how much $ for a load of logs?

[bigred1951]

well guys i hope nobody minds me asking and i know its none of my business but i cant help it haha..im not sure the going price of logs around here in my area but about how much do you all get for a load of logs at a mill..im not talking about no great big semi load.. just a single axle truck or maybe a gooseneck trailer..i have my old 51 gmc thats my pic on here ive thought about bringing it out of retirement putting some log bunks on it and hauling a few logs..so if nobody minds to give me a rough estimate on how much money a load would probably bring in for pulp and saw logs id really appreciate it..i always see people saying they got this per bdft and stuff like that but im not good with that haha..im looking for answers like i got $100 or $1000 for this load..thanks guys..shew i spend more time on here then i do anything even my girlfriend gets mad because i dont pay attention when im on here haha

[g_man]

It varies alot by species, log size, location, quality, demand and bf of load so it would help you to learn about those things for your area. But to answer your question I brought this load to the mill and got $141.40.  It is 505 bf balsam fir by Int 1/4 rule, 6" min top, 10 and 12 footers, in North East VT.



 

[WH_Conley]

If the old Jimmy has the springs under I think it does, 12-15 hundred will be a comfortable load. In tie or fencing logs that would give you in the neighborhood of $300.00-$350.00 per load. When you look at the species and grade there can be a huge difference per load. I have seen people drag a couple of loads out and load the butts and good seconds on one load and brag about getting $1000.00 for the load. The next load they would complain that the mill stole them because they didn't bring much, when all it was cleanup, knotty tip logs. I guess that is just a long way around to say what g_man did.

How did the job at the prison go?

[PAFaller]

Yup your log pricing is really based on averages, because your butt log and maybe 2nd cut could bring really good money, but as you go up the tree those values won't hold. Thats where the marketing and knowing who buys what comes in to play. If you've got several outlets close to your area you may be able to boost your numbers by sorting out logs and sending to the best buyer. For instance, we have a mill not too far that takes strictly pallet logs. Stuff that is real bumpy and would normally go for firewood, but there pricing is better than pulp. Thats good to have if you can find one. Also, you have to know how they want logs bucked and do so accordingly. But really the timber makes the biggest difference, as they say you cant make chicken soup from chicken 'badword' so if you dont have great timber its not going to bring great prices. Im also all for utilization. There are a few crews around here that boast how good the prices are they get for the landowner, but they leave more tree in the woods than they take out to keep those high averages. I wouldn't really suggest doing that either.

[thenorthman]

It really depends on how much you can stuff on to it.  And how much the mills are paying,  If (and its a big if) you can load logs as high as the cab, then you stand to make some decent coin with decent prices and decent wood. If you can only get one or two skinny logs on there then it might not even pay for the fuel to get there and back...

[grassfed]

This load scaled about 1400 @ $270mbf=$378 The mill is paying $330 now so the same load would be $462. The same amount of aspen pulp would weigh about 8 tones which was $42 per ton last summer or  $336 this winter it was $32 ton so $256 The last time I sold cedar a load that size was 1400@$450=$630

[KBforester]

This topic is depressing  :( I don't know how any of us are still in business.

[thecfarm]

Don't see many small trucks around like that grassfed here now.
g_man,I met an old dump truck the other day. Have not seen that for a while.

[lumberjack48]

Around here single axle trucks faded out 60 years ago. The tandem about 35 years ago. Back in the 70's there were tandem trucks and skidders setting all around, no more its a time long past.

[MEloggah]

for a hobby or a living??

for me, doing this for a living, i want 5000 plus ft on a truck each and every time it leaves my landing. this time of year when the roads are soft ill accept 4000 ft if it keeps the road agents happy but i have to cut 2 loads a day or i feel like im falkling backwards. with hardwood, esp red oak i like to see 4200/4500ft on a truck when it leaves. my dad tells me ofthe days before i was born where him and gramp had side winfder trucks and a big load was 2000' lol to show how things have changed, now, if he and i dont have 8000' on the landing of logs a day plaus our pulp its like, why'd we even bother lol. you could cut more but then the doing a good clean low brush job comes into play and you need to think of it as...do i wanna do a good job and get referals OR doi want to thrash out as much wood as i can and make lots of money. we opt for both lol but a good job is primary. when you see a triaxle logging truck on the road loaded with white pine your looking at 1200-1500$$$$ basedonj a 5000'load. ide bring her out of retierment and cut hard wood logs. its more worth your time.

