Hi everybody, I'm new to the site. I'm looking at slowly getting into the cranemat business .(manufacturing and sales) I'm an Ironworker working all over and have developed many connections and contacts. I work with cranemats unloading and setting up on pretty much a job site to job site basis. I'm looking for advice or any suggestions for small sawmill set-up. Plan on doing on the side for a while until business gets bigger. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Around here the matt thing is going slow. I had cut them and there's no market here unless you want to give them away. :D
See on Craigs list had 100s of them for sale cheep. Hardwood and hemlock 8" & 12"
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I sold a bunch and there's no money in it if you have to buy the logs. And to get the logs is the hard part, And have $10,000.00 to buy the logs to fill 2 to 3 TT trucks. If you do what customsawyer does and cut for a big mill and get payed by the bf then I guess so.
Good luck.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Matboy89. Adding your location to your profile might help with answering future questions.
As with any product, you must develop a reliable market, (both source and outlet) and also have the support equipment to handle the products. Also you need a market for the side lumber and a plan to dispose of the slabs and sawdust. Just a few things to think about.
I do lots of crane mat timbers but I feel it is like cutting pallet wood. If I was doing it on my own and had to compete with the big mills I would starve, a slow losing money death. The volume of logs it takes to have on hand when the orders come in would break the small mills. It is a very much a feast or famine business. You will work like crazy for a month or two then the orders just dry up. When the orders do come in there is no warning. The phone just rings and they want them yesterday thus you have to have the logs on hand. If you have to wait for a logger to get you the logs you will lose the order.
Thanks fellas for the input. It's much appreciated. Not sure about equipment yet as far as sawmill goes. Something cheap to get started. I plan on purchasing everything with cash. I'm planning on continuing to work my normal job, and when I get time off, make mats. I want to build them and stock pile them until they are rented or sold. I have some really good contacts who would give me a heads up and timeline about future jobs and contracts they have coming up which would give me a little bit of lead way . So as of now, I just want to build about 100 of them, I don't care if it takes me 2 years to accomplish, I just want to have them ready and paid for, it would kind of be a savings account i guess. I'm wondering how to go about getting the logs? Who to deal with? Cut my Own? Planning on building 12"x4'x20' mats. Cheap equipment, etc. Thanks again guys
How will you move the logs around, and then move the timbers after sawing? Have the size equipment to do that? Or does that come with your current job as Ironworker moving mats around?
Quote from: customsawyer on May 03, 2015, 04:25:16 PM
I do lots of crane mat timbers but I feel it is like cutting pallet wood. If I was doing it on my own and had to compete with the big mills I would starve, a slow losing money death. The volume of logs it takes to have on hand when the orders come in would break the small mills. It is a very much a feast or famine business. You will work like crazy for a month or two then the orders just dry up. When the orders do come in there is no warning. The phone just rings and they want them yesterday thus you have to have the logs on hand. If you have to wait for a logger to get you the logs you will lose the order.
Why not keep milling and have a back stock of mats when the phone starts to bring again?
Probably a cheap skytrack or lull for now to get buy with and move up to bigger end loader or hyster forklift to get trucks loaded quickly, depends on ground and mat yard. A hyster can pick up 6 hardwood mats at once making for quick loading. Sky trak would also work to get by with for loading mats, moving timber and all the smaller stuff. Have a neighbor who will haul any logs/misc stuff for cash.
Poston I do cut and put in inventory. Two weeks ago they sold everything in inventory and a bunch more, than two more orders have come in since.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Matboy89!
Thanks Chuck!
Renting is an aspect I hadn't considered. Is there much of a market for that? Seems like that could really level out cash flow. Any market in repairing mats? Another market may be to rent out portable bridges to loggers and the like. We built one for our own use, and ended up renting it out.
What sized mats would you be producing? That would make a difference as for logs. You will probably end up having to pay a premium for logs so you don't have a bunch of unusable stock laying around. Figure out your specs so you don't have a bunch of side cuts. The shoring market can be a good place to get rid of the side cuts, if you can tie it in with your mat business. You'll have to figure out your log specs and price it accordingly.
I would look at a loader that can be used for logs and mats. We had a JD 540 loader. We used it to unload log trucks, load and unload the mill, handle and stack bridge timbers, and about anything else we needed to do. Unloading log trucks with a fork lift is arduous work.
Right on Ron, thanks for the info. I'd be building 12"x4'x20' . How much that loader run yA and how much can it lift?
It was a long time ago when they bought it new. It still runs good, so you should be able to pick up a used one. New is well into 6 figures. Even a recent used is over $100k. Pettibone is another that many mills have used. You will need a loader that has forks and a baler. The baler is needed to handle logs, and is a big time saver. You can find good, used machines at $30-50k, and probably less if you can snag a bargain. If you get a machine that is too lightweight, you'll just beat it up.
A single mat has about 960 bf of wood. In oak, that weighs in about 3 ton. Most loaders can handle that with no problem. You won't be able to load 6 at a time, but you'll have a machine that is very versatile. I think ours was rated at 8,000 lb. It would lift a lot more than that, but then it would get light in the rear end. We made bundles of lumber that were about 1 Mbf each, and handled that very comfortably. I also saw them put 2 bundles on a trailer at a time, but wouldn't recommend it.
If you plan to cut 12x12 timbers, you're going to need logs that are no smaller than 16" on the small end. That means you'll have to get logs that are fairly large and straight. You will also need tie quality logs. Tie quality is around $200/Mbf for 8' logs. In order to attract logs, you'll have to double that.
Or maybe buy in the sawn timbers. But, that can also be expensive. We were getting $750/Mbf for a 7x9x23 switch tie in oak. That's your competition, and you have to beat that. Prices fell pretty good when you got to the more common lengths.
If you're getting into the business, you're going to need a sharp pencil. A business plan would be a wise place to start.
Thanks Ron, for the info. I'm looking into a lot of different things and ways to go about this and all your I info has helped a lot. Thanks you