Production line fire wood

[Rspike]

firewood processor

firewood processor , how big do you want to be ? I think the key is a firewood processor , bulk wood and a lot of sales.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I guess I need to mention that in the (last couple of years ) that firewood has only been something for my guys to do when the weather was bad, I didnt care if it made money i figured i would break even and i was doing them and myself a favor. I kept track last year and it was costing me money for them to work with no return and thats not gona work.

What's not going to work is not knowing what your profit and loss is for a couple of years!


If you don't know what you are doing financially, then, well, you don't know what you are doing.


Unbelieveable!

 

[B-Edwards]

Guys this happens everytime i ask a question . I didnt say how much wood i sold last year or the year before , I just said I lost money. It's not like taking a 2nd mortage out to finance the firewood business. I think it's established that losing money is Bad. We had wood we had customers who wanted it, I had guys who needed to work , Well its raining today you guys can split/haul wood. If i dont produce work, they find it somewhere else. Now here comes the (unbelievable) part, I want to profit doing this and I want to know how to do it the most efficient way. I dont mean to be a jerk. I just want answers on the most efficient way to split sell wood. Thank you

 

[Rspike]

EVERYBODY dog pile on B-Edwards for being a jerk ! J/K

I think in order to get to the rootball of the issue one would have to know exactly what your doing , how your doing it , how much your doing and what are all the options your have and what options you have taken. There is a big difference from 20 cords to 500 cords a year and at what prices are local.

I'll throw out another option ............
Have your experts do the cutting/power equipment and hire some kids/students ( of a reasonable age ) to do the lifting, stacking , loading ect ....

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I just want answers on the most efficient way to split sell wood.

How will you know it's working (or not) if you don't track what you are spending and making on it?

 

[B-Edwards]

Rspike, where you get dem photos?

 

[JUDGE1162]

I gues to get at what spike is saying you need to tell us some more info

1. How much wood are we talking about
2. About how much are you getting per cord
3. About how many guys are you tryig to keep busy
4. How many days on average are you doing this (year round?)

Because our answers will be very diffrent if it is 50 cords at $100 a cord then it will be at 500 cords at $150 a cord.

If we are talking 2 guys is much diffrent then 10 guys and if it is one or two days a month is much diffrent then one or two days a week.

With this info we can most likely give you a much better answer

 

[Husky137]

Yep, I really don't think anybody cutting/selling split firewood does it with a processor. Way to inefficient.

Inefficient? A machine that can take logs and turn it into cut and split at the rate of 3 cords an hour is inefficient in what way?

Certainly not practical for the casual firewood producer from a cost stand point.

 

[tawilson]

Don't touch the wood any more than you have to. I cut it, use my front end loader to load up my dump trailer which is backed up to my splitter, and use that for a platform to put the wood through the splitter, use the loader again to put it into a pile, use the loader again to load the dump trailer, then deliver with the dump trailer. I'm not sure if I'm efficient or lazy. Oh, 3 healthy scoops with my stone forks is a nice fat face cord.

 

[JUDGE1162]

Don't touch the wood any more than you have to. I cut it, use my front end loader to load up my dump trailer which is backed up to my splitter, and use that for a platform to put the wood through the splitter, use the loader again to put it into a pile, use the loader again to load the dump trailer, then deliver with the dump trailer. I'm not sure if I'm efficient or lazy. Oh, 3 healthy scoops with my stone forks is a nice fat face cord.

stone forks ?

 

[ciscoguy01]

Wrong

Inefficient? A machine that can take logs and turn it into cut and split at the rate of 3 cords an hour is inefficient in what way?

Certainly not practical for the casual firewood producer from a cost stand point.

That came out wayyyyyy wrong. I meant that you can't really make a profit unless your using a processor for large amounts. It's way too time consuming and your handling the wood way too many times for it to be efficient. A machine IS much more efficient, lol. Sometimes I think and type 2 different things.


Who said that?

 

[boxelder barron]

I'm on my 4th year selling firewood.I sell it by the pickupload,were overrun with boxelder here so it's probably 70% boxelder the rest is oak elm cherry maple and whatever else.I always thought the real way to sell it would be to weigh a pickup load of boxelder put a price on it and then sell by the pound.More money for better wood less for poorer stuff.

