The plot thickens

[DanG]

Well, my life is suddenly becoming like a soap opera. Everything is happening at once, and my long range plans are either becoming emergencies, or are going away completely.
The infidels that I've been working for for over 30 years have yanked the rug out from under our retirement plan. In order to get what I've been counting on, I've got to retire by the end of the year!  This will be an early retirement, and my pension won't be nearly enough to live on, so I've got some rather large decisions facing me.
My first thought is to go ahead with the sawmill plans, and start actively searching for a mill. I know that it will be a while before I can reasonably expect any income from it. I have a couple of other things that may help to tide me over till I can get set up, and build an inventory, customer base, etc. I also have assets that will be helpful in starting my business.

Sheds; I have approx. 10,000 sq ft of sheds available for storage.

Trucks; A Ford F350 dually pickup, a 1/2 ton pickup, a 20 ft flat trailer, 5-6 ton capacity, a couple of smaller trailers.

Tractor; 60hp diesel

Shop with air tools and welder.

Friends and relatives in the construction trades= contacts

Ready availability of Cypress, Juniper, and Pine logs, purchased from area loggers.

Enough money to purchase a used Woodmizer with hydraulics, and the other necessities.

A whole load of new friends on this forum to bounce my ideas off of, and to set me straight when I get off on the wrong tangent.

Now, if any of you have any input, be it ideas, encouragement, or warnings, I'd be real interested in hearing it. I sorta feel like I'm out on a limb, and being forced to make decisions I'm not really prepared for.

[CHARLIE]

Since I'm not a sawyer, I can't offer much but my condolences. It almost sounds like you work for IBM or a like big corporation. Just hang in there. Almost everyone I used to work with that were forced to retire earlier ended up better off. They got jobs with less stress (they actually looked healthier a year later), they got jobs that paid more.....and in many cases they were hired back as "Contract" Employees, but could name their hours and didn't have to take any guff. I'm  hoping all will go very well for you.  Good Luck!

[DanG]

Thanks, Charlie. Nope and yep....Not IBM, but another big tech corporation. There is a chance I could come back as a contractor, maybe even to my old position, but rumor has it that all the contractors are goners. I don't really want to come back, anyway, but hunger can do strange things  to your attitude.

[Jeff]

Dan, I will not be one to give condolences, but the first to congratulate you on the opportunities that you will now see.

[swampwhiteoak]

DanG,

I'm not a sawyer either, so I can't give much advice there.  Like Charlie, I've noticed a lot of early retirees seem much better off a year or two down the line.  I'm sure an opportunity will present itself for you, whether it involves sawing or not I'm not sure.  Good luck to ya.

[Ron Wenrich]

Well, if you don't mind eating sawdust, you'll never go hungry. :D

One thing you have to remember, the learning curve can be rather steep.

[Bibbyman]

My sentiments to you.  I've been working for a big corporation for the past 29.9 years.  I could see the handwriting on the wall about 10 years ago when they started "downsizing".  >:( In 94 we bought a Wood-Mizer LT40.  ;) I had some sawmill and logging related experience plus being really an old farm boy anyway.  

Well,  in the past 10 years,  I've seen the desks around me empty out to the point were 2 out 3 are now empty.  Some of the first ones really got good deals.  Others just got the boot.  Many did quite well afterwards and some even excelled.  One bought a pawnshop with his severance package.  It did well and he bought another – then another.  Modernized then and advertised.  Now he's a multi-millionaire!  

Anyway,  back to me.  Mary and I keep expanding and putting more back into the sawmill business.  The company is still "downsizing" and cut another 15% this year out of the office.  Talk about profiling!  Most have been males of west European heritage between the ages of 53 and 54.5.   >:(

From reading your list of buildings and equipment and such,  you're pretty well got home base covered on the transition.  Your choice of Wood-Mizer is right on too.  ;) Wood-Mizer is really a great bunch of people that will help you with any problems you may have. ;)

Another resource for help is your local and state forestry agent.  At least in Missouri,  they were almost excited about helping me out.  They had list of companies that post process wood products,  provide dry kiln services,  etc.  Plus a lot of reference materials. :P

Keep us updated on your transition from being owned buy the big boys and being your own boss.   I know it won't be long before I get my tap on the shoulder for a walk to the HR office.

 8) 8)      

[L. Wakefield]

   I was fortunate enough with the nursing to pick a job field that will be in demand- 'as long as there are people'.. but there was a major set or rolbacks, closures, and layoffs in 1992-1996. Then it came back around to shortage- with a vengeance.

   But as a wannabe survivalist (OK, so I'm a dub at it, but I keep on plugging..)- I haven't been able to stay away from farming. Some of your stock is livestock. If the market goes bust, you can eat it. And land is not going to go down too much in value. They ain't making any more of it. You have to shovel s**t- but tell me, in what job field is that NOT the case?

