couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[thecfarm]

g_man, just as I posted, it would not stay tight on the drum when I released it.
When I would take the tension off to pull the cable out, the cable would not stay close to the drum.
This was a Labonville cable, Norse name brand.
The Norse cable comes with a hook on the end.
Just like winding a stiff piece of wire around a bolt and then release it. It does not touch the bolt anymore.
If I checked every time it was ok. And I do mean every time.
When I pulled out the cable there was a lot of slack on the drum.
We ran that cable for a year and it never got better.

[Peter Drouin]

3500 bf  I don't think so, more like 55 to 6000 bf on that truck.

[chep]

Peter I was gonna say the same thing. Those are big logs and the truck is loaded fairly well. 
What scale is being used? I would say that you took a deduction only having the one load to sell but 3500bdft is what they fit on a straight truck easy here 

[Walnut Beast]

I told the the buyer I had thought the board footage was around 5000bf range when I figured it up 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

If anybody sees my log truck driver give him directions back to my landing.  I think he's lost and today's log pile is getting a bit.......excessive.

[barbender]

WB, I wouldn't have let them leave after giving me that number for scale. I think he's ripping you off. Those look like very good quality logs and there is no reason to be getting shorted a good 20% on scale, on a high value species. I'd say, #1 let's fix that number up closer to 5000bf where it should be, and #2 if you don't, don't come back.

[Walnut Beast]

I know Barbender. The buyer had some previous pictures and knew what to expect. There is absolutely no logging anywhere close around here and within 1 1/2 hr. The log trucks were here and out.

 Tracy export never again. 

[nativewolf]

If anybody sees my log truck driver give him directions back to my landing.  I think he's lost and today's log pile is getting a bit.......excessive. (Image hidden from quote, click to view.) (Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

I must confess...if a log truck driver is lost and shows up at my landing...I am not returning them.

[barbender]

 There's few things that get under my skin like under scaling. Some of these buyers act like scaling is black magic or something. If I have a 16' log, 20" top with no sweep or defects, there is nothing arbitrary about what it scales. You use the agreed on scale, Doyle, Scribner, International, a 16' 20" log scales whatever the scale chart says. 

 There can be differences in how it grades, that's another story. But the raw scale number shouldn't be so far off.

[barbender]

Haha Wyatt, post a sign that says, "any truck that enters must leave loaded"😊

[stavebuyer]

Most Walnut is bought on Doyle and trucks traveling the big road with Doyle scaled veneer/export logs will do well to axle/gross out at 3500-3800 bd /ft.

You sell veneer and container logs in the summer, and you will get plenty of 10' 6" cut back on the scale ticket as 9'. Thats why you don't sell good logs in the summer.

You want to sell logs and don't know the "rules" or the "players" you will get an expensive lesson.

Sell in the fall or winter. 

Invitation to bid with a set date and time to open the bids.
Retain the right of refusal. In fall winter you have 6 months if you only get a half baked token bid. If those logs lay there and bake you probably won't get what you were paid. Buyer knew that when he scaled them.

Tracy can and does pay big money and buys their share at bid sales.  You did outstanding job felling and yarding. I feel bad for the outcome. If the farm was sold and the trees needed to be moved to meet a deadline then I am not sure you had all that many options.

[barbender]

Thanks for the insight as always, Stave

[B.C.C. Lapp]

3500 bf I don't think so, more like 55 to 6000 bf on that truck.

I don't know that it would crack 6000, bf but there is no doubt its way over 3500.   I always scale my logs before the buyer shows up.   Then before they scale I tell them I scaled them.  They always want to know what I came up with.  But of course I ain't saying.   If the buyer's scale  is under by more than I think it should be i just don't sell to him.   I just tell him his scale is short and better luck next time.  But I never tell them what I scaled.  Let em wonder.   Most times the next time I see that buyer he'll be a little more accurate.
Now having said all that I sell most of my logs to the same three mills.   Who gets what is based on their price for that grade and type log.   And it keeps them honest cause they are forever competing for the logs.   That works best for me.    I only scale walnut logs, very good prime logs and veneer.    But the mills don't know that.     I scale a load occasionally and let the buyer know I did.  It just helps keep them honest and fair.  

[stavebuyer]

I think that although the truck has 3 bunks that there is only 2 bunks staggered. 3500' may still be short sticked but with some double length logs staggered its not quite the load it might be if all 3 bunks were filled with short logs.

[stavebuyer]

Not defending the buyer but I think it is important to keep in perspective that a Walnut buyer will field a lot of calls. Most will be a total waste of time. A few will be a logger putting pressure on the guy they usually sell to, a few will be an under the table auction where the previous bidders' price is shopped for a few hundred more and few will be reputable loggers looking for an honest bid. At the end of the week the loggers who knew what they had and presented an honest sale will cash the biggest checks. The window shoppers will be put on call block and the few who had real logs and were unaware of the actual market will get fleeced. Just the nature of the game. A little too much was paid for some logs and it gets made up from the less in tune.

[Clark]

…and the few who had real logs and were unaware of the actual market will get fleeced. Just the nature of the game…

You do realize just how bad this makes all log buyers look? Especially coming from someone with your handle?

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hard to judge scale on the truck because we have no idea what the actual lengths vs the scaled/bought lengths were.

When I used to buy veneer, Birdseye, curl, etc especially in the warm months I would buy 10' logs as 8', 12s as 10s, 12s as 8s, etc. Was common to send a log truck out with say 9K feet of logs on it but only have it scaled at maybe 7K. We never paid truckers on footage as they would lose everytime hauling way more actual than scaled.

[so il logger]

Honestly it looks like a 3500 bdft load to me. 5-6k? No way

[stavebuyer]

…and the few who had real logs and were unaware of the actual market will get fleeced. Just the nature of the game…

You do realize just how bad this makes all log buyers look? Especially coming from someone with your handle?

The dark side of the business doesn't start or stop with less then ethical buyers. Landowner falsely claiming title or boundaries, Foresters marking high graded sales, loggers sending the odd load off the record when cutting on shares or to the handiest or best scaling mill if cutting per unit. A few will go above and beyond even when nobody is watching.  Some will borrow from the collection plate if given the chance. 

Timber, logs, acres, Uncle Bobs gun collection, whatever. Get bids. Plenty of stories of landowners coming up short. Many are valid and just as many are the unfamiliar equating cottonwood with Walnut veneer. Logs and timber are a commodity that bring a market price. Unlike most things where the money is made at the sale end; money in the timber business can really only be made on the buy. Sell the logs in the run or the standing trees marked. You don't need to know or care the grade and scale. In the upside down world of hardwood logs its generally the seller who needs to beware.

GET BIDS!

[nativewolf]

The ability to abuse a market situation always lies in favor with the market maker.  The more the maker has unequal knowledge the more they can abuse it.  From bankers to cattle buyers to oil traders.  It is why big commodity trading houses are huge and operate globally. 

Clearly WB did a fine job felling those in a difficult time crunch.  Clearly he had communicated, maybe too much, with the buyer.  Clearly a double truck load of 20” 16-21’ sticks is a heck of a lot more than 3500bdft.  Sadly this is the price of an education when dealing with log buyers.  As stave buyer says, get bids if you can, be willing to sit, and cut good trees in the  best season.