Any loggers you know also milling?

[KiwiBro]

Yeah, each is specialised in it's own right and logistics on most shows aren't exactly conducive to combining the two, but I was wondering if any smaller crews mill what they drop? Essentially take it from stems to lumber before it rolls off the property to the kilns/treatment plants?

I can't seem to shake the idea of a small, fully integrated crew chasing smaller patches, selecting quality stems and wringing every dollar they can out of it by doing as much in-house as possible to bring it to market in a higher value form. In my way-too-idealistic approach, a small crew would log small patches of furniture/veneer grade trees, mill on-site, deliver to it's own yard to air dry, finish it off in it's own kiln or someone else's (been researching vacuum kilns and I'd have to win the lottery to afford one), make and sell it's own furniture and lumber. There are still small stands around of some really nice wood, but they don't seem to yield much to the owners by the time the forestry crew and logs have rolled out because they are really small patches.

Could it work? Anyone doing it? Where are the fish-hooks?

 

[lmbrman]

There are a few of us doing similar to what you speak of in my area. I started playing with lumber on the side and quickly realised that a pickupload of lumber was worth about the same as a semiload of similar logs. There is huge potential.

One of the most profitable things around here right now is small scale logging. Fragmentation of land has made it all but impossible for the large operators to bid on some sales. Some of those timber sales actually get zero bids. I am talking about jobs that are 250 cords or less, for some loggers it is not worth moving equipment.

Mileage varies by location certainly.

-dave

 

[twochains]

I've "doubled up" for literally years. Almost half my life was surrounded by every aspect of the ERC harvest. I started out as a manual turner and would turn all day then hit the woods after work. I worked by myself and would cut around 3 tons, shoulder them out and load the truck that night and deliver the logs to the mill in the morning where we would saw them. Later I became the head sawyer for the same mill on a Meadows #1 full auto mill. I would do basically the same thing but now was sawing my own product.

After 18 years I went to another crew that had their own sawmill. We would cut and sell the scrag and most of the pine, and kept and sawed the hardwood tie logs.

Now I just cut for the crew I am with. I actually liked going through the entire process, it lets you see the broad spectrum and actually makes you pay closer attention to certain things you wouldn't think about if you were just accustom to doing one particular aspect of a larger picture.

 

[DavdH]

Vertically integrated we are, own the land retail the finished lumber. Learned that term in economics.

 

[jrcat]

This is something I am very interested in . There are a few amish crews in this area (western ny) doing the same thing. Unfortunately the area I live in is very fragmented (small lots). So I'm hoping that for a guy like me I could get some of these smaller stands to cut skid and mill myself.

 

[KiwiBro]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[StihlKiwi]

Some of the native sawmillers are doing it here - writing up the sustainable management plan, logging the timber and milling it. I know Forever Beech has been doing it on the coast ever since Timberlands West Coast got shut down

 

[woodchuck357]

That's the way my family did it for generations. None of the younger bunch wanted to continue, and I'm to old to start it back up myself.

 

[Dave Boyt]

I came into it from the other direction. I started out with a band sawmill, but took to logging when I saw how much valuable lumber (especially pieces like walnut crotches) were being left in the woods to rot. It has given me access to some good logs, especially on small lots where commercial loggers won't cut. One thing I learned, compared to logging, running a sawmill is a piece of cake!

 

[Hddnis]

There are several mills in the US doing just that. One not too far from me produces everything from fence posts to furniture.

In talking to a few of them the planer and shaper seem to make them the most money. They can take the premium wood and turn it into trim work several dollars a foot. I know of one that sold a custom cherry molding for a house for $14 a foot. That was per foot of trim too, not per board foot, each foot of trim only had maybe 1/4 of a board foot in it worth of wood.

The common theme is that they all work real hard, think outside the box, work a little harder, and government is always getting in the way.




Mr. HE