumber already cut. I advertise in the local trader but it also gets my foot in the door for custom sawing their logs.

Today my favorite customer, a young man with a custom furniture business, called desperate for 300-400 bf of poplar for orders he already has. I am committed next week so went out late this afternoon and cut a decent poplar tree (18-20 inches small end first log) and bucked off 4-10' logs and snaked the 2 bottom logs out off the steep wet slope. One is already on the mill ready to cut in the morning. I should be able to cut them tomorrow and have enough to get him out of the jam Monday morning before my other family commitments kick in.

In the furniture business and useing fresh cut logs ?

WV Sawmiller · July 16, 2016, 10:35:18 PM

Kbeitz,

No. He needed to get the lumber in the kiln ASAP or he will be even further behind on his orders.

paul case · July 16, 2016, 11:34:53 PM

I know what you mean about a dry spell.
We just shut down for the last 2 weeks of June and Monday the 4th of July. I had been buying logs and getting them delivered to me until I was almost outta money. There is something like 12,000 ft of RO and WO logs that are waiting on us to get them sawn before the sun dries them out. Twill be ties and grade for us for til almost September at least since I bought another 10k ft last Thursday.

PC

ozarkgem · July 17, 2016, 07:23:29 AM

I have ads in all the local CL. I had a guy call call Friday afternoon at 5min till 5 and wanted 200 1x6 Cedar . I said I have 100 in stock and could have the other the first of the week. He said he needed them before the weekend. :

. Also wanted them delivered 100 miles away. I declined.

OffGrid973 · July 22, 2016, 11:11:29 PM

Hi guys,

Just got back from Vermont which I took a quick detour to log rite (ad on left) and I actually dropped 10 slabs at a furniture maker last year. Went up ~8 months later and was expecting to bring home 1/2 the wood I originally left, instead he gave me a check. I know it's risky but slab furniture is hot right now so make a few slabs for bookmatched tables and if the handshake is solid maybe roll the dice. Building the relationship is key, and once everyone is heading the same direction you can allow everyone to enjoy American Made lumber / furniture !!! Some may even be able to make it great again

Magicman · July 23, 2016, 07:52:53 AM

It's all about developing and supplying the market, and I respect solid handshakes.

ozarkgem · July 23, 2016, 08:08:30 AM

I get plenty of calls and "I am on the way" and about 95% no show. I had one guy call me 3 times and said he was on the road at 9am. Finally got in touch with him at 2:30 and he said he wasn't going to make it. He said "I guess I should have called". I get so tired of this.

Knute · July 24, 2016, 11:57:50 AM

I have had some trouble with no-shows too. Sometimes I think it may be others with lumber for sale who just want to make things difficult. Have had the best luck selling in December.

Alligator · July 24, 2016, 01:31:32 PM

I've been fully or partially in sales in 3 different business, since I was 18, I am 62 now. I can't remember one (1) month of July that sales were good. In the sawmill business we took 2 weeks off for the 4th of July because in the boom years between 1965 - 1974 we didn't sell anything in July.

The moral of this story is, every year plan for poor business in July. If you have good business feel blessed, you were lucky. :-[

autotomk · July 26, 2016, 06:06:07 AM

Good morning all. I sell very little lumber to the general public, have delt with many, many no shows in the past, and that is very frustrating especially if you set aside something to wait for the no show.

We are sawing part time now and sell pretty much all our lumber to a larger grade and tie mill. Have to pay trucking which is not bad for only 20 miles. The arangment is I send a guy over when thay are sawing to throw the boards on his green chain to be graded. Then I split the trucking bill to ship to his buyer. I get paid right a way. Works good for us.

One draw back is in these hot summer days I need to buy log species that match what he is sawing. I don't feal comfortable at all letting lumber sit around waiting to sell. I don't have the money and stain is a problem as well ,even though we sticker every thing except.white ash and oak.

Perhaps there are larger mills in your area the would buy your lumber???

Oh and by the way.alligator, that looks like a real aliggator in that profile pic. Looks like he is eating good too. That could be a good thing or bad depending on his diet

thecfarm · July 26, 2016, 06:31:22 AM

phone calls :

Same way at the hardware store I work at. Customer will call,do you have? we will go find the infro,price,size,how to use it,install it,than they say,I will in to pick it up. The new guy will place it on the counter. After it sits there for 2 days,I tell them to take care of the 4-5 items that the customers said,I will be in to pick it up.People mean well,but life gets in the way.

ozarkgem · July 26, 2016, 07:48:29 PM

Quote from: thecfarm on July 26, 2016, 06:31:22 AM
phone calls : Same way at the hardware store I work at. Customer will call,do you have? we will go find the infro,price,size,how to use it,install it,than they say,I will in to pick it up. The new guy will place it on the counter. After it sits there for 2 days,I tell them to take care of the 4-5 items that the customers said,I will be in to pick it up.People mean well,but life gets in the way.
[/quote
Some may mean well but I think a lot of them have the (everybody owes me something) and they want you to wait just in case they decide to show up. Totally self absorbed. No one matters but them.

WV Sawmiller · July 26, 2016, 08:14:31 PM

Guy and his lady came over this afternoon and bought all the poplar I had left over from my mule hauling expedition. Had been cut about 3 months. Had a little over 160 bf. I had cut a little over 300 bf of shorter stuff yesterday and today but he wanted drier stuff. I am always happy to clear out a storage area to give me more flexibility to store next batch.

I try to cut on demand so anything I have in storage is either salvage from a dead or dying or fallen tree or the side and top lumber left over from an order.

ozarkgem · July 26, 2016, 08:37:00 PM

I usually stock 1x4, 1x6 and table slabs in Cedar. 95% of the people ask for these sizes. I have a lot of other lumber stacked around under metal that I have planned for a future project. Guess I would sell it but no one ask about it.

Chop Shop · July 27, 2016, 12:57:17 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on July 26, 2016, 06:31:22 AM
phone calls : Same way at the hardware store I work at. Customer will call,do you have? we will go find the infro,price,size,how to use it,install it,than they say,I will in to pick it up. The new guy will place it on the counter. After it sits there for 2 days,I tell them to take care of the 4-5 items that the customers said,I will be in to pick it up.People mean well,but life gets in the way.

I dont prep for orders/folks. It will jinx you every time. If your not ready they will show up and want more than discussed. If you cut it ahead or pull it and put in on the forks, NO SHOW! Every time!

Now a repeat customer, whole different story. I will go out of my way of help ahead of time.