Another new guy. Cedar chopper.

[Striker911]

Just moved from the city a lil less then 2 years ago. Had to cut wood for heat last winter so I got a stupid walmart saw. Now im cutting for cash and not set up in any way to do so but its that or loose the house so im trying my best to find work and learn the hard way. Have yet to hurt anything but my back and wrist's as of yet.

I am worried but trying to exhaust every ave. The last day I worked was 10 hours with no breaks and no food from sun up to sun down. I had help that forgot his saw and ended up making just 2 bucks an hour thanks to the long trip to the mill with a half load. The gas station made more then me.

I need a better saw (two of them), better truck, and a trailer like the one I borrowed in my avatar pic. That at least was a solo $280 day even with the junk saw.

Anyways; I hope to get things turned around. If I could only sell my truck id be golden.

 

[atvguns]

The only thing I can think of is talk to the mill about sending a semi truck out when you have a full load stacked up and ready to go. Or even parking a trailer on your property until you have it loaded that way all you have to do is cut and haul to a landing at the front of the property might take a couple of weeks to get a big load ready but might save money in the long run.

 

[atvguns]

Are you cutting 4' length or 8' post

 

[serial feller]

What species of trees do you have access to? What kind of diameter are we looking at? Give us a little more info and a complete list of your equipment assets and hopefully we can throw you some more tips to maximize your profits.

 

[Striker911]

Are you cutting 4' length or 8' post

They only take 53" logs. No smaller then 6" on the small end.

 

[Striker911]

What species of trees do you have access to? What kind of diameter are we looking at? Give us a little more info and a complete list of your equipment assets and hopefully we can throw you some more tips to maximize your profits.

Well cedar is all ive been cutting on. I have yet to get into anything else. Only just stumbled on to it from clearing some around the house. I had to pay a bucket truck and pro cutter to rid me of a tree that was leaning over the house and dropping limbs on the roof. He gave me a price sheet for the cedar mill. I might get into fire wood cutting next summer though. Really all depends.

All I really have for cutting is a walmart saw, half ton truck and some chain. I keep getting people calling that want me to cut so I need to invest more. A dual axle trailer and better saw would be the best way I could see making money at this. I almost sold my truck the other day and had already had the saw, trailer, and 3/4 ton 4x4 picked out. Only the buyer could not wait for me to get out of the woods before he bought another truck.

My wife just had my son yesterday so shes off work and our income is cut 40%+ now so all I can do is keep flipping logs and hope to make money. Im going to take my car this time and two saws so we can cut all day. The people im working for now have like 17 acres and they dont care how dirty I leave the land so that helps. But I can only cut on sat and sun. That means that if we could cut the volume we would have had to load the two trucks take home and unload on sat then go back on sun and load again to haul in 4 loads on Mon. Just isnt working that way.

I worked my back in to submission last Sat and had to take sun off so thats a big reason why we only ended up with about 25% of the load we planed on. Our new plan is to take a car and cut all day then load the two trucks on sun. That seems like a better idea to me. I also cleared half the land owners driveway on sat too so that took a lil over two hours. One tree was a locust. They suck. Still have one of them on the other side of the drive and she wants that one hauled off.

 

[Striker911]

The only thing I can think of is talk to the mill about sending a semi truck out when you have a full load stacked up and ready to go. Or even parking a trailer on your property until you have it loaded that way all you have to do is cut and haul to a landing at the front of the property might take a couple of weeks to get a big load ready but might save money in the long run.

Ill ask about them sending a truck but im not sure they offer that.

 

[serial feller]

I sent you a PM with info for a different buyer. If he pays better than your current buyer you'll have a couple of problems to work out. Prob #1 he's about 100 miles from Mt. Home. Prob #2 you'll have to figure out how to move 6'6" and 8'6" logs. I don't have to tell you how heavy that will get.

I hate cutting cedar, it's a PITA. I've sold to this guy before after doing some clean up on my own property. He's a nice guy and honest, can possibly help you overcome the above problems.

 

[imagineero]

I've been doing some fairly large cedar removals lately, but I dont think we have a market for the timber in aus. Some have ended up being well over 20 cubic yards chipped down. It's awful as firewood, and people just dont seem interested in the timber, even for free. From what I'm hearing, there's more interest in cedar lately stateside.

Shaun

 

[Striker911]

I sent you a PM with info for a different buyer. If he pays better than your current buyer you'll have a couple of problems to work out. Prob #1 he's about 100 miles from Mt. Home. Prob #2 you'll have to figure out how to move 6'6" and 8'6" logs. I don't have to tell you how heavy that will get.

I hate cutting cedar, it's a PITA. I've sold to this guy before after doing some clean up on my own property. He's a nice guy and honest, can possibly help you overcome the above problems.

