Firewood vs chainsaw mill for profit?

[Robert96]

If this is in the wrong spot on the forum my apologies.

I sell firewood for a hobby and I was thinking about getting into chainsaw milling. I will only csm wood I get. No milling other people's logs or traveling to houses. I have no experience milling yet just doing research to see if it would be worth the time, money, extra equipment, etc. Or stick to firewood. I would still sell firewood but if a log that was worth milling came along I would mill it.

I would mill cookies/slices and live edge. No dimensional lumber. I dont plan on drying the milled wood.

Is it worth it given the above information?

Is there a large price difference for green and dried mill wood?

Is a log worth more milled or firewood?

Im trying to maximize profit. I have more questions and research to do just looking for your opinions. My plan is to free hand cut some small stuff and see if it sells because I dont know the market for it in Ontario yet before i commit to purchasing equipment.

 

[cantoo]

Join the Woodland Mills site and spend a few days reading. I have a csm and have only cut 3 or 4 small logs with it. I would not want to do it often. I also have a Woodland Mills 130 and have cut maybe 75 or so mostly cedar logs with it. Much easier on the body. I have access to 1000's of ash trees but they are dying so quickly that I've been making firewood out of most of it. Not sure where you are in Ontario but there are lots of guys making money selling slabs but I'm betting that most are drying them or building items with them to maximize profits.

 

[Robert96]

Join the Woodland Mills site and spend a few days reading. I have a csm and have only cut 3 or 4 small logs with it. I would not want to do it often. I also have a Woodland Mills 130 and have cut maybe 75 or so mostly cedar logs with it. Much easier on the body. I have access to 1000's of ash trees but they are dying so quickly that I've been making firewood out of most of it. Not sure where you are in Ontario but there are lots of guys making money selling slabs but I'm betting that most are drying them or building items with them to maximize profits.

I have thought about building tables etc aswell. Unfortunately I dont have space for a band saw mill and equipment to move the logs.

I'm around the newmarket area. I will check them out.

Thanks

 

[cantoo]

There are a couple of guys that are on there and are not too far from you. Most guys are pretty willing to show off their mills and might even be able to make a deal with them.

 

[J D]

Is it worth it given the above information?

I'd say so

Is there a large price difference for green and dried mill wood?

Sometimes... it depends on the wood, & the customer. Generally speaking the closer to it's finished state you can get it the more your slab will be worth, but the more you finish it the less practical it becomes for someone else to make it "what they want".
It takes time, space, & planning to season slabs & this is definitely worth something... Add to that, most people are looking to buy something they can work with right away & will pay more accordingly. On the other hand people (especially the uneducated) will want to pay as little as possible for what "appears" to be the same thing (seasoned/unseasoned). So if you sell green wood you need to make it very clear how & why it needs drying, & what may happen while it dries (warping, cracking, shrinking, etc) to avoid issues down the track.

Is a log worth more milled or firewood?

I'd say at least 5x as much milled... But it's probably 5x harder to sell too.

My plan is to free hand cut some small stuff and see if it sells because I dont know the market for it in Ontario yet before i commit to purchasing equipment.

What do you currently have in the way of saws etc? Maybe get a cheap Chinese mill to start with & work out the kinks.
You say you don't plan on drying the wood, but you will have to fillet & stack it after milling it or you may as well be making firewood.
I try to mill a variety of different size/thickness slabs & they season while waiting for their prospective buyers. If you can season the slabs & develop a relationship with your local woodworking shops you can then offer further finishing to your customers preference

 

[Robert96]

There are a couple of guys that are on there and are not too far from you. Most guys are pretty willing to show off their mills and might even be able to make a deal with them.

Do you have a web link? It's not coming up for some reason

 

[Robert96]

I'd say so

Sometimes... it depends on the wood, & the customer. Generally speaking the closer to it's finished state you can get it the more your slab will be worth, but the more you finish it the less practical it becomes for someone else to make it "what they want".
It takes time, space, & planning to season slabs & this is definitely worth something... Add to that, most people are looking to buy something they can work with right away & will pay more accordingly. On the other hand people (especially the uneducated) will want to pay as little as possible for what "appears" to be the same thing (seasoned/unseasoned). So if you sell green wood you need to make it very clear how & why it needs drying, & what may happen while it dries (warping, cracking, shrinking, etc) to avoid issues down the track.

I'd say at least 5x as much milled... But it's probably 5x harder to sell too.

