What market to get into cutting logs?

[jpassardi]

Priceless advice here from wise people.
One important take away: as a hard working young guy remember to also spend the effort/time to track all your actual costs and profit and adjust.
Subscribe to Robert's YouTube Channel: Hobby Hardwood Alabama. - Valuable lumber processing info.
Good luck. 

[TreefarmerNN]

I just re-read this whole thread and can say that all of the suggestions and comments you have been given are spot on and won't mislead you, plus you have a work ethic and that is golden. Good for you. First thought I have is 'calm down'. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. That's a good ethos to follow. When you NEED more 'stuff' to advance sales or production you will already know exactly what that is for you and won't need to ask us. Take your time and pick your own way.
 
I worked 50 years in manufacturing everything from microchips to chocolate bars. Those companies were filled with 'college boys' (no offence to anyone intended) who never actually 'made' anything in their lives and they were really big on spreadsheets and numbers that served to really confuse the overall operations. We were always shooting for sales goals and making decisions based on numbers that showed up in spreadsheets. It was all very confusing and kept the mission target floating back and forth.
 
When I retired and set up my little retirement 'business experiment' it quickly became apparent to me that I was no longer encumbered by the bean counters and could do what I wanted... for good or bad. What I did was pick about 4 things I could, and would enjoy doing, I thought. (Small property consulting, Custom Milling, rustic furniture, and mushroom logs. This last being a long shot, but what the hell.) What I did was a little of each. I milled some lumber and air dried it, selling about half of what I milled. I found that everybody wanted sizes that I had not milled. So I switched to milling to order and selling whatever I had if it worked for the client. I also enjoyed the consulting work, it was easy and I like working with landowners, but I only had a limited amount of jobs even though I was cheap. The rustic furniture was off and on, sometimes hot with 5 projects backed up, and sometimes not. I also built up inventory, bought an enclosed trailer and outfitted it for shows and did the circuit for a while. By the numbers, that didn't work out too well, but I picked up several custom build orders from that. I kept detailed records on all my sales and clients from each 'section' analyzing after the fact what it actually cost me and what I made/lost in the process. Much of that can be read elsewhere on the forum.

 Sparing you the rest of the details, here is a breakdown of what I learned from that. Put your foot in the water with each aspect you decide to attempt but don't jump in with both feet, keep other ideas moving along at the same time. Do your work, put up some product and see what happens, but don't build a lot of stock until you see that it sells. Learn from that and look at your numbers. Make adjustments and alter your plan, or try something new. Funny thing for me was, that 'long shot' with the mushroom logs turned out to be the best and most reliable money maker over 5 years. Who knew?! Yes, I began selling too cheap and broke even, but I adjusted prices and found some surprising results. I am the most expensive seller in my state and I sell more logs than anybody. Now does that make sense? Business is weird and not always logical. Being a straight bean counter would not allow me to predict that. It was the market experience and taking a risk (raising my price above what everyone else was charging) that told me that, but it works for me. But I am getting old and that is really hard work I am losing my ability to do. But the reason I make decent money at it was only because I tracked my time and expenses and adjusted my pricing based on that. If my prices became too high and sales fell, then that's not the stuff I wanted to sell. Never sell at a loss or even close, walk away from that every time.

 Think it through, but be business like and keep good records. You may get too busy to compile your numbers many times, but in the winter or on those snow days, you can sit down and sort them out. Spreadsheets are NOT the enemy, they just need to be used responsibly and with good purpose that serves you.

 You will do fine, I am sure. Just remember to pay attention to the things you learn and see as you go along. First thing for you is to learn how to read a log and learn how to mill it for best yield and quality. That is a key point. Improve your skills, the rest you can figure out. This business is SO VERY market dependent on you own particular area that there are very few tactics that apply across the board. As you read through the many threads discussing this on the forum, you will see what I mean.

 Happy hunting, it is quite a trip.

Some really good advice in this post.  All of the good farmers I worked with knew their cost of production.  The ones that didn't know were scratching and scrambling to pay their bills.  The were also the last ones to try something new.  Don't forget to figure in depreciation on your equipment.  If you use it, it will wear out at some point.  You don't have to use the government depreciation schedules for management but you do have to allow for repairs and replacement in some fashion.  And remember that money invested in equipment has an alternative cost of what it could have been earning in a CD or other relatively safe investment.  A plus for you is that even if you don't make any money, you will learn so much that will be helpful in your future no matter what you do later in life.