[grassfed]

I don't log for a hobby but I do only log my own land. I have a farm and my income is mainly from beef and logging. If I did not log I would not be able to eat or pay my mortgage so I would not call it a hobby. I could not work at this scale if I had to pay stumpage. I cut allot of stuff to improve my land, if I hired it done and was paid stumpage it would not amount to much. I can sell hardwood pulp and make a couple hundred a day after fuel costs so it works for me. I don't hire anything out, not mechanical, not labor.  I am good with a wrench and can keep old machinery going reliably. I always buy stuff cheap and try to keep spare parts around. I do work every day and I have not had a full day off in over 14 years so it might not be the life for some people.

[thenorthman]

Add three more logs to this (2 loads) and we cleared around $600.  Its alder and at the time they where paying around $700 per 1k scribner, I got hosed pretty bad by the scaler on this load

 

[SwampDonkey]

Tandem trucks never left here if the logger is a potato farmer. He has at least 2 tandum potato trucks in his yard. Dad used to haul all he cut with a Chevy tandem until he retired in 2001. We had good prices here for a few years until about 2005 after the slump. We would sometimes have fir pulp hauled by TT to far off mills. They were paying $140.00-160.00 a cord for 4' back then. I remember in 1984 that dad was cutting huge aspen on one of the farms and hauling at night with the chevy to Houltan, Maine. I think the pulp then was $90/cord and he hauled 300 cord that Feb. The reason this stands out in my mind was we took a nice trip and did some improvements to the house that year.  ;D

I have to laugh at what the neighbor calls logging, I've only seen  6 TT loads leave his woods in 6 months. Lots of playing because they don't work a full day. :D

They have hauled some nice balsam fir logs out, some over 20" on the but and all chalk white. I aged some and they were less than 65 years old.

[lumberjack48]

In the 80's logging Aspen we put a 1000+ cds a month on the landing. If anybody still had their tandem they were pulling a pup trailer behind it.
Stumpage prices went crazy around here after 1980. Aspen as high as $90. a cord on some sales. The private land owners were getting rich.

That single axle GMC is what they called a bobtail around here. With out a loader on it, you can haul about 1500' or 3 cords.

We had a tandem Mack that was used to load trucks and haul logs and saw bolts. When hauling logs, loads ran 3 to 4000', saw bolts, 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cds, this was in the 70's.

[SwampDonkey]

Dad worked all day and he was the only man falling the trees. Plus he never clear cut on this job. He owned everything he worked with and the land, plus he was a farmer. There was no need for him to do it any other way. Dad never clear cut any land. He in later years sold stumpage and had someone else clearcut to offset land clearing for farms. Dad wasn't set up to move large volumes in a short time. Heck some guys on here sound like a fella I know around here, that it didn't matter how big a tree you cut his trees were always bigger. :D :D

[lumberjack48]

I know your referring to me SwampDonkey, I'm not that guy next door that no matter what you've done he's done better. I was the guy that no matter what you've done I'd try to do better. Thats the way i was when i started peeling Balsam at 7 yrs old, i  loved computation. My father was the type a guy that got up at 8 am sat around drinking coffee till 9 am, this drove me crazy. I couldn't wait to get my own car. When i was 15 i bought a 51 Pontiac for $60. boy was i a happy camper. Now i could be on the job at day break like the rest of the strip cutters. Another problem i had with my father was getting paid. He aways told me that no kid makes this kind of money. I told him this one does, theres nothing worse then having to ask for your money. So i went to work for my two uncles who were big loggers at the time. They were proud of me when i out cut one of their top strip cutters. On Friday afternoon they came on the strip and did a count on what you cut that week. And if i wanted, they'd write a check right there and pat me on the back saying good job. My two uncles were very competitive, this is what i loved about them.
SwapDonkey if you cut a bigger tree, more trees, more cords I'd be the first one to tell you [good job] But watch out next week ;)

[SwampDonkey]

:D My father never slept in past 5 am in all the years I've been here, and still don't. And now after being retired he hasn't got anything to get up for, except in the summer he has garden and golf. ;D My mother never could get into her father's head the amount of work dad did in a day. Grandfather thought it was easy because he never walked behind a horse. You don't look after a 850 acre farm laying in bed for very long or someone comes to take it. We don't get subsidies here to "not grow crops". And rarely any otherwise unless it's insurance. He ran a farm ever since he was 16.