   So I will say from one place removed- I have the trees growing but haven't yet bought a mill- (you'll hear me yelling for help if that happens, and it's likely going to be the younger generation doing a lot of the work if I have MY druthers!)- you can run the same line of thought about the basic necessities- wood as fuel and building material. Maybe not as durable as steel (I LOVE steel!)- but it *DOES* grow on trees- or rather, it IS trees. It is renewable, and has its staying power right along with you. The BIG question is- do you do it from a survivalist point of view- you and the land, and the trees- or do you do it with the customer and the profit motive in mind?

   There is a profound difference. Laugh all you want, but with farming I'm living it. I get one answer from the equation if it's breaking even as defined  by input and output- and quite another if I try to factor in a 'living'- ie a wage for myself (or anyone else) equivalent to what I'm making elsewhere.

   Ron posted an EXCELLENT letter in the Thomas Jefferson thread in this context, where he stated 'I consider all natural resources to be wealth generators'.

   If you look at it as the first level being simply the work you put in, and the output you get, you can define a calculus of wealth. Marketing puts another level of complexity to it.

   Whenever society suffers a change in terms of a recession or a depression, that secondary level (and those above it like the stock market and government) are affected in weird, profound, and possibly unreal ways. If you go back to the primary equation of production, it IS a dub level- very primitive- but everybody has to eat. That primitive level is always present no matter how complex society gets- and it will be there with a vengeance if society collapses to large or small degree. The problem is that the more urbanized society gets- the farther from the primary equation- the more devastating the potential effects of major collapse.

   (On the other hand, societies- such as Afghanistan- which are close to the primary level, also suffer devastating effects from collapse- witness the suffering, hunger, and death there.) So it MAY be, that under certain circumstances the complexity and interlocking of the higher and weirder levels of society may have some kind of protective effect in the event of 'major collapse'- or maybe what we are seeing is simply the buffer effect of surplus wealth.

   What's my point? I'm tempted to say 'damfino'.. but I'm encouraging anyone tempted to make a major move to look carefully at the parameters- with each piece, ask the same question that a very young babe does when it picks up something new- 'Is it good to eat?' Food is good. Clean water is good. Materials that stand up to you when you shake them- or life's stresses shake them- are good. Systems that are self-renewing and self-correcting- are good. Systems- or jobs- that, on the other hand, rely on artificial or arbitrary values, may not be so good. You may have to give them a really good shake to find out how they stand up to the test. We're getting a little of that right about now. :(         lw

[Tom]

Sounds like you have the equipment inventory and resources that most new sawyers work years to obtain.  I'de say that if your present employment is running out and sawmilling is an option, then you should spend as much of your learning curve  in the last days of your employ as possible.  

It  will make those days really appreciated when you don't punch someone elses clock and have to run to work.  Just think how great it will be to pick your start time and eat when you get hungry and break when when your tired or "just want to" and quit when you get tired of it.

Yep, I'm a product of downsizing and "forced" retirement, having been put on the dump in 1988.  You get attached to a company that you work for so many years.  It's a matter of loyalty.......and then you realize that the loyalty only worked one way.

The fun part of it comes after you realize that you are really retired and nobody is going to stick his head in the door and tell you to get on a plane and go to California. :D

Not to be too philosophical but success in retirement has a lot to do with one's ability to downsize himself.  You find that you have no one to impress but yourself and things that were so important in the corporate world, image wise, are not only not important but haven't even a place.

People get to be more important than "things" and a cup of coffee on the porch is a lot more entertaining than the opera, especially when you can share it with a friend.

[RavioliKid]

Hey, Dan,

Hang in there! Things happen and life gets interesting at times, but after a while things will smooth out.

Good things are going to come your way. Good things always do, if you expect that to happen. And, it sounds like you've got a plan!

Good luck and keep us posted!

 ;)

[Don P]

I'm with Jeff, no condolences here...these are the times in life that make me know who I am...they are real, the smell is freedom.
OK freedom to starve too, but bears live in the woods :D
The only real advice I can give you is watch any distributions you get. You are about to be viewed as self employed with quarterlies due, no excuses...they will take your entire retirement and send a bill for the service if given the opportunity. >:(

[timberbeast]

Get excited!!!!!!  You have resources at your disposal,  and with hard work,  you will never go hungry!  I understand from whence you speak,  as many friends whom I used to work with are going to be losing their jobs next year.  Then maybe a new company will emerge: "Milwaukee/Mexico/German Electric Tools"  Ha ha!  I just had my tractor die on me,  but I'm looking ahead,  probablt lease next spring and really kick some butt.  In the meantime,  Atlas will shrug and work in some factory for the winter.  I don't have the equipment to log in winter anyway.  Just another adventure waiting to happen!  You're a smart guy,  keep your chin up and look at it as a new start,  not the end of something!  Like one of my friends once said:  "I can shovel pig dung into the wind,  if I have to!"

