new guy question

[truckguy88]

I am completely new to this whole thing.  I am 16 and interested in a career where i will be able to be outdoors (once i graduate college), and so far have found myself here.  Just curious does anybody do this full time working for themselves?  and another question, i don't understand all the abreviations, if someone would take a minute to explain them to me that would be great.  such as mbf...dbh...bf...  and any others. 

thanks in advance,
ryan

[Ianab]

Hi Ryan

some of the abbreviations...

dbh = Diameter At Breast Height. How big is the tree (diameter) at a point about 4 ft  ??? :P from the ground. Standing trees are measured there to avoid the root flare that may make them much wider at ground level.

bf = Board Foot. A measure of sawn timber. Generally equivalent to a piece of wood thats 12" x 12" x 1". Or whatever shape to make up the 144 cubic inches. There are a few weird things about the measurement sometimes, but that is the basic idea

mbf = 1000 bf

Hope that makes things a bit clearer.

I only saw part time for myself, but many of the members are full time in some aspect of forestry, be it managing forests, logging, sawing, processing timber, building stuff from wood or making sawmills. So most questions can be answered by someone.

Cheers

Ian

[Ga_Boy]

I am completely new to this whole thing.  I am 16 and interested in a career where i will be able to be outdoors (once i graduate college), and so far have found myself here.  Just curious does anybody do this full time working for themselves?  and another question, i don't understand all the abreviations, if someone would take a minute to explain them to me that would be great.  such as mbf...dbh...bf...  and any others. 

thanks in advance,
ryan

Ryan,

First; welcome.

In your statement you ask "...does anybody do this....".  Well, to answer your question you need to give us a little more specificity on what "this" you are asking about.  As Ianab pointed out; there are a lot to "this" out there.   Please understand I am not trying to put you off or belittle your question; your question is valid and lucid. 

For me, I just started my business, I run a kiln and sawmill, the mill is primarly for my stock but I will do custom sawing for a fee.  My business plan is geared towards selling to hobbist woodworkers, with the goal of expanding to the high end custom home builders and cabinet makers.

A lot of folks on here make a 'good' living with wood.  Now 'a good living' is a relative state of mind, you must decide for yourself what "a good living" is comprised of. 

At the end of the day you must set your sights on what you want and move out in that direction; fully understanding that for some unknown reason you will run across folks that will either purposely or accidently try to stop you or talk you out of what you want to do.  If you want it bad enough and work hard enough you will get there. 

As to the lingo of the wood business; about 18 months ago I new nothing about sawmills and even less about dry kilns, now I run a mill and operate a kiln.   I got here by reading eveereything I could get my hands on, asking a lot of questions, writing documents about wood and attending training.  I work my business in the evenings and weekends untill I can walk away from the day job and work wood full time, that is my goal and I will not stop untill I get there.

Keep your questions coming and we will do our best to assist.





Mark

[tnlogger]

 Ryan first welcome
  on this here forum there are no dumb questions only those that have not been asked  ;). So ask away and reap the rewards of the answers you get.

[maple flats]

Ryan, AKA truckguy88 welcome. Listen to the advise and read all variations of it. You can make a good living an some aspect of what we all enjoy here. College is great and I suggest you explore as much of this as possible before deciding what to take in college. Much of this can be a college degree field. Foresrty, forester, mill safety, etc, etc. The biggest thing you often get from a degree is learning how to think on your own. Pick a field that really fascinates or intrigues you and find what school offer a program in it. I don't see what part of the country you are from but many schools have excellent programs.
I have a degree but don't work in my field. Does that mean all of the money I spent on my education was a waste, not at all. My degree is in business management and I started working for others but soon decided to do it on my own. NOW I manage everything. If anything goes wrong I am at fault. Would I change it, no way. However I do not do the things I love full time (working the woods and saw milling mostly). I also drive school bus (after selling my business of many years so that I can have the benefits. The rest of the week I do what I love, work the woods, saw lumber, make maple syrup, grow blueberries etc. I also own several rental houses, all med. upper middle class duplexes. This helps even out the cash flow. I do not enjoy doing the repairs anymore so I hire that all done and keep one real good handiman going about 40-50 hours/week. It still pays a profit. My point is that you should find what you want and go for it, get that education and persue your dream. You are at a perfect age to start finding your goals and dreams. Go for it.

[UNCLEBUCK]

Do I work for myself ? Yep !   :D

[Dan_Shade]

This is a great place to learn a few things.  Where do you live?

I'm sure you could find a guy locally to go check out his operation on a weekend or sometime when he's sawing and see if you do have the bug

[truckguy88]

Thanks for all the info.  Its hard to understand what everyone is saying when you can't understand what they mean ???.  I live about 30 miles south of nashville tn, and am a junior in high school.  Right now i am working at a sporting goods store, thought i would love it, but hate being stuck inside all day.  If anyone knows of a mill in my area, I would like to go see it, just to see how one works.  anyways, thanks for all the replies

[TN_man]

Woodbeard may be the closest member to you. He has a head full of knowledge.
I am about 60 west of Knoxville.

[Riles]

You must be in Murfreesboro. My brother graduated from Riverdale many years ago. Sorry, can't help you with local sawyers, it's been too many years.

[Linda]

Ryan,

Welcome to the Forestry Forum!

Yes, there are quite a few FF members who run sawmills full time.

My husband (ElectricAl) and I jointly own and operate a sawmill business full time.  We won't ever be wealthy, but it pays the bills. 

We love the flexibility that comes with being our own boss.  We get plenty of exercise, as well as, variety everyday.  It's hard work, but rewarding in many ways.  We like what we do and wouldn't have it any other way. 

You are wise to research as much as you can.