But getting up early don't mean too much to some fellas, because mom's brother was always up by 5 am and most of his life never had a job, except for short stints. But he never was on no welfare or insurance program neither. Never had to, lived at home. Had a hobby farm.

[lumberjack48]

I've been in this chair 24 yrs, i'm still wide awake at 5 am, and don't take any naps 8)

[bigred1951]

thanks guys i really appreciate the general idea of prices..im not to sure what the springs under the truck is i know itll haul a load like it was empty..uncle used it a couple years ago to haul dry wall he had it stacked on there front to back to the top of the cab..and the job at the prison going just fine working every day friday thru teusday 4-12..i just bought a 79 ford f250 camper special club cab the other day..still not sure what im gonna do with it yet or where im gonna park it  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Since the mill will scale or weigh the load, it just depends on how much is on the truck and the grade price of the sticks. Get the prices and specs from the mill and do the math. ;)

[scottmphoto]

  My local mill (Arkansas) gives $38.00 a ton. It's not much, but better than nothing.

[scottmphoto]

Forgot to mention, this is for pine. Min. of 12" butt and 7" at the top.

[Okrafarmer]

For pine saw logs, we get $190/k right now, which means a truck load around your size is in the $200-300 range. That's what Profdan gets if he takes in his dump truck or cable truck filled with pine saw logs. You have to realize he is also paid to remove the trees, usually several times more than the amount he sells the logs for.

Pine pulp, we get around $17/ ton around here. Hardwood, $21. A truck like yours might manage around 5-7 tons of pulp, depending on the springs, and what you have it registered for, etc. Profdan's dump gets around 5-6 tons legally, so a load of pulp is basically around $100-120. Again, not worth logging for, but since he must get rid of it regardless, it's better to be paid a little than to have to pay to get rid of it.

The most a wholesale sawmill in my area pays for hardwoods is $300/k for oak and ash, less for everything else. $250 for poplar, $225 for maple, $175 for everything else. Yes, the everything else includes cherry and walnut. A good load of oak on Profdan's dump truck is around $300-350.

[SwampDonkey]

We get more for pulp than some of you guys get for logs. If the prices where that low here, the mills would be wood starved. Except they have crown timber and freehold and can shut off private wood. At one time, this was not allowed, using crown timber to drive down price.

[Okrafarmer]

We have a very low cost of living here, including some of the cheapest fuel prices in the US. Regular gasoline is around $3.27 here right now.

[SwampDonkey]

Your fuel and thus heating might be cheaper but your houses, electricty and your food aren't any cheaper. And your cooling bills in summer are way higher. Most don't need air conditioning in the north, we just open windows up in the evening.

[lumberjack48]

The last wood we put on the landing for the Co. in 96, we got--
$10. a cd. for TL Aspen, Jack, Norway Pine
$16. a cd. for 8' Aspen pulp
$20. a cd. for TL  Balsam
$25. a cd. for 8' Spruce an Balsam pulp
$26. a cd.  for 8' saw bolts, everything
$44. a k   for logs, everything

The  wife and me could average 3 to $600. a day, this is cutting an skidding, with our saws and skidder. No running around trying to sell it or looking for stumpage, just pull wood.  When running two skidders, it ran from $400. to $1000. a day, it all depended on the timber. The Co i worked for didn't pay in the woods, i had a 20k bumper. All the other Co's payed 75% every Fri. night in the woods, this is really nice. The woods boss would estimate it and write you a check, every Fri. at 3 pm.