 

[tawilson]

http://www.degelmanusa.com/products_vreten.htm
I have the 75" with the 2" spacing. Great for firewood. Unlike a regular bucket, you can see the tips so it's a lot easier to scoop stuff up. I can pick up logs with it too. I put a couple pipes on two of the tines sticking up so the log can't roll back off the forks.

 

[ciscoguy01]

Log Tines

http://www.degelmanusa.com/products_vreten.htm
I have the 75" with the 2" spacing. Great for firewood. Unlike a regular bucket, you can see the tips so it's a lot easier to scoop stuff up. I can pick up logs with it too. I put a couple pipes on two of the tines sticking up so the log can't roll back off the forks.

That's really cool Wilson. I've never seen one of those around here.

 

[treeman82]

Why not stack it on a pallet and load with a machine that has forks? No way anybody can complain when the dimensions are right there in front of them.

 

[tawilson]

Don't like stacking. Me like scooping and dumping.

 

[Corley5]

I've been selling firewood for about a year now for 50 to 70 bucks for a 4'X8'X16" face cord. It depends on the season, size of order and delivery distance. I've got a 14-12 Blockbuster and buy 100" hardwood pulp by the 20cord load or produce my own as part of a timber harvest. I cut my own wood in 10' lengths. I don't touch the wood except with a tractor loader or my Iron Mule to load the processor. Processed wood goes into the dump trailer via elevator. I don't stack wood. It's a waste of time. I always give a little extra and tell customers if it stacks up short to call me and I'll make it up. No one has ever called and I've got many returning customers. I can haul up to 4 face cords in the trailer using the 180 cubic feet in thrown cord measure and it's pretty close. I make money at this but my costs are wood and fuel. My only labor is myself and my father. The village idiot here has decided he's going to be the firewood king and has been paying up to three guys to cut, stack on a trailer, haul the wood to town 6 miles to his house, unload and stack it again and split if it needs it. Then he pays them to load it and stack it on his delivery truck. He was trying to sell wood at 60 bucks a face cord but is now running a special at 200 bucks for four cords delivered up to 30 miles. Wonder how long he'll be in business? A processor is the only way to go if you're going to do large amounts.

 

[bottlefed89]

Stack up a cord of wood that is the average size you split. then by hand or with a machine scoop& dump, or throw it loose into your truck or trailer and mark the volume it takes up. Then you will know that one cord of wood loose thrown or dumped into your trailer takes up x cubic feet. Maker sense?? I think 170 cubic feet is a commonly used loose-thrown volume of a cord. you see higher or lower numbers - it will vary depending on the average size of you pieces... We bundle 99% of the wood we do, so it is all split pretty small - the smaller it's split, the more pieces you have per cord ,
more pieces = more volume... I expect length would make this vary as well, since you'd have a lot more pieces of say 12-14" wood in a cord that you would if you cut everything at 18". Just my opinion...

 

[B-Edwards]

I have to say Thank You for the replies!!!! Some of the answers i had thought of but just reading them made me think in a different way. Pallet idea sounds pretty good so do the rest of the suggestions. I also see why some of you wanted specifics on what I wanted to do as far as volumn of wood to be worked with. Not sure which direction I will go in yet, But I do want to thank you for the replies.

 

[Ekka]

B-Edwards

Standing on the outside looking in ... in an industry with terminology I do not experience (cord???) let me say this.

Here's a thread on comparing unstacked to stacked

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=30134

Forget the stacking crap, loose load with loader into sectioned areas in truck of appropriate size. Tip out one section ... then lift the divider board to tip the next.

Hire cheap labour to cut and split if you do not have equipment, but investing into fast machinery is better.

Your gratitude of keeping treeworkers employed in adverse conditions is costing you money, noble gesture but ....
.... I know of companies that say, no work today however you can do firewood at the firewood rate of pay, your choice. Some guys will come in for less pay to do that as it's better than no pay. But do realise that they must be productive and you need to know how much they did for their hours.

I'm a smart ass. I would get a picture and weight of a proper stacked cord, then mess it up into a loose thing and show the size again in the back of your truck along with the weighbridge weight. It's the same amount, same weight. Forget the BS of stacking.

Have you also considered milling some of those logs for better profit?