Out with the old In with the new

[smwwoody]

 ??? ???
Well I am about to take a great leap  I am sending both skidders to the auction friday and going to try the mill full time ???

[smwwoody]

This is a good thing right? 8)

[woodman]

Good luck

[Frank_Pender]

It sounds to me, like you cut your overhead costs by 2/3, put some cash in your pocket and you cn saw 'till it is all gone. ;)
In all seriousness, I do wish you the good fortune that many of us have found in this wonderful type of business.  It can be slim pickens for a while, perhaps.   But is terrifically rewarding. 8) 8)  I use to tell my students, "Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try." (Yoda)  May the force be with you.

[Ron Wenrich]

Your biggest challenge is going to be getting enough logs for your mill.  I've been there and sometimes it ain't fun.  You should be grading incoming logs.  If you don't, some loggers will load you up with junk.  

We always found that the veneer on most jobs will pay for the timber.  You won't have that luxury if you are just buying logs.

But, if you do want to buy stumpage, you can always sub-contract the work out.  I've found that as an attractive alternative.  We have a big mill down here that subs out all of their logging.  At one time, they were doing 25+ MMbf/year and buying in the rest.  They went over to buying all off the road, but I have heard they are back to buying timber again.

Sub-contracting works fine as long as you have good professional loggers that are honest.  

[Fla._Deadheader]

When I ran my mill in Arkansas, I had a couple of loggers regularly bring in "sweeps" or "hollers" (the ones that have a bad center section but look REAL good on both ends), that looked good on the truck, but, were NOT sawable when unloaded. My wife used to "take up" (scale) the logs on the truck. Did a good job, too !!
   Ennyhoo, after a couple of these logs, I would conveniently "miss" a real nice one on the scale. They would complain and howl about how I was cheatin them. I would then take them over to where I piled "their" sweep logs, and agree to add the price back to the load "IF" I could deduct for the one's they "fooled" me with. They would grin and say, "I thought you might get a board or two out of that".
  I told them I may be a "new-comer" but, I ain't blind!!
  Bring good stuff, or, when you need lumber,(they all do), I would saw their sweeps for normal sawing price for them, and they could use the "holler" boards for "winders". . They always smiled and said " I'll try to "eyeball" the logs better.  It was a game; he who plays best usually wins!!  harold

[Ron Wenrich]

I had one guy who brought in a log that just didn't look right.  It was covered with mud, and I just couldn't see the log too well.  I scaled it and gave it a grade and didn't think too much more about it.

Then, I happened to be in the mill when it was sawn.  It was rotten.  I felt like a fool.

This particular logger would argue over scale and grade on each log.  I always wrote it on the end of the log.  But, he never watched me write it in the book.  That's where I put the real scale and grade.

For the rotten log, I knocked an inch off of a few logs until I figured he had payed me back.  He was never the wiser.

In the  years that I graded, I never had anyone complain about scale or grade.  Any questions were always answered, and sometimes at the log pile.  After an explanation, they always felt I gave them good grade - even better than they would give.

[smwwoody]

HI

Thanks for the support


I have been Logging full time for about 11 years.  buying my owne timber acout 75% of the time and selling the logs to local mills the other 25 i was contracted to a few different mills. So it won't be too hard for me st spot most of the tricks of the logging trade ;)  as  for buying logs it is not too bad here if you you run a straight scale stick

[Skully]

Good luck for sure.

I wish you would have kept one of the skidders just to not have "withdrawel" but I am sure you will be succceessful.

all the best

Dan