Starting from scratch..

[Arkansashunter]

I'm starting to come up with ideas for starting my own logging business. I have some ideas, but no idea where to start.
It will be a couple of years before I'll be able to start anything as I'm currently 16, yep!

got any ideas?

 

[GASoline71]

got any ideas?

Yep... go to college!!!

Gary

 

[indiansprings]

+1 on going to college or a good technical school. There just simply isn't any money in logging in your part of the country with oak bringing .25-.30 cents a foot, you'll prolly make more cutting firewood. Get you self and education or technical trade, at the rate tree's are being cut in this area, won't be a decent tree that will even make a tie in ten years. The economy is causing people to sell every walnut log that is any decent size.

 

[dancan]

Listen to the advice given to you from GASoline71 and indiansprings , you can make a better , regular wage cutting meat for a butcher or grocery store so stay in school and get some skills !

 

[ryan_marine]

Listen to us. Go get some training of some type. The logging industry is not what it is cracked up to be. There is easier ways to make money. I do it because I am cutting the trees for fire wood any ways. It is about even money between fire wood and timber. If it was not for what I get from the VA then I would be living in a cardboard box. I would also tell you to join either the navy or the air force.

Ray

 

[056kid]

Yep... go to college!!!

Gary

G-man is absolutely right. Hell there is nothing that I would love to do more than run my own wood killing buisness, but it aint gonna happen right now,(lets pray it gets better guys). guys that have been at for 3 4 5 decades are getting by just barely, i mean JUST BARELY!!!. you have to figure, they have savings to dip into, they have lots of knowledge, they have a **** ton of parts to keep their equiptment going excetra..... Just get yo education and then go out and give it a try.

I am trying to get mine, but I cant stay out of the woods for more than a few months with out feelig like a heroin addict scrathing for a fix.... you have not got there yet I presume so go get smart!!!!!!! get your MBA and do some forestry jank, then come out and RULE everyone around you........

 

[BigE]

Trust me - go to school and get a good education, and then you can afford to play with chainsaws all you want.

My first job out of college back in '96 only paid $50k per year. Today that same job you'd start out at closer to $75k per year. I have no clue what money loggers make, but I know they don't pay them enough...

I'm not knocking loggers - I have a lot of respect for them. But the bottom has fallen out of the logging market, and I don't think you want to be there if you have a choice.

 

[RVALUE]

I'm surprised no one mentioned that if you want to make a million dollars logging, start with two million. (or three..)

Alot of good advice here.

And FWIW, I am not a logger.

 

[Arkansashunter]

I have been extensively exposed to the woods, that's one of the reason that I want to do this. My dad cuts about 400 ricks of firewood a year to sell, I own a chainsaw already and I've been using one for a long time.

I'll take your guys advice...
But I would like to someday work in the logging industry. How hard is it to get a job working for someone?

 

[GASoline71]

Out here where I grew up... you got a job in the woods because you were too hard headed to leave town in search of bigger and better things in life. So if you stayed behind... you were either farmin' or loggin'.

Or your family had been in the business for 200,000 years. To just start a loggin' company talkes lots and lots of money. I don't know how work is over yonder... but around these parts... loggin' jobs are scarce. Just ownin' a chainsaw and "bein' around the woods" usually won't net you a job. Most of the jobs don't require a saw anyways. Saw jobs are for fallers/buckers, and some of the landing rats. You gotta work your way through settin' chokes and chasin' to start off with...

It is a hard life... it will beat the crap out of your body. But again... I'm not familiar with loggin' hardwoods back east. No foolin'... stay in school... if you're determined to be a logger... then I say go for it... it's your life. But it won't be an easy one...

Good luck kid...

Gary

 

[Arkansashunter]

Lots to think about...

Of course owning my own saw and speiding time in the woods won't get me a job. It just got me wanting to be a logger. And I'm not entirely sure I'll stay here in Arkansas


I guess I just can't explain it...I want a hard life
I was just expelled from the boarding school I was attending...it was a real wake up call.

I want to be a logger...

 

[logging22]

Should stay in school. Logging aint easy. Its a way of life and to lots of people i know the end of their life. Dangerous job. But, if thats whats in your head, so be it.

Edit: I also have a sawmill, skidder, forklift, loader and whatever else you might need to start.

 

[Arkansashunter]

true

 

[380LGR]

The only idea you should have about this biz is how fast you can get away from it!!

 

[Arkansashunter]

I don't want to get away from it...

 

[380LGR]

Just like when you were little mom said dont play with the outlet!!

 

[redprospector]

I don't want to get away from it...

If you're that dead set on being a part of the timber industry, my sugguestion would be to go to school and get a forestry degree. Then if you still want to be a logger, go for it. But if you decide different you could work for the Forest service, or state forestry. You'd still be in the woods, and deeply involved in logging.
You've been given a lot of good advice in this thread. Let's see what you can do with it.

Andy

 

[Arkansashunter]

I'll take your guys advice...
Thanks for all the help...

 

[GASoline71]

So... for now... stay in school. Get a hot rod, chase all the girls, play sports, all that teenage stuff... you're not the first very young kid to pop up on here wantin' to be a logger.

I'll say to you what I have always said to them... no need to hang out on an internet forum with saw geeks and loggers... currently working loggers, and busted up loggers... go experience your young life... push the computer away and go fishin', rebuild a carburetor, get in trouble, fix up an old dirt bike, run around town with your buddies raisin' hell...

Ya don't need to be hangin' around here... get out there kid. Before you know it you'll be thirty... and that's no joke. I'd give almost anything to spend my high school years over again. Of course knowing what I know now would be great...

Good luck... and stop watchin' all the retarded loggin' shows on TV... that's only a small taste of what real loggin' is. and a lot of that crap is made up drama for tv.

Gary

 

[joesawer]

So... for now... stay in school. Get a hot rod, chase all the girls, play sports, all that teenage stuff... you're not the first very young kid to pop up on here wantin' to be a logger.

I'll say to you what I have always said to them... no need to hang out on an internet forum with saw geeks and loggers... currently working loggers, and busted up loggers... go experience your young life... push the computer away and go fishin', rebuild a carburetor, get in trouble, fix up an old dirt bike, run around town with your buddies raisin' hell...

Ya don't need to be hangin' around here... get out there kid. Before you know it you'll be thirty... and that's no joke. I'd give almost anything to spend my high school years over again. Of course knowing what I know now would be great...

Good luck... and stop watchin' all the retarded loggin' shows on TV... that's only a small taste of what real loggin' is. and a lot of that crap is made up drama for tv.

Gary

Lol
They where right about youth being wasted on the young!

If you have just have to work in the woods, go to work for some one else and tear up their equipment and hopefully they wont let you get in to deep over your head and get killed.
You have to start some where and you need to learn the markets and the connections for timber to cut, on top of all the skill, training, and equipment needed to harvest it.