Wood Share - My wood, you cut?

[MNBobcat]

Hi All,

I have property and more wood then I could harvest in my lifetime.  I got to thinking I should maybe work a deal with somebody who doesn't have property but who wants to cut wood.  You think anyone would be interested in a deal where they can have the wood for free but I get half of everything they cut?  (yes I know they would have to sign a liability waiver)

[Southside]

Are you talking about firewood? Half production for all labor? Tree services give the stuff away and there is always someone on Craigslist begging for someone to take away a down tree. 

Figure in gas, oil, chains, wear and tear, I would not do it for half. 

[nativewolf]

If you have real timber and want a logger to cut the standard going rate here would be about 40% of mill receipts to owner for grade logs, some small amount for pulpwood and something in between for other stuff (tie logs, firewood logs, etc).  Be careful that you are not sending good grade timber wood to firewood market.  

Firewood market here in Northern VA is not as hot as say NY.  So it is harder to get folks to pay for good firewood logs much less get someone to cut them.  I might get 1/10 of firewood logs cut.  Or I might get a few cords of split firewood for a couple of trailers of logs.  Negotiable.  

[mike_belben]

As the saying goes there is an ___ for every seat.  I have cut boilerwood for an elderly farmer buddy of mine for 2 seasons now at his place from a pile of pasture cleared trees.  He can afford to have it done but lets face it, pillheads arent who you wanna depend on for heat and i dont want to see him drop dead out there trying to do it one morning.  I guess its a charity job really but he does pay me enough to cover my expenses and i use his quad and splitter now so even better.


If you make it easy, you may find someone decent.  If i needed firewood and had a strong back and pickup, and you said hey i got a woodlot, a saw, tractor and splitter and id do the hard labor while you ran the machines.. Yeah, id do it.  I fell trees and choke logs, you drag them to the bucking spot.  I buck and heave rounds onto the splitter.  You toss a piece in my truck and a piece in yours, wouldnt be bad for either.  It goes fast with 2 fellas working.


Asking me to haul all my equipment to your place, fill your wood racks and get paid in wood while you watch TV, yeah thats an insult ive heard a few times.  Its more convenient for any firewood guy to process at home on their schedule vs away on someone elses timeline.  I get $50 a rick for my wood at my house.  Id charge a stranger 70 a rick to process their wood because it just sucks and i dont want the job.  


The demand for wood and scarcity of woodlots really will dictate the outcome. Urban and suburban cold areas dont have much free wood and do have many months of heating to endure so its a more lucrative offer somewhere like that.

[MNBobcat]

Are you talking about firewood? Half production for all labor? Tree services give the stuff away and there is always someone on Craigslist begging for someone to take away a down tree.

Figure in gas, oil, chains, wear and tear, I would not do it for half.

Yes, firewood.  The difference is the craigslist ads are people wanting trees cut down in their yard.  I'm talking 50 acres of oak.

I don't know if anyone would take me up on the deal or not but I was bouncing the thought around.  I'm not interested in a logging company or paying anyone.

[Corley5]

Stumpage for firewood cords is about fifteen bucks a standard cord around here.  Standard cords are selling for $180-210 per cord.  Figure the percentage.

[barbender]

Every once in a while we will put up a load or 2 of 100" FW for a landowner on a decent sized sale and I don't think the boss charges them. But mostly, you can count on deducting the harvesting price for the wood you keep from your stumpage payment. Unless you have exceptional quality wood there is more value in the harvesting than the raw material, so 50/50 won't happen. And that's harvesting and cut to 100", the more it gets processed the less the value of the wood stacks up. If I were to come in and harvest and process the firewood into a mound, it would cost you 4 cords of standing timber for every 1 cord of processed fw. You might find some weekend warriors or something but then yes you have to worry about liability. A waiver won't cut it if someone gets hurt on your property, I bet.

[Gearbox]

Last year I processed wood for a logger . Slashed in a pile 8 ft wood . I took half for cutting and splitting and conveyer piled . Northern MN . He must have been happy he wants me to do more this winter .

[Klunker]

I looked into having firewood processor cut and take all trees along a path that would be future driveway thru woods.

900ft long x 20 ft wide path. All good hardwoods, mostly Hickory, Ironwood, Red and White Oak and Sugar Maple.

