Well, now I'm really all in on the firewood thing... lol

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Yup, 180 cubic feet is thought  to be a solid "running cord" or "thrown cord".   I have tested that dubious measurement several times and found it to be pretty dang close one way or the other. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

So how goes it woodrat?   Still at it?

[cutterboy]

Yes woodrat, I too am interested.

[woodrat]

Ha. Been a little bit since I checked in. 

Yes, still at it. Finally finished up all the logs that were piled up at the place where I bought it and was able to bring the equipment home. Still have the ratty F350 and some pallets to move over here, too, but at least I'm working at home now. 

Sold 23 cords out of the piles that were at his place, plus held back a half dozen nice clear sawlogs for the mill. 

Had another load dropped at my place in November sometime, which was a nice big volume  load, but the truck driver (AFTER I had already had him approve the road and the access) nearly got his truck stuck coming up the hill and getting out of my landing with his city tires and city truck, and said he wouldn't come back up that road until it was dry again.

Learned the hard way about buying logs by weight rather than volume... lol... One of the piles of logs that I bought with the business was about half what I expected because I bought them as "two loads", but he neglected to tell me they were two loads that he had bought in the spring when they were full of water. So... dang... Not a good deal on those at all...

Then I decided to buy one more load to have it delivered to a friend's place right down the road, to see what a winter load looked like. That one came in December, and it was also very small in volume because the water weight. So, I stopped the deliveries from that supplier for now. 

In the meantime, working through the dry logs I got delivered to my place and that load will be about 12-13 cords, and then I'll be pretty much out of dry wood until summer. 

Anyway, so far have done 29 cords total since I took it over, and I have about another 6-7 cords of dry logs on the deck at my place and another 6-7 cords of wet logs down the road a bit. 

Another thing I learned from finally talking to the truck driver, is that the other guy never bought logs in the winter even though he made it sound to me like he was getting them all year round. And also that he was not doing as much volume as he told me, based on how many trips the trucker driver had made in a year. 

Not a big deal, really, the price I paid was pretty fair just for the machines, regardless of how much business he was doing. And more than a third of what I have sold so far was to people in my network, not his previous customers. 

So far I have saved most of the money that's come in for future log buying, plus I paid myself a little bit for bills and also spent a small fortune on new tires and 16" rims for the dump truck, which was definitely needed. 

Also have spent some money on chainsaw parts, gas and oil, etc. 

I'm going to try to find a few dump truck loads of local logs from the loggers around here this winter so I can at least build up some inventory, even if it's mixed wood and not the special debarked fir logs. I'll try to go back to getting those loads in June or July when they're not so small and heavy. 

I knew the transition/supply/inventory thing would be bumpy, so I'm not surprised or worried. I'll keep figuring it out. 

[customsawyer]

Glad to hear it is working out. There is always a learning curve on a new venture. Stay the course and it will get easier.

[Anderson]

Thanks for the update. I enjoy reading about your new enterprise. 8)

[cutterboy]

Yes, thanks for the report.

[Don P]

It sounds like building a record of moisture meter readings and volumes might help with buying decisions down the road, dunno. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Sounds like your moving ahead woodrat.   Just my opinion of course but the hardest thing about the firewood business is finding a supply that is reliable, affordable, and a truck driver that is willing to work with you.    

I get most of my wood from my own logging jobs but a good many of the pieces I cut are pretty much all saw logs with little low grade stuff for firewood.   So I have to buy about a third to half of my firewood.  
Some loads I do great, some I think I  barely break even. But it keeps you stocked.   So far I've not been able to ever improve that.  

I'm glad its seems to be coming together for you. Keep working at it and keep us posted.   Ive said it before but I'm real glad none of you guys are near me me cause I wouldn't want have to compete with
you. :D  

[woodrat]

Just my opinion of course but the hardest thing about the firewood business is finding a supply that is reliable, affordable, and a truck driver that is willing to work with you.    

I get most of my wood from my own logging jobs but a good many of the pieces I cut are pretty much all saw logs with little low grade stuff for firewood.   So I have to buy about a third to half of my firewood.  
Some loads I do great, some I think I  barely break even. But it keeps you stocked.   So far I've not been able to ever improve that.  