[SwampDonkey]

I had a lot of contact with crew bosses in that era working at a marketing board, guys that hired the logger with a skidder. I don't recall anyone paying less than $40 a cord, some as much as $55 a cord. The crew boss basically chased for the next patch of wood to cut. However, up until about that time the crew boss was often a quota holder, for so much volume a year, and he had priority market access to sell wood off woodlots. These were on small private land. I don't know about on public land, I suspect less per cord because by then it was all mechanical harvesting. There is no longer a board regulated quota. They tried for awhile to give priority to guys doing the right thing. But what would happen is the next guy would come behind and cut the rest. Don't blame the logger, the blame is on the owner if there is any. See they got a harvest bonus of an extra $10 paid by the pulp mill. It didn't work. This mill bonus was on hardwood and aspen volume, taken from hardwood forest.

[lumberjack48]

I skidded wood for the Co. for 16 yrs, 1980 to 1996, they payed the same.

I'm going to call in the morning and see what their paying now, 17 yrs later. What would be your guise ?

[SwampDonkey]

The price of wood would have a large bearing as will fuel. Remember in 2005 oil really spiked and except 2008 for a spell of decline it is still around 2005 levels. I expect it has risen some, but pulp prices are not much different as then. Everyone else wants a pay increase but the guy on the saw, skidder or tractor always takes the hit. I bet the trucking is a lot more. Possibly your up between $40-$50 by now.

[Okrafarmer]

Your fuel and thus heating might be cheaper but your houses, electricty and your food aren't any cheaper. And your cooling bills in summer are way higher. Most don't need air conditioning in the north, we just open windows up in the evening.

What are you basing it on, when you say our houses, electricity, and food are not cheaper? They're pretty cheap here. Housing, I think, is similar here to in Maine, but the taxes are a good bit lower (property tax). As for air conditioning, that is only a recent phenomenon. I do use it because I am still physically a northern boy descended from Scotts and English and 10 or more generations of New Englanders, selectively bred for cold resistance, not heat resistance.  >:(  Raw land is cheaper in Maine. Electricity is jumping up, but isn't it jumping up for everyone? Maybe not in Canada, I don't know.

Most of the loggers I see round about still have shiny new pickup trucks. I don't know how they do it, but they do. Their forestry equipment, on the other hand, is around 20 years old, or older. They keep it going. . . . Less environmental pressure here, fewer regulations. Most of the loggers seem to be family businesses, father and son(s) and/or brother(s) and/or nephew(s). Few if any non-relations working for them.

Unlike in Maine, there is no off-season for logging. It is a year-round deal here, with no typical frost or mud-season, and less swampy land. Much less seasonal fluctuation in pricing, demand, and supply. What fluctuation there is seems to be either erratic (unusually wet weather, for instance), fiscal (end of tax year, beginning of tax year issues), cultural (less likely to do much work around the holidays, for instance), or influenced by outside forces, such as the timber market at large.

Around here it seems to be all about filling semi-trucks with logs as fast as possible. But strangely some gippo loggers carry on as well. Not uncommon to see a single axle bunk truck heading into the log yard. I guess the average age of a logging truck, like the forestry equipment, is around 20 years.  I also have not heard of many logging or log truck accidents in my time here.

Just my observations.

[SwampDonkey]

About the biggest discrepancy I would say is healthcare and new vehicle/equipment costs. New houses with 2200 sq feet can be had for $180,000. To the west you can triple that figure. Most woodlot loggers here are running old equipment to. Size of vehicle to haul a load depends on distance to the mill. Dad always hauled with a tandem Chevy: potatoes, grain and wood. If I live 2 miles from the mill I might haul mine in with horse and wagon or on the side rails of the pickup, just roll them off with a quick jerk ahead. ;D Land tax on woodlots is next to nothing, rural tax on house lots is pretty low, mostly $600 or so. Power here is all water driven, I live near 5 hydro dams. Cost is less than $100/month. We have far less environmental pressure here, low population density.  About the only thing regulated here is water courses. I think we need to stay out of the brooks with skidders don't we? ;)
I think most everyone has a mud season from what I've read on the forum, unless your in New Mexico or Arizona. Price fluctuations, your at the mill's mercy on that no matter where you live. They are the buyers, you have to play with their rules. ;)

I think you'll find whatever selective breeding that went on was in the castles. The rest of us made do. :D

[lumberjack48]

I called the mill, i got hold of the oldest boy who owns it, hes 77. I was on the ph for an hour talking to him, hes going to call me back, we have a lot of old times to talk about.

Their paying $22. for TL Aspen, cut an skid

[SwampDonkey]

That's quite something if it's true. They wouldn't get any wood for that here. Not if it's skidder wood.

