Doing your on logging?

[dstig1]

Have you checked with the state or county Ag Extension office? Some states have foresters on staff who will come out, look things over, and even do things like work out a plan for you, mark trees, etc. Might be free too.

 

[DAY]

Have you considered getting a bandsaw sawmill? A quick google search show several manufacturers, and there are some used on ebay.
You could mill right on the site, and retail the wood direct to customers. My Craigs List always has boards for sale.

 

[Rio_Grande]

I have contated the state forester for our area with no call back, but that was this week and alot of folks take this week off leading into the holiday. Hadnt checked with the extension office will do tht tueseday.

As for the bandsawing, I am gonna be pretty happy if we skid these to market our self. I dont know anything about running a sawmill. Heck I dont know much about skidding logs but I am learning. I have been spending my free time reading abut how to cut the logs with the cleanest run for sale and reading about the defects to avoid.

 

[clemsonfor]

As a forester, i would say dont waste your time! Not that im saying to give another guy the business but i know the business and know things that you dont, most likely. Point one is that its very expensive to log, if it were a good business now everyone would be doing it, now its about a break even thing till business pics up. Point 2: Your price from the mill will be way less than a logging contractor or forester will. The mill near me will pay a logger set up to deliver to them about 38-40 $/ton today. If you deliver to him you may get $20-22/ton. Reason, cause they know they can, you have no markets you dont do it for a living, or your just really small scale and your quantity of wood into the mill dont really make a difference to him if he gets it or not. A top supplier to him may deliver 10 loads/day of saw logs. This would be 100cords/day but really ST is measured in Bd/ft so your talking about 3500bd/ft load.

My point is that yes you may make money but by the time you fuel your truck and loader you wont make much for your time. If you can find someone to log it by getting a forester or the help of the state commision for forestry you will be money a head.

Also unless this is primo Hardwood in appalachia or somewhere or big fir out west unless you have at least 10 acres of decent wood most folks dont want to fool with you around here. They cant justify the move for less than a week or 2 of work.

When i have time i will read all the replies, i just dont have the time. So forgive me if i repeated.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I can understand your problem and frustration. I have a similar situation with balsam fir. They look like good sawlog trees but when you cut them you find red rot. The previous land owner, who was a logger, left them. He said he couldn't even break even fooling around with such low grade trees.
But I cut them because I want them gone as they are stunting new growth. I take the time to remove the rot and make 10 and 12 foot saw logs from what is good and meets spec. I bring them to a local mill in my small truck. The mill owner pays me the same as he pays any big logger. $250 to $350 mbf depending on market. And the mills scale usually comes out better than mine. I only make about $10 an hour doing this. The only expenses I take out is fuel. Fuel for the saws, tractor, and truck. No equipment expense, no insurance, no workmans comp. So I can understand why the logger left them.
The forest industry is loaded with good hard working honest people. You just have to be careful.
If people are telling you it is low grade stuff you should probably listen. But maybe you could look at it differently. If your real money is in the walnut, then how much will it cost you if you don't take out the oak and the oak stunts the walnut. If the oak is costing you money to keep it you might see that cutting oak firewood is not a bad deal.

 

[Don87]

Listen to clemsonfor, and Gourdon Gould.

As a former logger, I can tell you that anyone that is familiar with the area can take a 'drive by' and decide if the timber is worth harvesting professionaly. I went on several trips when I was logging, and my boss would say......centers are rotted, without ever slowing down.

You have timber that is not desireable. I hate to tell you that, but such is the case. Your local loggers/foresters, know much more about your area than anyone here on TBN.

You can check with 'pulpwood places', but most only accept logs up to 14 inches.

If you can use the wood for your own use............firewood or boards..........that's your best bet..........or just sell it for firewood.

Yellow white oak isn't going to bring much revenue.


What I did on my property was, I cut the trees, I cut them to length in the woods(most trees were cut 8 ft' from the butt end, (leave extra as elplained earlier), and then I pulled them out with my F250, and an old truck hood.. Mine were sold, already cut and skidded..........they just picked 'em up.

Look at your first cut, if there is one blemish, cut it to 8 foot, if no blemishes.....go out to 10 ft. Here it gets tricky, ya gotta figure your log dimension at the butt, and the log dimension at the cut...........one can lose a lot of board feet in a hurry if the tree necks down too fast.

White oak has a tendency to have a large butt............then neck down drastically after 8 to 10 feet. If you have a 40 inch butt, but you are at 28 inches at ten feet, but 35 inches at 8 feet.................you get the drift.

 

[IronHog]

We have a small property that is rough and there is little access. Aparently our soils are poor and the whit oaks we have are the wrong wood color. Basicly I have heard every excuse on earth why nobody wants to log our property except on poor margins.

BUt I have the equiptment to get the logs out myself and the equiptment to move it to the mills. What I am lacking is the knowledge as to cut lengths and the relationship with the mill not to do all that work and get hosed when I deliver.

Have any of you undertook this task? Any words of wisdom or recomendations?

I have 4 oaks that got defoliated last year and need to go before the end of the year. I figure I would take them first in an effort to minimize my education costs. they are not dead but they may not recover from the moths that got ahold of them. Better to risk them than a big red oak.

Our family business is logging for private, individual landowners.......we specialize in thinning with smaller low to moderate production logging crews.

As such I talk to people like you all the time.......and the reality is if you don't have at least 20 acres and/or high demand fiber I CANT pay you top dollar.......I try to be honest with people. I'm not making the money....I've got to pay the logger more! On the other hand if you have a high quality tract I might lose money on certain products to secure the job since I can make my part up on the higher margin trees. Stumpage prices are VERY much influenced by property access, terrain, acreage, and the individual logger.


As far as doing it yourself.......it is a very dangerous job with a big skill set that is not easy to learn.....and did I mention dangerous?

 

[MarkV]

I'd say cut and split for firewood that you can sell. You will make more money. If I read right you only have 20 - 30 trees you want removed and some of them are dead or close to it. That isn't even a truck load of saw lumber here. No one is going to move equipment for that.

MarkV

 

[schmism]

I plan to log my own woods this winter.

I dont plan on takeing the logs off site so all i have to do is drop them (ive done more than the avg guy), limb them and skid them on the back of the tractor.

Then call the guy with the bandmill to show up and saw them up for me. Some will work on shares so you need no cash outlay.

I want to thin my woods for tree health, quality, visibility and i want the lumber.

 

[DAY]

I want to thin my woods for tree health, quality, visibility and i want the lumber.

and, stickered and covered, the boards are like money in the bank. A (free) ad on Craig's List can turn them into quick cash.