I'm not willing to work for free, so I'm going to be picky about what I pay for logs. The "two loads" pile I paid $3000 for, and it turned out to be only ten cords of firewood and two short sawlogs. That's more than I'm selling the firewood for... lol
The wet load I just bought on my own is probably only 6-7 cords for $1500, which at least isn't MORE than I sell cords for, but not very much less, either. 
The "summer loads", the bins are full and still under the weight limit for the truck, and contain about 10-13 cords each. That's much more workable. 
I'm going to shop around the local logging companies and see if I can find someone who will sell me dump truck loads at a reasonable price. I live right in the middle of industrial forestry land, so there's always wood somewhere, I just need to make the connection. The peeled logs from the pole manufacture are really nice, but buying all that water seems dumb. lol

[barbender]

Yeah that sounds like a rip off. I buy firewood on volume, not weight- the same way it gets sold. Once you get moving enough wood, you won't have to beg loggers to do business with you.

[woodrat]

Curious as to how people manage materials handling and flow. 

Here's what I'm up to. 

Pick through the pile, pull out 6-8 logs and roll them over onto a plastic sheet for bucking, mark out 16" with a lumber crayon, buck everything, throw the short bits to the side, then stack all the rounds near the splitter until I have a cord or two piled up, then run the splitter directly into the truck. I mix in a few of the short pieces into each cord, and also make each load a little more than a cord. 

This is for logs that are basically already dry. 

When I get into the wet/green logs, I'll split and stack all that stuff to dry for later inventory. 

I use the short bits for myself - it's perfect for the little Jotul 602 - and I did also sell a whole cord of that to some low income friends for cheap, and they were super stoked. I'm sure I'll always be able to find a home for that stuff. 

[stavebuyer]

I had the same splitter and elevator. Can't tell from the angle which wedge you are using and if your elevator has the "grizzly" for cleaning the fines and loose bark?

Those nice uniform softwood rounds probably work out much better than the odd sized and knotty hardwoods that I used to feed my splitter, but the process was much the same except I generally put my splits into a bulk pile rather than live loading a truck or trailer.

I did very well when I fed my splitter "waste" wood from my log yard which basically was free as the rounds were cut from logs that increased in value by raising the grade by cutting out crooks and splits etc. I did ok when the pallet log market was soft and I could buy firwood logs for about half the price of finished firewood. When the pallet market heated up and firewood logs cost 75% or more of the selling price that kind of took all the fun out of it.

The market here is often filled by tree service people who use firewood as sideline to keep helpers busy on rainy days and as a way to dispose of the wood they would otherwise have to pay a tipping fee to dump. Always some pickup truck guys early season peddling some firewood for cash they won't report. A few full-time professionals around the major cities where the pricing is little better round out the market.

If you can build up a repeat "good customer base" and delete the cheapskates and crisis callers, it's enjoyable work.

In the end I think you either need a source of cheap logs to sell commodity firewood or a well-heeled client list to maintain a reasonable margin when buying good logs delivered.

[Spike60]

SB, I like the term "crisis callers". I know guys who run their businesses either way. Guess you have to deal with that as you are growing the business, but those who develope a regular customer base and jettison the rest are far less stressed and more profitable to boot.

[NE Woodburner]

mark out 16" with a lumber crayon

Try a mingo firewood marker instead. You can get different wheels to mark out most common firewood lengths. It uses a can of inverted marking paint. Only problem I've had is the wheel slipping on very smooth bark, especially when its wet out. Works well 90% of the time. And be careful when you set it down that you don't trigger the nozzle and empty the whole can on the ground...ask me how I know...

[B.C.C. Lapp]

If you can build up a repeat "good customer base" and delete the cheapskates and crisis callers, it's enjoyable work.

Yup. That's every firewood guys goal. I'll let you know if I ever get there.  :D
I do have repeat customers.  I'd say 80% call me again and again.  Pretty cool.
The cheap skates I have no problem with.   I don't budge one dime on my price.  Ever.  I don't care how much they say they will buy or how cheap they can get it down the road.   Tell your story walking pal cause i got no time for low ballers. They don't call me twice.
But the panic "I just put the last piece in the stove." people, well, I got plenty of them.  But I cant afford to turn down the  business so I deal with it.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Woodrat I don't mark my logs for cutting I just measure with the bar as I go.   But all my wood is cut at 16in. and after a million cuts or so you get remarkably accurate at getting darn close to that without measuring at all.  Especially if the log is level.   Now if its up on the pile and slanted I use the bar for quick reference cause the slant will fool your eye. 

