It's started??

[OlJarhead]

Since when was working at Micky D'S a place to earn enough to 'make it'??  It's a place to start out as a teen living at home and begin the journey of learning how to 'make it'..

And my wife who's in her 50s makes $21/hr and it's not a bad income all things considered.  She is far more skilled and experienced let alone responsible than kids working in fast food for $14.

Frankly, I support paying them $5 and hour and letting them learn early that there is no free lunch.

[Sixacresand]

I guess I mill for the folks that think they can make money off green slabs.  As for selling my mill, not now, even if it sits mostly idle during the hot months. 

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

Sawmills are the ultimate "off the grid" toy to many.  At least once a week I get calls as to what type of sawmill somebody should buy, and I tell them get whatever they want because when it gets delivered a year from now, they won't want it anyway.

Or the people who say "I want a sawmill so I can have my son, son in law, grandchild, fill in the blank, so I can teach them how to be a man!"  Of course the guy who's telling me this is as old as the hills and can barely walk and has dreams of his youth again.

Or the many calls I get from people who say "I just got a mill and sawed up some kind of wood and how much are you going to pay for the wood?"  I reply "Nothing" and they say, "well, where else can I sell it?"  Not my problem...

I have no doubt that one of the reasons the mill manufacturers have not rapidly spooled up in the last year or two, is that they know that as soon as they do, market forces will cause them to spool back down, and the smart decision is to just keep an even supply.  Lots of the mills they have deposits on will get dropped by their customer backing out and the manufacturer will get left holding the bag.  Too many surplus mills and not enough customers.  People watching too much off grid TV and home repair shows find out how hot it is outside when they step out to walk their dog.  

I have read a few articles how trends are started in minutes on social media. Like coffee shops have bricks and industrial lighting, etc. It happened world wide in a short period of time. I often wonder how many injuries are caused by DIY shows and videos. I never heard of anyone smashing their kitchen cabinets with a sledge hammer until I watched the DIY network! I think that some of the popular youtube sawmill channels sold a lot more mills then you would  think. Folks home from work during the virus binging on youtube. Then add in a lot of free $$$. People also want what they can't get. We live in some very odd times. 

[Magicman]

I guess I mill for the folks that think they can make money off green slabs.

 
Yup, here is one stack.  I sawed a total of 62 live edge 2½" slabs a couple of months ago.  I know that he sold some but I wonder how he will do selling air dried slabs?

I charged him $14.40 each to saw them.

[YellowHammer]

I agree, and think social media sells more mills than the sawmill salesmen, without a doubt.  I see videos on the Tube where a Spandex wearing young thing is sawing wood with a manual mill and cutting maybe one board an hour and making people think they are making millions.  

Or guys on TV who take a manure encrusted, nail studded, bug eaten log to a mill and cut off a few pieces and say how those boards are worth gold.  

Or my personal favorite, I get a call on the phone and the conversation goes with me saying: "Nope... I don't want to buy that half rotten piece of hackberry log you fished out of the neighbors creek and just cut with your hobby mill.  It's just a wet, rotten log...and those are just wet, rotten boards."  Then they get mad at me for not buying them, saying I am just trying to lowball them, because they "Watched on TV where boards like this are worth lots of money!"

My favorite calls are the ones that say "I spend all my time watching TV and now I want to run a sawmill."  I say that's like telling me someone suddenly wants to get off the couch and break rocks with a hammer for a living and make millions.  Yeah, sure....

They are exactly like the guy who drove 5 hours to buy my old mill, paid me $30 grand, and had knees so bed that he had to sit down in a chair while I hooked the mill to his truck.  "My knees are killing me, bone on bone, but they will get better."  The mill sat around for months, he didn't even get one log thorough it and sold it for more money than he paid me.  

[kantuckid]

Bruno,

  Sorry to burst your bubble but I bought my wife an egg McMuffin this morning and is was $3.49. Don't know where you're finding one for $.99. ;)

Talking eggs: I see the cable news nearly daily telling us what we all know as to groceries are higher. What baffles me is seeing eggs on a store shelf in thos pics for nearly $5 a dozen? We pay a little over $2 a dozen for large white eggs, not the organic or pricey ones. I make my own egg McMuffins when I want one FWIW.
The reality that WM mills are way behind on sales has assisted other brands some to increase sales. many buy a mill who don't know an Oak from a Dogwood. 
The FB WM Group is full of all thats been said here. It also has some FT sawyers who know their stuff. The tractor groups are much the same as many noobies have bought stuff they know little about. They all seem order a tractor, a grapple, a root bucket and a toothed bar for their buckets then proceed to take a picture of every breath they take much like the rest of FB folks. 
I've got a relative in KS who posts everything she cooks, grows you name it... 
Me, I waste enough time on here to have none left for pics of my life's every event. ;D
Lot's of stuff will come up for sale. Expect silly price points too.    

[melezefarmer]

Since when was working at Micky D'S a place to earn enough to 'make it'??  It's a place to start out as a teen living at home and begin the journey of learning how to 'make it'..

Unfortunately, McD's employing mostly teenagers is a myth. According to a 2015 article:

"Fast food was indeed an adolescent gig in the 1950s and 1960s, when the paper hat symbolized the classic short-term, entry-level job. But today, despite arguments that these low-wage jobs are largely filled by "suburban teenagers," as the Heritage Foundation put it, labor data shows that about 70% of the fast-food workforce is at least 20 years old.The typical burger-flipper is an independent adult of about 29, with a high school diploma. Nearly a third have some college experience, and many are single parents raising families [...]"

