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Does anyone else have trouble

Started by woodman58, September 16, 2016, 07:35:29 AM

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woodman58

Does anyone else have trouble getting loggers to bring you logs. I have a new mill and having trouble getting logs to cut. I have buyers but no logs. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
i LOVE THE SMELL OF SAW DUST IN THE MORNING.
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scully

Loggers can be funny . Some won't bother with a lone guy and his mill . I approached a guy with a full load one time he told me that he does so well selling high to the Amish that he wouldn't even sell me a load ! Allot of them are on contract to the big buyers and can't really sell to small guys etc.  I am fortunate enough to know and be friends with a couple loggers and if I really need something they will at least find it for me through their networks . I like going to landings around here and looking at the stuff the buyer didn't want . Deals can be made . I guess in short be patient and make lots of friends . It will come around .
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Gearbox

PAY WELL let the trucker or logger scale the load . they are looking to sell wood . Real nice wood they will expect a good scale
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

Jeff

Quote from: Gearbox on September 16, 2016, 09:54:30 AM
PAY WELL let the trucker or logger scale the load . they are looking to sell wood . Real nice wood they will expect a good scale

You better know the trucker or logger very well, and they better know you. Trust is a fragile thing that can be broken quickly when scales become subjective depending on whose eyeballs and methods are taking the measurements.
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Gearbox

Like I said short scale once he won't be back and he will tell everyone . pay well and fair and you won't be short of logs .
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

killamplanes

If u are looking for logs below market value you typically need to be able to transport. Here some of the real small loggers cannot separate there logs due to low volumes. And they have no way of transportation of logs. So you will go in and buy all the logs say 5k ft, pay good for say grade and not so much for tie, and blocking. This is not stealing or being dishonest, this is taking advantage of your ability to transport and market logs that someone else does not have the abilty, knowledge or financial capabilitys to do so. One of three things will eventually happen, logger will go broke, not get any more timbers to cut, or figure the game out and get a truck to transport to higher paying mills. Don't ask me how I know this.. :D :D But when one fails another two will try
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Larch

You've got to cast a really wide net and cast it wider and wider, and never stop casting it.  Maybe you have to buy an extra load you don't need when you get a call.  Maybe in times of feast you might want to stop casting.  Don't.

ABC.  Always be casting. 

drobertson

This can be tricky, it seems like most are content to stay with one or two mills for multiple reasons. Quick unloading, quick payment, and as mentioned good sca!e, not over scaled, surely not under scaled. Most loggers will know what a typical load will scale, so scale good give a little more than take, and pay a little more as well,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Brad_bb

There really aren't any loggers in my area because there's very little woods that can be logged commercially at all, only tree services.  It's hard to work with tree services because they don't want to separate.  It's not worth their time.  They make way more for their work than they would ever get for logs.  They are not going to separate yard trees from what might not be considered yard trees. 

So what I've managed to do is work with a firewood guy.  He gets his logs from tree services(has build relationships).  He's got one tree service who will cut longer logs for milling that he can bring in, or sometimes firewood guy has to go with his equipment to pick up.  Other services just brings wood and dumps it in his yard.  He usually has more wood than he can make firewood and sell.  So I've developed a relationship with him and he lets me mark logs in his yard and he'll haul them to me when he has time.  I pay for the logs and delivery charge.  He just drops off the logs and lets me figure out the dollar amount and pay him when I do, which is sometimes weeks later.  He's watched me figure the BF before, knows what I pay for different woods and more for longer stuff.  He now trust me and knows I'm going to be honest and fair.  I sometimes will mill a log for his use when he needs it and bring the wood back to his place.  We are both happy with the arrangement.

The other way I get logs is the one logger I know who also is a circle saw mill too. He doesn't want to sell anything he can mill, so I will buy certain wood that he won't saw on his mill.  I buy Osage from him lately.  I buy curved wood that he considers firewood.  I have a specific use for it- I specialize.  By specializing in something he doesn't do, I'm able to make his life easier, and visa versa.  That's fine, as long as I can keep busy with stuff I can use.  I paid him for the first load the firewood price he wanted plus his delivery fee(which wasn't very much), and then I told him that once I cut and finished the curve stock pieces, I'd pay him more depending on how many good pieces I got out of it.  I don't think he believed me or paid any attention to that.  It was almost 8 months later that I finished the pieces and went back over to look for more stock.  I handed him the same amount I paid originally (doubling what he wanted for the stock).  He was quite surprised.  I said, I told you I'd give you more for each good piece.  I explained that I figured if I had $25 stock cost plus delivery in each piece, I'm doing fine.  He's a very wary guy and doesn't trust easily at all.  I think he now understands that I'm going to be fair with him and I'm honest.  The moral of the story is that you have to develop relationships, and develop trust.
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Ron Wenrich

You could go to a couple of local sawmills.  We used to sell logs that we didn't have markets for.  A local small miller bought hemlock and some pine.  If you can use an off species, or lower quality wood, then there wasn't much of a problem.  If you're looking for high grade white oak, you'll be paying a pretty penny for it.  Most likely, mills with their own logging crews or who buy stumpage will be the most receptive.

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

YellowHammer

Quote from: woodman58 on September 16, 2016, 07:35:29 AM
Does anyone else have trouble getting loggers to bring you logs. I have a new mill and having trouble getting logs to cut. I have buyers but no logs. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks
Most loggers I now work with laughed when I first mentioned I wanted to buy logs from them.  From their perspective, they get lots of requests to feed the many local bandmill hobbiests, and typically, and honestly, it's not worth their time.  The hobbiest saw miller wants the best logs at competitive market price, delivered, with only a rudimentary way to unload, and that's way out of the logger's comfort zone where they are used to driving to the mill, pulling the straps, getting unloaded by a big, fast wheel loader or Grapple, and they are on their way again. 
So it took time and money for loggers to deal with me, and warm up the fact they they can trust me to pay them, and help feed their family. 
Here's a good example of the progression: for the first year, at a mega mill and accumulation yard where I buy some of my logs, they wouldn't deliver and didn't remember my name.  After another year, they would talk and listen to me, and knew what I wanted.  Maybe a year or so later, they sent me a company Christmas card.  A couple years ago, they gave me a smoked ham and my own "mark" and spot on the ground at their mill for my logs.
It takes time...and money...and persistence....
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

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