[Frank_Pender]

  Dan G.  It was almost like looking into a mirror as I read your posting about a "the plot thickens".  that was a phraseI use to teach with.  I taught in the public school system for thirty years, 7th graders (hst. Eng. lit.) { You may know it from some of my postings, though}  Anyway, I spent my thirty years and retired.  I do miss the children a great deal, but not the bureaucratic "crap" .  Your listing of start-up equipment and materials (exclusing the mill, is terrrific).  I had about the same thing: tractor, trucks, high production wood splitter, {I was already into the firewood business and small logging for 15 years} 5 chainsaws, outbuildings, a 70 acre timber/tree farm, and the best chocker setter I ever saw, mywife.   It sounds like you have the strong basis necessary to begin with, Dan.  From what I understand it has been a while since your posting about your progress.  How have you done since the first part of November?   I researched for three years the differing mills available and found none satisfactory for the thing I wanted to produce, dimensional lumber.  So, I began gathering the materials to build my own.  Then I found the Mobile Dimension Sawmill.   It was a dream in reality.  I purchase the first mill eight years before my retirement date and began build a client base.  I have since cut the entire lumber needed for 4 houses, several barns, supplied some of the high schools in my area with materials for the students to work with (Western Big Leaf Maple, Black Walnut, Western Gary Oak,  Cottonwood, etc.) who might otherwise not be able to afford such things.  I do make one requirement from the kids, a picture of the completed project.  I have since purchased a second Mobile Dimension Mill and use it extensively.  Let us know what you have acquired to make the sawdust fly.   By the way your next big purchase will most likely be a kiln of some sort.   Hee hee   Mine was!

[DanG]

Hey, Frank. Thanks for the encouragement.  I've taken one more step, the purchase of a good chainsaw. I knew I would need at least one really good one, and I can make use of it around my place, right now.  I'm also going to go ahead and buy a metal detector, which I will use as a toy, in the interim. I've gotta do some work on some of my sheds, including cleaning the junk out of them. I'm still researching the mills. WoodMizer remains my ace in the hole, but I'm taking a good look at others. I have not ruled out the Mobile Dimension saw. That was the first small mill I ever looked at, and I got to play with one way back in the '70's. I'm trying to arrange to spend a weekend with that same mill, but the guy said I'll just have to wait till after hunting season.  Meanwhile, I'm spending almost all of my computer time on researching Forestry, and lumber sites.
On the kiln subject, I may want to build one, one day. I have about 300 sq ft of tempered glass in one of my barns. I got it to build a greenhouse, but that never developed. I'll probably make a collector out of it, and just build the kiln to suit the collector. I live in Florida, so I can use it year 'round. Of course, if the future development of the business dictates it, I may get a DH kiln, as well.

The business plan:
I expect to purchase a mill sometime this spring. I will continue to work my regular job while I negotiate the learning curve a bit, and while I build a modest inventory and customer base.  Of course, I can't tell, from here, exactly what direction the business will take, but I have some ideas I might try to implement.  There is an impending housing boom right down the road from me. The former St. Joe Paper Co., now called Arvida Land Development Company is beginning to sell some of the prime coastal lots out of their million acre + holdings. This is one of the last wilderness areas that will be developed in Florida, and includes some of the prettiest coastline in the world.  Houses are already being built, and most of them will have either Cypress, or Juniper siding. I believe I have located a source for Cypress and Juniper logs. If this prospect should work out, to any extent, I will be a very busy boy. If not, there is always "plan B." I'll let you know when I figure out what "plan B" is. ;-)

[Frank_Pender]

Dan,  As far as a metl detector is is concerned I purchased, 2 years a ago, a RENS portable detector.  It is a ModelP3000.  At that time is cost $1395.00.  Yep that is a lot of money, but so is my down time and equipment replacement.  I used it a few days ago an a 12'  44" black walnut.  It detected 22 bullet  ten inches inside the log.  I have experimented on some 3' fir logs I had and knew where the metal was coming out of the opposite side.  It worked great.  Their web site is: metaldetect.com; e-mail is: rens@metaldetect.com.  I hope this helps in your decision for a metal dteector.   Again, it was a lot of money but I have $50,000 invested in two Mobile Dimension mills and another $30,000  in a 52" head-rig mill I designed to be run by one person.  So, $1300 is merely a bit of "sawdust" at this point. 8)