Business is slow!

[sandsawmill14]

60-70 dollars per ton around here (western tn) may alittle more if its real good logs

[FarmingSawyer]

I meant in a log at the landing

Kinda wondered when I hit "post".... :D

I'm figuring $350 International. It seems to be the going rate and what I would pay for logs if I were buying.

[Peter Drouin]

Are you selling logs?

[tule peak timber]

About a 1.25$ BF for Tan oak and Madrone delivered here last week ( 43000 lbs ) one load . How different things are from coast to coast . Rob

[FarmingSawyer]

I wasn't going to sell logs at first..... Largely because there are only 3 mills around here which deal in differing qualities of cedar and I'm not sure what sort of quantities I'll be bringing out.....But.....money is tight right now and I may have to sell the best and keep the rest.....Even then, I'm not sure if I'll have a full load of any one thing to bring to a mill--other than mine......

I am still in phase one--blow down salvage. I'm getting mostly sound 8's 10's & 12's with the occasional really fine 16. I'm still in the process of unburying a stand of 20 trees now, with some nice spruce. Once I have the blowdown clear and a free space to drop the standing trees I'm allowed to fell, then I will be dropping every cedar I can within reason. The bugaboo about this site is landing space. The access is along a winding road. I can yard the trees out to the road from the woods from where they lay, and where I will drop the new ones. BUT..... the road has steep drop offs on either side in place and a stream running down the natural choice for log storage. The one yard space is too far away for 75% of the logs. Add to that the fact that a low powerline runs down the center of the road making pulp-truck loader use a liability unless your crazy like me..... and I don't own a pulp truck or loader......I also need to chip all the brush piles which are in the way. 1) to get paid for the work and 2) to clear them out of the way for logs. Chipper rental availability has been difficult but might be getting better in the next week or so.

At this point I have yarded out a couple of 1000 bf of logs. But I couldn't tell you what's there yet. I have to get them out in log length and they're all stacked and scattered in piles with short stuff on top. I've been systematically trying to clear the 8' sawlogs and fence posts out with my horse trailer so I just have longer logs left to consider moving. Lately I've only been getting 2 days in there. One of cutting and one of moving logs. I thought I'd have a trailer and my tractor in there already, but without steady paying work, the trailer is on hold, and therefore the tractor can't be there. So I muddle on and do what I can.......

What sort of sizes and lengths are you looking for? Numbers?

[beenthere]

FS

I'm getting mostly sound 8's 10's & 12's with the occasional really fine 16.

Are these numbers small end diameters or log lengths? 

Sounds like you may be getting buried. Hope not.

[Peter Drouin]

I have been thinking of adding cedar to my list of lumber and looking around at prices and trucking cost. Cedar in NH is north of the notch. About 75 miles away.
In VT it's 100. I would have to send a Tractor trailer for it to pay.

[FarmingSawyer]

FS

I'm getting mostly sound 8's 10's & 12's with the occasional really fine 16.

Are these numbers small end diameters or log lengths? 

Sounds like you may be getting buried. Hope not.

Those are lengths, with the average top being 8-10" There will be enough large diameter logs too to make this worth while. What I didn't realize up front when I took this on was the quantity of really fine spruce I'm getting. It seems at the moment I'm getting buried because I'm in this by myself with basic equipment. Far different from any logging I've done before. I don't have a tractor on site yet, and I'm beginning to miss dragging a 200ft 3/4" cable through the woods and grabbing 5 trees at a time......

Blowdown salvage is always time consuming. Untangling trees. Carefully making cuts.....If this were easy I wouldn't have the job or the wood. I just have to pick away at it.....
The driving force is the wood. I sawed up some almost clear 4x4's the other day out of some 6" 8s. And I diced up a "junk" log--8" 8ft with a cat face, but I still got 6 really nice 1x6 for a customer.
I won't get rich doing this, but it beats working as a slave for minimum wage or for someone who doesn't value my skills and only needs a body to fill a position. With most of the cedar I'm thinking of turning the shorts and smaller stuff into wood I can make furniture to sell with. For the longer, better wood, if I don't have to sell the logs to keep afloat, then I will stock pile them for customer orders or saw them into beams and trellis-type pieces and market them that way. Most small sawmills around here don't offer cedar in lengths much longer than 10.

[Peter Drouin]

Those are lengths, with the average top being 8-10" There will be enough large diameter logs too to make this worth while. What I didn't realize up front when I took this on was the quantity of really fine spruce I'm getting. It seems at the moment I'm getting buried because I'm in this by myself with basic equipment. Far different from any logging I've done before. I don't have a tractor on site yet, and I'm beginning to miss dragging a 200ft 3/4" cable through the woods and grabbing 5 trees at a time......

Blowdown salvage is always time consuming. Untangling trees. Carefully making cuts.....If this were easy I wouldn't have the job or the wood. I just have to pick away at it.....
The driving force is the wood. I sawed up some almost clear 4x4's the other day out of some 6" 8s. And I diced up a "junk" log--8" 8ft with a cat face, but I still got 6 really nice 1x6 for a customer.
I won't get rich doing this, but it beats working as a slave for minimum wage or for someone who doesn't value my skills and only needs a body to fill a position. With most of the cedar I'm thinking of turning the shorts and smaller stuff into wood I can make furniture to sell with. For the longer, better wood, if I don't have to sell the logs to keep afloat, then I will stock pile them for customer orders or saw them into beams and trellis-type pieces and market them that way. Most small sawmills around here don't offer cedar in lengths much longer than 10.
[/quote]



I think your on the money in thinking of a way to make money. That's what keeps us going. Always look for a way to market your self and things we make. :christmas:

[Bruno of NH]

Hi Folks
This is the first time in 4 yrs i have had work around X-mass .
Started triming out the interior of a new barn for a new client .
Had to lower my rate by $12.00 per hour but better than sitting home .
The intrerior finish is all wood a nice job .
They build 10 t0 12 a year in my area so could be a good deal for me .
Thanks Jim / Bruno of NH