Excited to get started

[newguy]

Hello all,

I have been visiting the forum for a while now trying to learn all I can from you vets.  I am building my own bandmill, I have a little chunk of land with some really nice White Pine and White Ash on it.  I am building the mill to make use of some of this stuff and also just for the challange of it.  I am an ex-machinist and current machine designer.

My question is:  If the mill comes out as good as I hope it is going to and I am actually able to cut at a reasonable rate,  is there any money in it?  Can I make a little extra cash?

Thanks for your input,

newguy

[AtLast]

AHHHHHHHHHHH the $50,000,000.00 question.....there are ALOT of variables  ie: where you are....what is available...demand in your area...quality of logs...quality of lumber....thing to do is keep reading and learning and you'll be able to answer these questions yourself. As a " hobby" you'll love it....as a source of income it's possiable.....as a living....well....keep reading posts. good luck and welcome to the FF.

[Furby]

Ahhhhhhh, AtLast?
I've been hanging around here for more then a year now and I STILL can't answer those ?'s.  :-/

But I think you are right!   ;D ;) ;)

[newguy]

Atlast,

I am hoping to make a few extra bucks as a hobby more than anything else at this point.  I have always loved being outside and working with wood so I am sure I will love it.  As far as making a living goes.... well I am not setting my hope too high.

Thanks,
Newguy

[Percy]

Heya Newguy
I been cutting since March of 97. It was a sideline/second income for me and it worked very well. I would operate my own logtruck all week and cut wood all weekend and whenever there was no work for the log truck. Last May, I sold the log truck as it was not earning its keep, bought a new fangled mill with gizzmo's up the wazzooo. I been cutting fulltime since then and its a tuff road to hoe...BUT I aint giving up. Im in a slightly downward holding pattern as far as financial matters go. I have learned more in the last year that I did in the first 6 years of partime milling.(Marketing and getting alla your ducks in a row are HUGE when doing this fulltime. Still, I love doing it and am gonna keep at it. There is bucks to be made but finding where they are at is trickey ;D ;D

[shopteacher]

Percy, ya gots to grow some black cherry up there. Seen in woodshop news today going price 6.25 a bd/ft and the guy being interviewed only concern was he might not be able to get enough.

[newguy]

Hey Percy,

Thanks for the encouragement, I think.  Really though, glad to here you are stickin with it.  Must be worth something huh?

Newguy

[Percy]

Shop teacher...Thanks for the tip...ya got any seeds?? ;D :D

Newguy...I dont mean to make it sound bad. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. As a sideline to a regular paying job, I wouldnt be scared to get/build a mill. After a while, you'll be dodgin phonecalls. Trying to make a fulltime smalltime sawmilling carreer is a bit tuffer if you like steak, the balloney is tasten good these days. On the positive, I get to live a lifestyle that not many others do. I can get up late if I choose(not a goodthing to do often, but I dont have to ask anyone), I get to meet alot of interesting folks with similar interests as mine. Just an observation but alot of the local rich folks here just arnt very happy people. Im thinkin that big money thing aint all its cracked up to be.

To anyone who thinks theyd like to try/get a mill, I say go for it..within reason...cause if you dont,you will regret it when you are 85 years old, sitting on  the front porch with bad knees whlie some young 50 year old goes driving by with the latest thing in portable mills. Sawmilling is a rewarding thing to do, mebey spiritually more than financially.

[Kevin_H.]

One of the things that keeps me going is that when I am self employed I will be in charge of my own destiny...

Too many times I have read about people losing there jobs because some CEO screwed up the company or took it for all it was worth.

Nope, If anyone screws up my future it will be me...Ok that didnt sound just right, but I think you know what I mean. ;D

[HORSELOGGER]

Hey Percy, get yerself a lil beef calf, and build him a pen by the mill yard. Keep him fed up and soon you can have yer steak again :D Keep him bedded down with all yer sawdust, and after he .. uh.. "leaves" ..  ;) You can grow some nice veggies to go with him ;D ( I hate baloney)

[Percy]

Hey Percy, get yerself a lil beef calf, and build him a pen by the mill yard. Keep him fed up and soon you can have yer steak again :D Keep him bedded down with all yer sawdust, and after he .. uh.. "leaves" ..  ;) You can grow some nice veggies to go with him ;D ( I hate baloney)

:D :D :D :DGood thinkin Horselogger :D :D :D

[crtreedude]

I think you are going about it the right way.  Start small, enjoy it, and then if it builds, quit your day job.

I think so many of you are saying a similar thing, it is more important to be happy than to make a pile of money. (Noticed I didn't say anything of the pile of money AND being happy) I have worked in an area where people made a lot of money, but the stress was a killer.  The common refrain was "one of these days I am going to buy a hotdog stand...". The pressure just isn't worth it after awhile in my not so humble opinion.

Marketing is always the challenge. A really good marketing person once explained to me something that I'll try to explain here.

Bad salespeople sell what they don't have for less. A good salesperson can sell what he has without discounting it. If anyone offers to sell for you, make sure that he can sell what you have, not just bellyache that you don't have want the customers want.

The easiest sell in the world is sell custom work for comodity price.  In other words, giving people exactly what they want for the same price as they would get from a shrinkwrapped store. Many companies lose money because they attempt this.

If someone is asking for something special, charge more.  You can go broke doing special things for free.  Of course, if you cut the wood yourself and saw it and dry it, it will mean that there is all that marketup available to you.  Often you can do well because you collapse the number of middlemen.

Just some ideas. One last thought, if you hate selling things, don't go into business for yourself!

Fred

[newguy]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all of the advise and sharing your stories.  

Percy,

I like baloney okay  :D....  I am not even close to being rich now so I don't ever really expect to  be.  The sleepin' in part sounds good once in a while.  I would sacrifice a little coin just be able to be my own boss.

crtreedude,

I don't make a pile of money now but I have used that hot dog stand phrase myself.  I hope that someday I can squeak out a living between the mill and my wife's wild flower business.

The marketing part of it does worry me a bit.  I am really not much of a sales guy.  I guess that will be another skill I will have to learn.  Thanks for all the help.

Craig

[crtreedude]

By the way, I recently picked up a book that so far seem quite good for those of you who have a website (or are thinking of one)

The title is "Poor Richard's Internaet Marketing and Promotions" by Peter Kent and Tara Calishain.  It is publish by Top Floor Publications.

It seems like a really good book and actually interesting to read.

[JD350Cmark]

Hi Newguy,

I am also pretty new here and a new mill owner.  I do excavation part time and always get asked if I know of someone who does sawmilling, so now perhaps I can answer that question and make a few bucks at the same time.  But, mainly got it for my own property here, and going to take it up to Washington to mill when I build in a few years, then bring it back.  I have no regrets yet and look at it as a hobby.  -Mark

[cluckerplucker]

new guy  ; I am a farmer and I just finished my band mill I got scared of the ole circlr mill after about loseing a couple of fingers tring to run it by myself after the boys got grown and gone ( go figure).Anyway I had logs from my first customer waiting to be cut before I had even finshed building the mill.I am a member of a lose orginazation of county farmers and when thay heard I had a mill .The logs are all over the edge of my field waiting their turn at the blade.  cluckerplucker