[lumberjack48]

SwampDonkey what do you mean is it TRUE ???

[chevytaHOE5674]

Their paying $22. for TL Aspen, cut an skid

So in 1996 you got 16/cd now 17 years later they are only paying 22/cd...?

In that 17 years fuel price has more than doubled, tire prices have probably tripled, oil prices have tripled, insurance rates have probably doubled, etc etc etc.... Right there you can see why there are fewer and fewer guys trying to make a living in the woods.

[MEloggah]

I wouldn't even bump the starter over for those peanuts!!!!

[lumberjack48]

No, look a little closer, $10. for TL Aspen in 96, its 12. more now. I could make 3500. week now in good wood at 22 a cd.

[chevytaHOE5674]

In 1996 I wasn't in the logging business but my farm records go back that far.

1996
Fuel price           1.29
5 gallons of oil    12.99
Rear tractor tire  399.99

2013
Fuel Price           4.00
5 gallons of oil    44.99
Rear tractor tire   999.99

That's not taking into account like cost of equipment, cost of hard parts, cost of insurance, etc.

Without knowing all of those costs I don't understand how you can figure out your weekly pay.....

[lumberjack48]

You know by looking at the figures that it was gross pay.

[MEloggah]

lj48, how many cd did you send on a truck? one a tri-axle these boys who haul my wood run around 9-10cd a load and 13ish on a tractor trailer. at those rates that would be only a little over a couple hundred bucks a TA load. not even worth it! yea I send my pine pulp for about those prices but its attatched to the logs so it has to go somewhere. usually buys the fuel for the week +/-. at those rates to make 3500 a week that would be over 17 loads. no offense but a man with a chain saw aint doing it and especially aint doing it and doping a nice looking job to boot and especially if the wood being yarded is say a modest couple hundred yard skid! heck, even right next to the landing I don't think it can be done.

[lumberjack48]

I could pull 20 cds a day alone, about a 100 trees. With the wife on the skidder  3 loads of nice tree length Aspen is no big day, the best day we pulled 52 cds.
I know what i could pull a day, i did it for 30 yrs, but sounds the same, nobody could believe the wood that we put out until they seen it

Better yet do you want to call the mill, i will pm you the number 8)

[SwampDonkey]

Your 20 cords with 100 trees would have to average around 12" diameter trees, which isn't all that big but nothing to sneeze at for northern timber. It is certainly doable considering it's tree length. 52 cords in one day, seems a bit of a stretch with one skidder though. I can't recall anyone pulling much more than 24 cords of treelength aspen a day along with a partner and back then no one would do it for $240 however, not an owner operator. Your higher numbers are not sustainable output either. The human body can only take so much.

[lumberjack48]

When i fell for two skidders we pulled 50 to 60 cds a day, the best day was 76 cds. I had a man on the landing unhooking and toping, its nothing to tip 400 trees a day in good Aspen. The 52 cds is no stretch, the truck hauled it in as we pulled it, we were 5 miles from the mill, we pulled 4 loads, i don't know why i'm explaining myself to you, i know what we did. The wife says she'll show you how to do it, she told me to just get off here, she got sick of hearing this when she was pulling wood after i got hurt.

When i piece cut, i could cut and pile 10 cds of Aspen a day, alone. I heard the same thing, they said it can't be done, well i could do it.

I'm out of my league here, i was pulling this amount of wood back in 68.

[SwampDonkey]

If you choose to leave the forum lumberjack, that will be your decision. I've become a little tired of how much more, better, faster one man can be at skidding wood than others that also do it for a living. I've seen how hard men work in a day in the woods all week long. It's not a job for slackers, that's for sure. However, I have no reason not to believe you was a top producer in your day. But over time I think the figures that one recalls get a little fuzzy. Even I catch myself, or someone else does on here with numbers that don't seem right. Then I get to think about it a little harder. ;D

[beenthere]

If you choose to leave the forum lumberjack, that will be your decision. I've become a little tired of how much more, better, faster one man can be at skidding wood than others that also do it for a living. I've seen how hard men work in a day in the woods all week long. It's not a job for slackers, that's for sure. However, I have no reason not to believe you was a top producer in your day. But over time I think the figures that one recalls get a little fuzzy. Even I catch myself, or someone else does on here with numbers that don't seem right. Then I get to think about it a little harder.

