Selling Green Lumber

[Sawvell]

Hello all,

First time poster, long time follower of the forum here. Bare with me on the long post, but I have a question(s) that will take some background info/setting up to get to. This will cover a few different aspects of milling, so if an admin wants to move this to a different thread on the forum, please do. Any and all advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

I recently bought a Woodmizer LT35HD and love it. My family has owned a tree service for 30+ years and have expanded on that business plenty since then. We have our tree service, a mulch company, a log picking service that we do for other tree services in our area, and a crane service. We not only get logs from our tree service, but others in our area who do not have a way to dispose of the logs and do not have the equipment that we do. 

For years now we have turned everything into mulch (I know, what a shame  :D) and have done very well. Instead of turning everything into mulch, I had the idea of milling as much as we can and mulch the remaining logs that would not have much yield or were simply too big for our mill. I realize that most people that have a mill do not have the luxury of having too many logs, so I am obviously very lucky and appreciative. I am going to be milling as "full-time as possible", as I think this could be very profitable for our business, as we will be able to offer a new product(s) and broaden our customer base. 

I think it's safe to say that it is no secret that the bottleneck of the entire process is drying the lumber, so my question revolves around the drying and selling of the milled products. I've looked into getting a vacuum kiln and feel like this would be the next logical step and piece of equipment. But right now, I can see the rational for selling green lumber, given there is a market for it. We have been selling a green product to people for a few months now and have done pretty well. I have always made sure to reiterate to the customer that what they are buying is green and have given them a crash course on the drying process if necessary. The goal has been to move as much product as possible, as I'm sure that is everyone's goal, but you obviously cannot sell any product if you are waiting for it dry. Do you think selling green lumber would be more cost effective or would a vacuum kiln be worth the investment and bump the prices up, but still cheaper than competitors? I think ultimately a vacuum kiln will be purchased, but I'm curious to hear what others have to say. I apologize if this has been addressed in another thread somewhere, but I felt it was worthy of my first post! ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

@Sawvell ,

   I always thought every tree service should have a sawmill. I hope your's works out for you like it sounds like it will. 

    If you have a good ready market for your green lumber sounds like you have plenty of time to make the next step decision. If you KD the lumber how will you store it to prevent it from returning to its original/air dried moisture content? How long would you have to hold the KD lumber before you can move it? How much will it cost you to dry and handle the KD lumber and how much more will it bring? Do you have space to store the KD lumber and that waiting on the kiln? Do you have the labor or are you going to have to hire additional help? What additional equipment besides the kiln will you need and can you use it for other business needs/profit? Basically is it worth the effort and expense? How stable is your market? Is this going to continue to be a salvage operation or do you envision having to buy additional logs? Good luck.

[low_48]

You can sell green lumber to homesteaders (compost bins, chicken houses, etc) and small livestock hobby farms. Second option is to woodturners, but those guys don't like paying much, and would look at 6 planks and buy 1. Now if you found a real nice log, contact the woodturning club before sawing, and strike a good price if they bought the entire sawn log, that would be the way to go. Walnut, cherry, ambrosia maple, figured maple, stuff like that for turners would pay pretty well. 8 chapters in IL    https://www.woodturner.org/Woodturner/AAWConnects/AAW-Connects.aspx

[WV Sawmiller]

@low_48 ,

   Sounds like he is doing pretty well selling his green lumber right now and is mostly interested in info on further value added processing like kilns and such.

[Stephen1]

I see your growth is selling green lumber and convincing the buyer in drying the Green wood in your vacuum kiln. What WV talks about the storage is so true. You will need a large climate controlled building to store the kiln dried wood untill it sells. There is a lot of slab wood sitting air drying in North America.
Educate the consumer on the benefits of Kiln is the way to go. Certain wood you will saw and dry and sell in a heartbeat. Other wood will sit and sit. Your market will dictate. 

[thecfarm]

Takes time to sell lumber, as you know.
Have one member that saws through the week than shuts down the mill and sells lumber, on the weekend. You have time for that? Would a kiln pay for itself? Do you have time for the added work? Yes, you could make money, but would it cause more problems?

[Old Greenhorn]

First, welcome to the forum, nice first post!
Second, I am no expert, but I have learned a lot from the folks here just by reading. They can give you specifics on drying, equipment, storage, costing etc.
I did just want to add this general comment from the business side. It sounds like you are already moving product. This is a great time to speak with your customers and try to figure out what the demographics are for your area and customer base. What do they need? Are they willing to pay the extra value-added cost for drying? Have you worked up some costs to bounce off customers and see how they respond? What are they doing with your products? In other words, take advantage of your customer contact time now to find out what they need and what they would like to buy, then set to work filling that hole in the market.
Man, I wish there was somebody in my area that could take some of my slabs and boards in his/her kiln for a fee.
Good luck to you, come back often.
Tom

[doc henderson]

the next step may be a drying shed, or well organized system of pallets and covers.  you can at least offer air dried stuff/stored under cover.  if you have slabs that sit awhile they may be down to 12% and that is much better than green.  slabs takes longer, the thicker they are.  some would airdry before the kiln any way.  sounds like fun and a good fit to add to your current business. some have used steel shipping containers as storage with a dehumidifier inside.  a good moisture meter will come in handy.  when folks are looking at slabs you can dazzle them with a gadget in you pocket to show how far down the drying road you wood has gone.  

[low_48]

@low_48 ,

  Sounds like he is doing pretty well selling his green lumber right now and is mostly interested in info on further value added processing like kilns and such.

I thought everyone liked to sell more. My mistake.

[moodnacreek]

Green lumber has to move fast and if the weather get warm even faster. So unless you are in the wholesale lumber business you have to stick as you saw and roof everything.