[Old Greenhorn]

" Crisis callers " that's a good one and it should stick around as a term. You can define that as saying " A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." In other words, it should come with a cost. I call it a 'stupid tax'.
 I have a neighbor for 4 years now who still doesn't get it even though I casually remind him in March that it's a good time to put an order in, then remind him a couple of times. His 'property maintainer' does the same thing. Nope, he 'forgets' until late November. He is moving in full time in June, he says. Let's see how that goes. He also likes to call in an order in February then complain when he doesn't have it in a week. I can't keep a straight face when he says "I don't understand, I ordered my wood almost 2 weeks ago, how can it take so long?" Yes, I have told him most folks order 6 months in advance or more many times, but.. you can't fix [some things]. ;D

 Oh, and on the mingo, be careful how you lay it in the back of the truck or you could end up with your gear covered in paint. You know, wedges, tools, sweatshirt, truck bed. Just saying, I've heard this too.

[Stephen1]

'Crisis Callers' or PITA customers, they have a great rate in my books, at least %20 more...thats why its a great rate for me.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Hey woodrat how goes the firewood business?   I'd like to know how your getting on.

[woodrat]

Hey woodrat how goes the firewood business?   I'd like to know how your getting on.

Still alive, still have all my limbs and digits... lol

I sold about a dozen cords from New Years until the end of heating season last year and was turning down the late winter "OMG, it's still cold!" requests because I was all out of wood.

Then when I started up getting logs again it turned out that I couldn't use the trucking services that the guy who sold the business to me was using, it was some special deal from his employer, and so I had to spend a while trying to find an alternative, which wasn't easy.

In the meantime I got a self loader load of mixed wood brought in to keep working.

Then I finally got a new trucking company sorted out and the price on the bins of fir logs came way down, too, so since about June I've brought in about 70 cords or so and am sitting on about 20 cords of that that I haven't processed yet. Plus probably three cords worth of cedar that gets mixed in some times. I set all that aside for the sawmill. Mostly kinda short and small, but I can make useful stuff out of most of it.

The phone has been very quiet lately, but overall I was able to move out quite a bit of wood before the rains started hitting. Right now I'm just picking away at next year's inventory out of the fresh loads. I have about 15 cords or so stacked up under tarps that came in during the summer and that stuff is mostly dry, so if I get any more orders this winter it will come out of that stash.

Oh, and along the way the jerk who sold me the business went behind my back and tried to steal back the campground campfire bundle customer for his son in law. I caught him at it, and had some pointed conversations with the customer, but I seem to have gotten that back on track, although their overall volume was way down this year from what was normal for them.  I sold about 500 bundles between the campground and the local store.

Went to put a clutch in the trashed F350 that came with the business and my mechanic ended up charging me more than double his estimate by the time he was done, and it's still just a beat up wood truck that I now have more into it than it's worth... lol... And still needs new front springs, new front driveline and an exhaust manifold gasket...

And I think I finally got all the nasty mess of gunk and filth cleaned out of the transmission case of the beat up old Massey Ferguson that also came with the business, and ready to put new filter and fluid back in there. Hopefully that fixes the hydraulic problems.

And, along the way my 20 year old favorite chainsaw ever, a ported 372xp, died when a crank bearing failed, so, that was a bummer but I did get a long time of use out of that saw, so... 

With a year of hindsight, I definitely overpaid by a bit for all this stuff...and also got ripped off by the seller on logs that I bought from him, too, but nothing to be done about that but move on... lol

Still here, still picking away at it.

[barbender]

 Sometimes all you can do is brush yourself on and keep going. It can eat you up if you think about it too much, but there's nothing you can do about it, but forget it and move forward👍

 I hate investing more in parts into a vehicle than what it's worth, but at least if you fix something up and have say a $10,000, $2000 dollar truck you know what it is and that it has some life in it. 

[chep]

Woodrat 

Kudos for being persistent! 
Kinda sounds like 9 out of 10 fw operations I know of 🤦‍♂️ and the 1 out of 10 has massive payments on all brand new gear and is prob stressed as the other 9 of 10... 
Sounds like you are working through the kinks and getting your bearings. Keep on splitting!

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Chep is spot on.  Your still at it woodrat and that says a lot.   Moneys always tight in this game and you make improvements as you get the money to do it.   The first year is always the hardest. Sometimes in the beginning its seems impossible to keep on.  After that its only ALMOST impossible.

[woodrat]

After that its only ALMOST impossible.

I do have some loan payments on this venture, but they're not enormous, anyway

Fortunately, I didn't expect a ton of spendable income right away, and in that regard, I have not been disappointed...  lol
and ... I'm pretty good at "letting stuff go" ...  : :D