Ya cedar is a pain. Not much money in it. I moved from Kansas City and have yet to find a good job so I just been the MR mom for way too long. Had to do something to get back and make some money. Gas is the killer. I cant even leave the house if its not to make money.

Thanks for the info. I will give that guy a call this week and see. I know the town and its some miles down the road.

I've been doing some fairly large cedar removals lately, but I dont think we have a market for the timber in aus. Some have ended up being well over 20 cubic yards chipped down. It's awful as firewood, and people just dont seem interested in the timber, even for free. From what I'm hearing, there's more interest in cedar lately stateside.

Shaun

It takes like 80 years for one fence post to even start breaking down. It has its uses. I burned cedar in the insert I use to have before I bought this place. It burned hot and was welcome in the colder months, but also burnt fast. The mill here pays $20.18 for a log 53" long and 18" on the small end. Smallest is 6" on the small end and it only pays $2.10.

 

[imagineero]

Those prices dont sound like a whole lot, but I guess if you've got good access and the gear to transport it, and the mill isnt too far then you could do well out of it. I'd be pretty happy to just get rid of some logs without having to pay to chip/dump.

Most of my hardwoods I can sell by the truckload as green rounds for next years firewood which saves me a lot of chipping. Pines, willows, palms, liquidambars etc all end up being chipped or dumped at cost.

I've heard that cedar makes good siding. Didnt know it was good fence post material. Hardly anyone does timber siding in aus any more, it's all fibre cement products or metal siding nowadays. Cedar used to be a popular timber for clothes chests and later wardrobes. The smell keeps insects away I guess. I've occasionally thought that there might be a market for selling direct to woodworkers, but none of them know how to deal with milling or drying.

Shaun

 

[serial feller]

The mill here pays $20.18 for a log 53" long and 18" on the small end. Smallest is 6" on the small end and it only pays $2.10.

I found a pricing list from the mill I told you about. These prices are for 8'6" logs, delivered. Youll have to do the math and figure out if it's enough difference to pay for the fuel, mileage, and your time. Also price hiring a semi and compare the cost of 1 load for them to 6 loads for you. You'll save a ton of time loading if you hire a logging truck with a grapple. All you'll have to do is skid the logs to an accessible location.

7" $ 5.00
8" $ 6.00
9" $ 7.50
10" $11.00
11" $12.50
12" $16.50
13" $20.00
14" $23.50
15" $27.00
16" $30.00

 

[troythetreeman]

check pawn shops for saws, yould be surprised the deals you can get on good huskys or stihls

 

[Striker911]

I found a pricing list from the mill I told you about. These prices are for 8'6" logs, delivered. Youll have to do the math and figure out if it's enough difference to pay for the fuel, mileage, and your time. Also price hiring a semi and compare the cost of 1 load for them to 6 loads for you. You'll save a ton of time loading if you hire a logging truck with a grapple. All you'll have to do is skid the logs to an accessible location.

7" $ 5.00
8" $ 6.00
9" $ 7.50
10" $11.00
11" $12.50
12" $16.50
13" $20.00
14" $23.50
15" $27.00
16" $30.00

Dang lol. Thats less then the mill I go to pays. 10" x 8'6" log pays 12.60. They dont take 8.6' logs anymore but it pays even more to go 53". 10" log cut down to 53"x2 = $6.30+$7.56= $13.86. Thats for the same log that guy is paying $11.00 for. The truck might have been worth it though if I had better logs. Anything big has wrote in it. Like anything over 12" on the big end and its junk. Not sure why they die in the center like that. I pass up a lot of logs that should have been good. As far as I know there is no way to tell if the center is screwed till u cut it down and look.

 

[Striker911]

check pawn shops for saws, yould be surprised the deals you can get on good huskys or stihls

I did check the one here. They had like 3 nice husky's and they where all gone when I went back. They had a few stihl left but they where all ragged out. I will keep looking though. Thanks.

 

[Striker911]

Those prices dont sound like a whole lot, but I guess if you've got good access and the gear to transport it, and the mill isnt too far then you could do well out of it. I'd be pretty happy to just get rid of some logs without having to pay to chip/dump.

Most of my hardwoods I can sell by the truckload as green rounds for next years firewood which saves me a lot of chipping. Pines, willows, palms, liquidambars etc all end up being chipped or dumped at cost.

I've heard that cedar makes good siding. Didnt know it was good fence post material. Hardly anyone does timber siding in aus any more, it's all fibre cement products or metal siding nowadays. Cedar used to be a popular timber for clothes chests and later wardrobes. The smell keeps insects away I guess. I've occasionally thought that there might be a market for selling direct to woodworkers, but none of them know how to deal with milling or drying.

Shaun

I think the most strange thing was selling a walnut log to a sawmill that had a metal roof on every building on the property. We are getting lazy. Im just getting broke down.