Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[shooterdon]

I know but if you pay 100+ for a logger cord then process it into firewood there not much profit at 200. Maybe at 300 it worth doing and paying for equipment and labor.
Those number are from a local for sale add and about normal

A loggers cord costs me $85. The cost of wood works out to $105/cord. I have about $20/cord into fuel and supplies for a cost of $125/cord. I sell it for $225/cord. I can produce a cord in less than three hours. Delivery is $30/cord plus $1.50 per mile over 20 miles.

It is not a huge money maker but I can work alone and am retired so it keeps me active. Without the tax incentives, I would likely not do it.

 

[shooterdon]

But scarfing wood is free, right. That's the response from most wood stover boiler types. At what point did it become not free for you. Legit question. I can say that I cut wood and - have the saw, costs nothing, atv, trailer, tractor, splitter, labor, fuel - got all that and, their costs don't apply, look at all the money I'm saving.

You are not producing much firewood so finding a few dozen trees a year works for you. You are not efficient but you do not need to be.

Imagine producing 100 cords a year and work out the numbers. Where will you find that much free wood. How far will you drive and how long will it take? How long will it take to buck it, split it and transport it? What are your costs for fuel and supplies? Your costs for fuel and supplies do count…they are not free.

I can produce 100 cords in 300 hours. Return of about $10k.

Plus how old are you? I am 75 and work alone.

 

[Eagle1]

I don't have a lifetime of dead/dieing firewood in my 11 acres of timber. Its been managed for 3 generations, it just don't have that much dead or dieing timber.
But the neighbor and I corner up to forest circus ground that gets zero management and probably several lifetimes firewood of dead/dieing multiple species of trees. If a fire ever got going in there, oh boy.... That's why I am glad my timber does not have a lifetimes worth of firewood in it.

Yeah I'm on 92 ac and surrounded by National Forrest. Thousands of acres of public land not easily accessed from public roads
Only fire dept we see is the feds when SHTF.

 

[Loaderman22]

I used the 261C for this job. It started in 3 pulls and ran 100% perfect.
I cut for an hour straight and when I set it down and it idled, sometimes for 5 minutes at a time, it never stalled. What a great 20” saw for moderate work.

That saw is on my Christmas List....

 

[Gordon Gould]

I buy logs for the firewood business I have

Got another 40 logger cords of oak delivered today and one coming tomorrow. That brings me to 120 logger cords delivered this fall. My log supply is at 180 logger cords.

20 logger cords produces about 16 cords of firewood. Enough logs for 144 cords of firewood.

Currently it costs $1700 for 20 logger cords. That works out to just over $106 per cord. Decided a few years ago that “free” wood wasn’t free. There are costs with getting that free wood as well as time.

Shooter, How big a radius do you have to cover to get all that delivered?

gg

 

[Hay Dude]

That saw is on my Christmas List....

You’ll love it.

 

[BnRidge]

Imagine producing 100 cords a year and work out the numbers.

Most people would say "I'm saving a bunch of money burning wood that I cut and burn for myself". And my response is probably not, if all of the costs are considered, including time and paying yourself. An accountant would have issue with just using equipment that was already owned etc. And the second return response it nope nope, their saving a bunch of money. At some point that thinking turns around to what you said. Maybe it's after selling 1cord, maybe more, certainly after 100cord. I tend to think it's before any of that, like right away at the point of getting a stove and putting up firewood. The stove cost money, saws, fuel, vehicle, splitter whatever that may be, time, all cost something somewhere at some point, even if the stuff was laying around for 20yrs. It cost something then, what is the current opportunity cost or future value of that atv that was bought 10yrs ago and is now being consumed. I figure I have over 10k in equipment just to have a nice fire in the sitting area. How much would that be over time if invested.

 

[Jstpssng]

So far, I don't pay income tax on my free wood, unlike the money I use to pay my electric bill. For 20 years I've brought home log ends... pieces of hardwood cut off to clean up sawlogs. At the end of the day I put on a pickup load and bring it home... over the course of a couple of months I have my years supply.This has saved the wood on my land for when I retire.

 

[Eagle1]

Most people would say "I'm saving a bunch of money burning wood that I cut and burn for myself". And my response is probably not, if all of the costs are considered, including time and paying yourself. An accountant would have issue with just using equipment that was already owned etc. And the second return response it nope nope, their saving a bunch of money. At some point that thinking turns around to what you said. Maybe it's after selling 1cord, maybe more, certainly after 100cord. I tend to think it's before any of that, like right away at the point of getting a stove and putting up firewood. The stove cost money, saws, fuel, vehicle, splitter whatever that may be, time, all cost something somewhere at some point, even if the stuff was laying around for 20yrs. It cost something then, what is the current opportunity cost or future value of that atv that was bought 10yrs ago and is now being consumed. I figure I have over 10k in equipment just to have a nice fire in the sitting area. How much would that be over time if invested.

Don't discount the money NOT spend on electric or gas. My power costs are way down in the winter. Selling wood for the last couple of decades has more than paid for everything required to heat with wood.
Besides who does not like to slide up to a hot wood stove after being outside working....

 

[shooterdon]

Shooter, How big a radius do you have to cover to get all that delivered?

gg

About a 50 miles radius. I currently produce about 50 cords a year but the business is growing. I have decided about 100 cords a year is all I want to do and geared up for that level. I would need a larger processor or work a lot more hours to produce more than 100 cords a year.

There is a larger operation 12 miles from me where my friend works and they have about the same delivery radius. They have a Dyna, and it costs 3-4 times what I have invested in the Red Runner I use. They also have two people running/feeding it. 2-3 times the output but double the manpower and 3-4 times the capital cost. I am competitive and charge about $20 less a cord.

I am in an area where there is limited Natural Gas, so a lot of people heat with wood, propane and electricity. It is also a poor area and wood heating is popular as it is less expensive. Many of my customers are older folks who do not want to deal with harvesting logs, cutting rounds and splitting.