I wholeheartedly agree about the sawmill situation. I believe that once most people are done cutting down their 2 or 3 trees off their half acre lots, a bunch of lightly used manual mills will flood the market. I also think that the hydraulic mills may not lose as much value if only because the people buying them should have a somewhat reasonable use case or them. It's alot harder to justify a 75 000$ sawmill as opposed to a 3 000$ mill.
As others have mentioned, milling is hard physical work, and acquiring logs is even more work. And that's without mentioning the capital expenditure for the support equipment around the mill.

[WDH]

If you are serious about sawing and selling lumber, not just going mobile and custom sawing, forget about the $3000 manual mill.  Even if you have a mobile strategy and just saws ''em and leaves ''em and let the customer do all the handling and stacking and storing, you can also forget about the $3000 manual mill.  

If you are truly serious about making money on lumber and not just custom sawing at the customer's location, you are looking at a minimum investment of about $100,000  .  Then, you quickly figure out that you do not have enough support equipment, sheds, buildings, etc., so into the pocketbook you have to go again.  Before you turn around twice, you have a couple of hundred thousands dollars invested and need to do some serious work to make it pay out.  If you try to handle logs and lumber without the right equipment, you will work yourself to death in short order.

Even if you have a mobile custom sawing strategy at the customer's location you need a hydraulic mill and a truck to haul it and a bunch of other chainsaws, cant hooks and peaveys, hand tools, etc.  Last I looked, trucks ain't cheap to own and operate either.  Like Customsawyer says, if you want to play you have to pay.

[customsawyer]

Here I was trying to stay out of this one and you have to chunk me into the middle. I appreciate that as I live in constant turmoil and am getting used to it. :D
It doesn't matter what kind of business you would like to start. The first thing you had better have is a big pile of determination or money. You are going to need one or the other to get through the rough times. A pocket full of patience doesn't hurt.
The market is so flooded with different wood products from new mills it is absolutely crazy. As my Grandpa used to say "this is like gas and it will pass." No one can advise someone else on how to build a sawmill business right now because none of use have seen the things that are going on right now.

[Gere Flewelling]

I came across 4 bandsaw mills on Maine CL yesterday for sale.  Three of them were mostly old iron that looked pretty rough.  Prices were like they were new  .  There was only one that was near new and seemed to have a reasonable price for what it was.  The old mills might have been a deal if you were into restoring them to re-sell or use, but a person would be quite foolish in my opinion to pay the asking prices that are there now.

[Walnut Beast]

WDH and Custom said it best! I think the smaller and non hydraulic mills are going to be plentiful and amazing deals down the road but the big boy mills are going to hold the value just fine. I know because I sold mine for thousands more than I paid and I guarantee the guy that bought it could get his money back in a heartbeat if he sold it. Less than ten minutes it was sold with a phone call of the guy that said I'll take it. And five more guys were ready to take it. The market is real right now! Equipment is the same way. If it's premium stuff it's going to bring big money. 

[Bruno of NH]

FB Market place has a 2021 lt35 loaded with 75 hour for sale.
I seen it last night.

[Tom K]

There was an auction last week that had a handful of used band mills. It was online & in person, and at various locations (OH, IL, IN, NY, and others). There was lots of support equipment as well. What's the thought on prices? It seems to have softened some?

Timber Buddy XP380, brand new siting on manufactures lot, $65k
Baker 3665D, 5k hrs, $30k
Timber King TK2200, 800 hrs, $62k
WM LT40 super, wide, 1k hrs, $36k
WM LT40 super, 5k hrs, $21k
WM LT40 Super, 1997, 1300 hrs, $21k
WM LT40, 1997, 1200 hrs, $24k
WM LT40 super, 2005, 22k hrs, 10k on new motor, $13.5k
WM LT28, 600 hrs, $15k
WM LT28, 2020, 800 hrs, $12.5K

[brianJ]

Scrap steel is down about 40% from early spring

[barbender]

I think reality will be coming to bear for all of that old garbage pretty soon. And used mill prices in general. I'd like to update my diesel pickup, and my daughter needs a decent vehicle as well. Sellers have not yet got the memo that the economy is slowing down, I'll wait until they do.

[Resonator]

Timber Buddy XP380, brand new siting on manufactures lot, $65k
Baker 3665D, 5k hrs, $30k
Timber King TK2200, 800 hrs, $62k
WM LT40 super, wide, 1k hrs, $36k
WM LT40 super, 5k hrs, $21k
WM LT40 Super, 1997, 1300 hrs, $21k
WM LT40, 1997, 1200 hrs, $24k
WM LT40 super, 2005, 22k hrs, 10k on new motor, $13.5k
WM LT28, 600 hrs, $15k
WM LT28, 2020, 800 hrs, $12.5K

I wonder how many other parts were replaced on that LT40 super in that 22k hours.
At $13.5k it would pay for itself in a short time, or be a good "starter" or "backup" mill for a portable sawing business.
$15k is more than I paid for my LT28, NEW. 

[barbender]

I love when the seller lists something like "10K on new motor", you think you're advertising a plus when you're really telling me it's probably due for another engine👎

[Tom K]

I thought the 10k hrs on motor was pretty funny as well. If I remember right that saw also came "with a pile of new and parts"

Some of those LT40's didn't seems like bad buys at 1/2 the cost of new. That didn't seem to be the case this spring when I saw a few 1k hour hydraulic mills go for almost new price. 

I'm curious the back story of that Timber Buddy. How does that price compares to "new"?