What do you currently have in the way of saws etc? Maybe get a cheap Chinese mill to start with & work out the kinks.
You say you don't plan on drying the wood, but you will have to fillet & stack it after milling it or you may as well be making firewood.
I try to mill a variety of different size/thickness slabs & they season while waiting for their prospective buyers. If you can season the slabs & develop a relationship with your local woodworking shops you can then offer further finishing to your customers preference

026 16" bar and ms362cm 20" bar. There are acouple large used stihl saws online for a decent price I had my eyes on. I was planning on an amazon mill for now. Largest log I've gotten is about 25" big stuff is kinda rare for me.

 

[cantoo]

The website is " Woodland mills talk". You have to answer a couple of questions to join.

 

[cantoo]

And of course I forgot, it's a Facebook group.

 

[Robert96]

And of course I forgot, it's a Facebook group.

Found it thanks

 

[merc_man]

026 16" bar and ms362cm 20" bar. There are acouple large used stihl saws online for a decent price I had my eyes on. I was planning on an amazon mill for now. Largest log I've gotten is about 25" big stuff is kinda rare for me.

The princess auto chainsaw mill works good too. I have the 36 inch modle.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[J D]

026 16" bar and ms362cm 20" bar. There are acouple large used stihl saws online for a decent price I had my eyes on. I was planning on an amazon mill for now. Largest log I've gotten is about 25" big stuff is kinda rare for me.

If you want to stick with Stihl I'd be looking for a 660 or something similar with a couple of bars ~28" & 36" to go on a 36" mill frame (you will loose about 6" to the mill). That would give you a shorter bar to suit most your logs & the ability to mill upto 30" if the situation presented itself.

 

[Robert96]

The princess auto chainsaw mill works good too. I have the 36 inch modle.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

Is it holding up well? I've seen those and currently out of stock

If you want to stick with Stihl I'd be looking for a 660 or something similar with a couple of bars ~28" & 36" to go on a 36" mill frame (you will loose about 6" to the mill). That would give you a shorter bar to suit most your logs & the ability to mill upto 30" if the situation presented itself.

Preferably stihl. I'm more familiar with models etc and easier to get parts

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I bought some rough sawn cherry this week, air dried two years under a roof, stickers and strapped, milled 1" thick.
Very nice stuff.
No idea how this guy can make money with a very small scale operation.
$2.50 a board foot.
The flip side for me is I will have a lot of time in it, and some of it, a small portion, is not usable due to bark and end checks.

 

[Huskybill]

Cutting and selling seasoned firewood you have to hustle. My wood was seasoned one year. So example I sold 50+ cords and replaced it with green 50+ cords for next year. As any guy cutting firewood with no skidded you need to go off road with the truck to the wood. I managed to save up $5 k and built a 4x4 one ton truck, with locking diffs. Now we were off road anywhere up to the wood. That’s my truck in the pics. Six super swamper tires, 14” lift.

 

[cookies]

I would highly suggest looking hard around your local area out 50 miles at how many are milling or even offering live edge/cookies etc. Three people started up around here at the same time, there is one left doing it and he is selling everything off half price.

 

[jstreet57]

If this is in the wrong spot on the forum my apologies.

I sell firewood for a hobby and I was thinking about getting into chainsaw milling. I will only csm wood I get. No milling other people's logs or traveling to houses. I have no experience milling yet just doing research to see if it would be worth the time, money, extra equipment, etc. Or stick to firewood. I would still sell firewood but if a log that was worth milling came along I would mill it.

I would mill cookies/slices and live edge. No dimensional lumber. I dont plan on drying the milled wood.

Is it worth it given the above information?

Is there a large price difference for green and dried mill wood?

Is a log worth more milled or firewood?

Im trying to maximize profit. I have more questions and research to do just looking for your opinions. My plan is to free hand cut some small stuff and see if it sells because I dont know the market for it in Ontario yet before i commit to purchasing equipment.

Go to you tube and look up sawmill made of wood.might have to reword it but guy made powersaw mill with feed using lumber and boat hand winch..its pretty cool I would make one if I didn't have two mills already..if you are thinking about chainsaw mill I suggest big saw..two types of saws..production saws are bigger where hobby saws are smaller sizes.homelite 330 is about smallest production saw I can think of and husky 51 is about smallest saw from husky..i would not use either saws on mill it would burn them up..good heavy big saw can run you some money though..but if you have a good size saw you can buy some rip chain or make it from regular chain.the tube has videos on it..dont try to rip without rip chain your saw will be shout lived and once set up you may won't to think about cutting others logs but if you do get a metal dector