I was hoping he would cut  and take it for no cost to me.
No luck, he wanted around $1500 to do the work and he would get the wood.

[John Mc]

Almost all of the value in firewood is in the processing, not in the standing trees. As a reference, the going rates in my area:

Firewood stumpage (standing trees that aren't good enough quality to be used for a saw log or some other, higher use) $10-$20/cord - and that's only if the access is good, and you have enough to interest someone in hauling their harvesting equipment over.

8' - 12' long logs delivered to the customer: $115/cord for a 10 cord load (expect to pay more if you are not taking a full 10 cord load).

Cut, split, and delivered (you stack it) +/- $250 for green hardwood, $300-$350 for fully seasoned, $350-$450 for kiln dried. (personally, I don't see any extra value in kiln dried firewood as compared air dried. The don't dry it any drier than I can get by air drying my own wood, nor would I want it any drier. Apparently some people think it's worth more, once the other folks sell out of seasoned wood, you don't have many other options.)

On top of that, you need to think about who you want to let loose in your woods. You can get a lot of good out of thinning overcrowded trees, or culling trees of bad form to favor those with good timber value or with value for wildlife. You can also do a lot of damage - either from people cutting the wrong trees (the ones that are "keepers") or even when they cut the right trees but damage the residual stand while they are at it.

You may be able to shift the relative values a bit if you are providing equipment (tractor and trailer, splitter, chainsaw, etc.), or as Mike Belben says, if you are somehow sharing the work: You cut the trees, I'll haul them out, or you cut trees and cut to length, and I'll split and load into truck or trailer.

I'm not saying don't do it, just go into it with realistic expectations of the value of what you are offering, and think very carefully about who you want doing one of the most dangerous jobs there is on your property (and possibly with your tools). You can get them to sign a release, but when they go to turn the medical treatment for an injury in on their insurance, don't be surprised if their insurance company comes after you to cover the cost. (That's known as the insurer's "right of subrogation", and the chainsaw operator signing a waiver has no impact on the insurer's right to sue you.)

[barbender]

Yep, their insurance would come after you, if they don't have any, it would be whoever is owed money. Could be the hospital, State, none of them will care about the waiver they will just want your $$$. I wouldn't let anyone on my place without GL and whatever else I thought was needed. 

[TKehl]

Depends a LOT on your location and local value of firewood.
 
There are people around me who advertise $20/truckload you cut.  About the same as a firewood permit in the national forests.  I don't know if they sell much, but I wouldn't want people I didn't know in my woods for that little, but that's probably top of the market.
 
Most of the loggers here shove the tops in piles to burn or rot.  Lots of farmers here will doze, windrow, and burn forests to open pastures.  There's some value in firewood, but it's mostly from the labor.  Not on the stump.
 
Even my experience with my kin that have cut on our place is they will walk past several crooked "ugly" trees to cut a nice straight white oak into split firewood "because it's easier to split and stack".  :  >:( At least they leave the walnut alone, but they are now only allowed to cut what I mark for them.  And usually I fell them for them to avoid collateral damage...  

If they turn a veneer grade Oak log or several good sawlogs into firewood, you won't recoup that!  Better to do a selective logging cut and see what you can do with the tops as firewood.

[ButchC]

Around these parts you wont get anyone reliable for a 50-50 firewood split. Maybe get a few who need a pick up load but nobody you can rely on. Years ago I tried to do same deal as you propose  and will NEVER have any one beside me or a professional cutter in my woods again! My woods lies low and is prime black walnut territory. Best deals I have done is to offer what is good firewood to the logger when I sell saw logs and veneer.  I have got one log length grapple load out of every 5 they cut. I get a bit of firewood, the logger makes some pocket money, the walnuts like the extra sunlight plus I can claim the woods as a managed woodlot (taxes) Win-win

[hedgerow]

Times have changed years ago did some share cutting and it worked out slowly the tide turned and finding good folks got hard so it came to a stop. In my area not a lot of wood burning goes on.The serious wood burners have all the wood they want. Just like others have said it won't matter how many liability waivers you have gotten signed if some one gets hurt there medical insurance company if they have any will come after you and your insurance company with there lawyers. I have two guys that help me with my firewood and around the farm some for some hunting rights. It's just about to the point with my farm liability insurance carrier I have is not going to let  them help or be on my land hunting. This cost of liability insurance is gotten out of hand.