I've been cleaning up blown and broken over trees and have a fair number of larger cherry and oaks. Most of the downed tres I'll just leave in the woods where they are, what I'm cutting had fallen across trails which I pushed off and left, some of which can be cut into firewood over the next few years (I already have more than I can use now). On a few of the larger trees I decided to cut the trunks into 9' lengths figuring I might be able to sell a dozen or two 16"-20" diameter 9' sections to s saw mill for something, maybe $100 each? But in asking around I was surprised that they're almost worthless.

A large woodworking shop said they have so much time and labor in sawing them into boards then stacking to air dry for a year that it's almost not worth it to them. But if I brought the logs to them they'd unload and take them off my hands. A larger saw mill says they only buy from loggers in large quantity. The smaller saw mills I've spoken with said they can saw them into boards for me but I don't need any oak or cherry boards, plus I don't have the covered space to stick and stack all that lumber. Even if I did, in a year would need to find a buyer who would pay some amount more than I paid the sawmill.

One logger said the price is so low he's cutting oak logs into railroad ties and selling for $35 a piece but after the cost of logging then milling he also has to load them up and deliver them to the railroad for that price. He also gets a little for the slabs which he sells to people with stoves or fire pits. I have taken 7 out of the woods so far but I've come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the effort.

It's funny though when you price a small 1" x 8"x 4' oak or cherry board at Lowes it's $30.

You could make a bunch of charcoal. I'd love to have a couple of them but I'm not driving to WV to get 'em.

I understand the frustration though. I had 30ish pines taken down this spring and nobody wants them. Lousy firewood, lousy lumber. I can't give them away. So, I'll wait till the snow flies and burn the pile. Seems like a waste.

A good burn is it's own reward.

Yes pines are almost impossible to get rid of too. When I had some cleared they went to a paper mill for almost nothing. The paper mill had closed when I had more taken down so they went to a nearby mulch plant for even less.

I agree, Ripley. To be honest though I'd rather use smaller stuff because big sections of green oak even cut to 16" are a struggle getting up on the splitter. In fact anymore I use the tractor loader to lift ones this size up.

Going to talk with another guy who mills wood for flooring, panels, trim, etc. later this morning.

Locally, mills will not take "homeowner" property logs. Concerns over nails/spikes etc.

Many here are leery of taking logs from homeowners as well because they don't want yard or border trees. I have a big cherry down along the road that passes through the property and it'll be used for firewood because there were likely "No Trespassing" signs stapled to it over the years.

I spoke with another finisher Mountain Craft Wide Plank and he just bought a lot of dried, rough cut wood so he won't need any for a while. He does a lot of work with land owners building their own homes, taking logs cut from their property to make the trim, flooring, steps, paneling, etc. Too bad I'm not building anything......

Two gas stations and a crappy grocery store here in tiny town, sell bundled splits for $6.00 each.

( 7-8 splits each )

And a jr. High girl offers splits for a quarter each in a curb side stand.

The three retailers wood bundles come from Appleton ,Wi.


It might be time for you to consider splitting up an extra cord and offering it for sale.

The wood can't be considered wasted if it pays for a new saw , chains or other gear.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Two gas stations and a crappy grocery store here in tiny town, sell bundled splits for $6.00 each.

( 7-8 splits each )

And a jr. High girl offers splits for a quarter each in a curb side stand.

The three retailers wood bundles come from Appleton ,Wi.


It might be time for you to consider splitting up an extra cord and offering it for sale.

It might if I was close to an urban area or campground where people might pay those prices. My daughter and her family who live in NOVA outside of DC are always asking me to bring firewood when I com visit because they enjoy evening fires out in their driveway using some kind of stainless steel burn cylinder. So I generally load my truck up when going to visit.

Meanwhile my salvage logger finally showed up today and started taking out some of the blow downs by my driveway.

LOL I already cut, split, stack, and dry firewood to heat with along with some for a friend and daughter's summer fire pits that I have to load and deliver. I don't want to do any more.
But people who live near campgrounds can probably do pretty well selling in small quantities.

Way, way, back when I was in high school a friend lived on wooded acreage. Around Thanksgiving he and another friend, who had a sister who lived in DC, sold seasoned firewood there in smaller quantities for around 5 times as much as what they could get here. They had the sister post flyers all around the suburb where she lived, as well as her word of mouth, that seasoned firewood would be for sale on (whatever date) at the location she had lined up (parking lot etc.)

They rented a big U-haul box truck for a weekend, stacked it full with the wood, and early the next morning drove it to the sister's location. He said there were people lined up waiting to buy it and they only had to collect the money since the buyers loaded it in their car trunks themselves. Within a few hours they were done. I thought that was brilliant marketing.

Alright, you’ve changed my mind. I don’t need a tractor. I need that thing in your pictures! What is that, an excavator with a rotating grapple?

The boom looks somewhat similar to an excavator's but it's a very different machine. It has 8 large wheels, 4 for the cab section and 4 for the log carrier that the logs are being lowered on. It's hinged so articulates between the cab and carrier making it surprisingly maneuverable. They're out there this morning I'll try to get a better image so you can see it.

Don't discount the usefulness of a grapple for your loader though. While nothing like the big logging machine for reaching far and handling long logs, they work pretty well for moving normal size logs, brush, rocks, you name it. Here are a few pictures of mine that I probably use more than any attachment on my tractor.

Wind damage that came Easter this year which I'm still working on, and what the logger is now as well.




This was taken yesterday on another section of the property where I'm working on probably 30 large trees myself. The 9' lengths just barely fit across the trails in places. This is actually my neighbor's nice trail I use a piece of which leads to the road saving me having to cross the stream.



The grapple also comes in handy for lifting larger sections to cut and lift on the splitter.

Any Amish nearby?

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Any Amish nearby?

Yes there are.


Here's a better image.