SD
Sometimes we get uptight about things and the way they are explained , and really don't see ourselves as being so similar.  Think about it, and relax. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

I've never been anything but relaxed.  ;D

[1woodguy]

this is an interesting discussion
  Haven't sold a lot of logs but a decade ago we had several places we were paid to clear cut and also had some property that was going to be strip mined and we could cut what we wanted . we were cutting mostly oak hickory walnut ash
And some cedars and pine
wife's cousin mentioned logging
so  we checked around for prices and aso called and rechecked prices several times a week some of the logs went up around Tulsa some to Arkansas
And some they came and got, for a time we were getting the most bucks for the large Pecans in Tulsa
  Also had a deal on firewood going semi loads
as far as money so much depended on the trees the type and quality how easy to get to
And mostly sell for the best price
  I think there were usually seven of us and I made three to four times what the others did (simply by watching what I was doing and keepingsaws sharp and running well and cut in my own spot mostly)when I didn't have to look out for others it went a lot faster
   If you didn't have several different places you were cutting
when the creeks or river flooded it may be two or three weeks before you could get back in and go back to work
  I usually had three to six saws I ran that no one else touched
Usually tried to work smarter not harder 
  Some guys are great with the saws and some think they are
when your running good saws that are sharp and you keep them that way
And don't spend several hours wasted using dull chains or pinching saws up over and over or hanging trees all the time you get a lot done
still lots of hours put in , then getting equipment ready for the next day
 
I   Cut fire wood for self and others for years
When around others it was always  How much can or do you cut????
Everyone tells a different tale about it and when your cutting in the same area as everyone else and we see the results some excell and some suck
If your great with a saw and paid to cut it all you might cut a load an hour or less  in good pickings
Or spend half of the day in the crap
   I would be happy if I could do a third of what I could twenty years ago  :D








   
 

[Tmac47]

I don't know how relevant to the topic this is, but I'm working on a smartphone app that tracks timber from the landowners property to the mill, in real time, and uploads all of the important data to the cloud.

So, at any given time a dealer or landowner can login to the website and see what's been delivered to the mill and what's en route to the mill.  Plus, they'll have access to all other relevant data like: quota, tons delivered totals, product totals, tract estimates vs cutouts, etc.

Got a call yesterday from the big dawgs at Weyerhaeuser saying that want to see it in action.

----

To bring it full circle, essentially, when enough companies are using the app, we'll be able to generate price averages for timber and distribute them to landowners for free.  So, for the first time ever, landowners will actually know what they can expect for their timber...in real time...for free.

[ahlkey]

I just did three loads with my small log trailer last week of various species and grade levels.  Most of it was low grade beech and low-grade hard maple but I did average $1600 a load.  My trailer can hold around 1900 bft or close to 4 cords of wood.  Couldn't get anyone to haul it for me given the band on trucking & the lateness of the season as I normally try not to do any trucking. Cost me roughly $225 in total fuel expenses for three trips to haul 5700 board feet.

Not a lot of money in those logs given the overall effort but worthwhile to me as I own the stumpage.

    

[Peter Drouin]

I just did three loads with my small log trailer last week of various species and grade levels.  Most of it was low grade beech and low-grade hard maple but I did average $1600 a load.  My trailer can hold around 1900 bft or close to 4 cords of wood.  Couldn't get anyone to haul it for me given the band on trucking & the lateness of the season as I normally try not to do any trucking. Cost me roughly $225 in total fuel expenses for three trips to haul 5700 board feet.

Not a lot of money in those logs given the overall effort but worthwhile to me as I own the stumpage.

    

nice trailer,what size truck pulling it? and with all that gvw you must have a TT license

[loggah]

Well an old time logger who  died  a few years back at 80 something told it to me best, when were in the bars we brag about all the wood we cut, while were back in the logging camp we brag about all the women we had, and booze we drank !!!!! ;D ;D in most good logging chances i would average a trailer load of hardwood a day, in pine a trailerload and a half including the pulp . didn't set the world on fire ,and didn't break a bunch of equipment. Don

[logging pete]

I liked lumberjack's and swamp donkey's posts. I understand both your fustrations, Aspen is production wood almost regardless of size or how you put it up. I have pole skidded aspen, here in WI. You can pull alot stringers in a day. My brother and I bought a new 540B in 1980 to pull aspen. Back then when you cut wood in the bar you were cutting aspen. When you were buying the beer you must have cut hardwood. We were got $14 to$16 8ft.pulp roadside. Lumberjack I don't doubt any of your #'s. MN has or had great stands of aspen. SwampDonkey We had to milk cows  and feed and water hiefers at noon,we didn't get big prodution then. We took alot of pride in amount of wood put up and how hard we worked. You are right, my body would not allow me to keep working with a saw. One march day I felled aspen for my brother, he had a swamp island he wanted to get before breakup. I cut 13 tanks, my left arm hurt for a month, my brother's shoulders are worn out from pulling mainline. I now run a 133 processer,646 valmet forwarder,and a peterbilt truck and pup.
I have a friend with a 544 valmet working with me, we are the only ones left logging from large logging familys.

 

[ahlkey]

My truck is a 4X4 RAM 4500 flatbed with 4.88 axles and the trailer/log loader is rated rated at 26K.   Pulling is easy with my setup and having the exhaust brake and larger brakes is the way to go.

[Okrafarmer]

Ahlkey, sounds like you were getting better than $800 per board feet for "low grade beech and hard maple" ?

Goodness gracious, if we had prices like that, we could be filthy rich down here! The best we can do nearby is sell oak at $300 / bf (Scribner) and if we go about 50 miles we can sell good oak for $400-500. Nothing else, not even walnut or cherry, sells for higher than white oak at the wholesale mills.

Guys are grapple skidding here for the $300 oak, $21/ ton hardwood pulp, and $17 / ton pine pulp, $190/ k yellow and white pine, $175 / k hardwood pallet logs, $250 / k poplar, $225 / k red maple. No actively developed market for cherry, walnut, beech, locust, sweetgum, hickory, or cedar, although we have a fair amount of each nearby. Firewood is a joke. Even a guy with a processor and every efficiency would have a hard time making ends meet selling firewood here. Too many people literally giving it away for free.

[beenthere]

I miss lumberjacks posts. Hope SD fetches him back on board for us.

[snowstorm]

I miss lumberjacks posts. Hope SD fetches him back on board for us.

did he run him off??

[ahlkey]

Okraframer, thanks for pointing out my error on prices.  The Hard Maple was over $800 per load and one load was all Maple which is what I had in my mind.  However, the Beech loads and White Ash was much less averaging under $400.   I should of posted $1200 as the overall average for three loads as the total mbft was under $650.  Agreed, still not terrible but on this location I hauled out over 120 full cords of firewood hoping to make up on the sawlogs so after all my expenses I didn't do the best.   

[ga jones]

I miss lumberjacks posts. Hope SD fetches him back on board for us.

did he run him off??

Did he?

[NWP]

Must have. He only has had one post since the last post in this thread.

[David-L]

I have not been a forum member long, but love the stories and knowledge everyone brings to the plate. Even got my girl running a saw after telling her about Lumberjack 48 working with his wife cutting and skidding.

                                                       David L



 

[NWP]

 

[Birchwood Logging]

Big red 1951 I haul with a single axel truck in our area they are very commen on my 700 ford I haul around 2000 foot a load I do over load my truck a little would not recommend hauling over 1500 feet on yours I average around $1000 a load for descent saw logs and $1500 a load for better grade saw logs on a real good veneer load I've hauled as much as $2800 a load the local mill I deal with there low grade tie logs is paying $325 a thousand so a load of ties will only bring around $650 don't give up on wanting to get in to the industry there is a lot of oppitions and configurations out there

[thecfarm]

David,that is good. Has she ever been around a chainsaw?
My story,my wife will come up into the words to see me while I am cutting. Than I take her around to show her what I am doing and why.One day she asked,you have a hard hat,why don't I have one? We went and brought her one.

[bigred1951]

good to hear from you birchwood havent seen you post nothing for a while. Hopefully one day i can go into logging or something and make a living at it. Then hopefully put my normal job with benefits and retirement behind me. Crazy huh who would leave that haha.