O.C.G.D. Thread, part two

I'm trying to figure out where to best incur debt for machines.

Thinking that a bucket-truck is only useful occasionally in my preferred market (I prefer to work near very close to home, in the country, with the least commuting, and most flexibility for my schedule), but would make it easier to work solo, work some storm-damaged trees, move chipper and mini, somehow it equates to lots of people as "being a professional", even when it can come up 100' short on trees here.
Seems like $60K for a newer, good condition forestry package.

I'm sure I could use the bucket monthly, if I tried, and matted-in a lot. Maybe sub-contract some.

A mill would be useful, but I don't know how profitable. Easy, low-risk single-operator work (using a machine for lifting and moving logs, and sliding boards, rather than lifting).
Newer stumper would be nice, too.


My truck now labors on the hills here, with a full load of chips and lighter chipper. A newer truck would be needed for a heavier 12" hydraulic. IDK that anything smaller would be built for machine-feeding.
 
Try and separate what you’d like and what would help you make money (Forget the mill, that’s want rather than need)

I wanted a Alpine tractor and flail, in talks with the owner, getting all hot under the collar about it.
My hired man (when I told him of my plans) said ‘we’ll never use it‘ and he’s right. That's when I discarded the idea of small scale forestry.
 
only get a mill if you want to start a new business. do not look at it as a tree work tool. it is a completely different animal and will require your full attention to make it be profitable. We had had a mill and it was a drag on the tree business honestly. Ended up selling it and it was a relief. Milling is fun the first couple of logs but then gets really old, loud, heavy and dusty real quick. When people want to buy lumber from you, for some reason they always want to buy the piece on the bottom of the stack. Lumber is a perishable product that has to be treated with a lot of care or it goes bad. Oh and its very heavy and it it takes up a huge amount of space. we still have boards everywhere that are beautiful and valuable but its hard to find artisans who will value it as much as I do.
 
And what Kevin just stated is why I’m steering clear of that. With out being able to dedicate the time to it, I could never actually make it profitable. In the end it would turn into very expensive firewood. I might buy an Alaskan mill someday to do some cool things but I can’t make a business out of it.
 
An Alaskan is cool. It's not a big investment, so it isn't a huge loss if it doesn't get a lot of use. I've been enjoying mine, but it isn't something I'd want to do for money. I can knock out some boards for my own use, and do it on my schedule. It's a good way to get the most out of the wood you cut.
 
Yeah, the little chainsaw mills sound good to me. Wastes a bit more wood, and slower but doesn’t need such a commitment, it’s cheap and the machine doesn’t take up much space.
 
Might be some tough-sledding when you consider the equipment (other than the chainsaw mill which is relatively inexpensive) needed ... cheapest way is a horse and things go up in price from there ... best bang imho is drop/buck/turn into firewood on the spot for the customer Jonny ... consider most mills will reject yard trees + the expense to haul the timber to the mill that’s serviceable and the peanuts they pay you make it almost not worth , at least from my perspective... the guys making the $$$ are HIGH - volume ... almost like trying to start a mom and pop store across the street from Walmart
 
None of them are in my dealt hand yet. Still to busy to have a hobby. Many nice wood shop tools at my disposal as well. Just no time.
 
Er...what am I seeing, actually?


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I don't have the scale of tree work you.guys have, but milling logs seems to be a feel good part of the job for the custys in my area, they have great mulch and the log is used not wasted.
 
The point of a baby mill is to saw up those junk trees that the mill won't touch and try to add value to them. From what i understand the value is there, but connecting that product to the buyer is more difficult. Furthermore, since they are simply rough sawn, there's still not a bunch of value added yet, because the planer to make them into a board after they are dried is just as expensive if not more so, and will make even more sawdust.

However, if you have the room or buyers or need for copious amounts of wood it would be awesome. I worked at a college on a job once, and went to lunch with the head plant guy for diplomatic reasons. He liked me, and so he ran me by a cabin that he built out of rough sawn wood, mainly cottonwood from what my memory serves. A cabin looked awesome using rough sawn wood, but I'm sure it wasn't a building permit type of job. From what i understand, building codes often specify exactly what woods are allowed, so using a different kind, even though it would be likely as strong, could lead to all sorts of headaches. Me personally, I'm a fan of doing what i want and apologizing later if needed, so i wouldn't care, but some do.

Farmers often need boards and beams, which would be a good market, so would using it to make buildings, trailer floors (where rough sawn is better), e.t.c. Woodworkers with nothing but time love rough sawn, but they only use a little bit at a time and often don't have tons of money and will tolerate the hours of planing with a homeowner planer to actually build something. You might be able to get hooked up with a cabinet shop or similar, and by supplying them at a reduced rate would be a moneymaker for all, but i imagine they will want planed stuff so they can just slap them together.
 
Might be a cool option to offer customers. Some folks are really heartbroken when they lose an old tree, a bench or some Adirondack chairs or something made from their own wood might be an attractive way to memorialize their tree. Might be lucrative too. The EAB dead stuff might make really poor boards, I think I’ve read that from someone here. Still lots of hard and soft woods hitting the deck when we get heavy wind or ice storms.
 
Its the drying and storing that is expensive. I found that a good route for profitably milling is to sell it green for trailer decks, pallet wood, coil beams for transport, rough fencing, treestakes, raised bed and landscaping material etc. If you can sell it straight off the mill your winning. If you have to store it, dry it, and move it around it loses its profit very quickly. But selling beautiful wood for pallets or truck decking there is no romance to it.
 
Maybe partner with a craftsman that can make stuff out of the wood as a value addon. Assuming of course you don't have the skill and/or time to do it yourself. Say a wood chair usually costs $100. If you could make one out of *their* wood for $150, I think you'd have pretty good interest. You'd get a little bit of that since you're helping the process, but the real value to the tree worker would be added business because you can make something from their special tree that'll last forever.
 
We won free gear on that thing... totally blown away. I'm on that list.

Never really won anything before.

And as far as milling... Alaskan is fine unless you're producing volume... then i would jump to Lucas... like Stephen's set up. They produce vol UK message of pine lumber...
 
Jonny said:
Might be a cool option to offer customers. Some folks are really heartbroken when they lose an old tree, a bench or some Adirondack chairs or something made from their own wood might be an attractive way to memorialize their tree. Might be lucrative too. The EAB dead stuff might make really poor boards, I think I’ve read that from someone here. Still lots of hard and soft woods hitting the deck when we get heavy wind or ice storms.
Click to expand...
You’re not wrong Jonny ... however we have the Pennsylvania Dutch / Amish down in Chautauqua county ... no way you’re gonna compete with those gents ... They’ll sell at a loss just to squeeze you out of business ! It might be cool to make a small portable - mill (the 395 tuned rich will pull a 42” bar ) and offer that as A service ... I’ve seen Alaskan portable mills that aren’t cost prohibitive and with the right set-up and Saw will do the job ... From my perspective drop , buck and turn into firewood seems like the best gig from an equipment / time investment ... just my opinion
 
There's a dude "stankers" on the buzz. I worked for him a few years ago in Charleston. Looked at his website recently and he's gotten into furniture building. Maybe milling, idk, but worth contacting
 
Some new RockOs and 2 TriRig plates.
I love Rock Exotica biners, if you’re not already enlightened, they’re double locking or triple action, but you pull the gate down before twisting and opening instead of pushing the gate up like every other triple action biner besides ball-locks I think. So much easier and faster to open onehanded. Already got a few of these, and some RockDs and Pirate which is RE’s HMS biner. I definitely like ovals for most applications though.

I do want to try a DMM PerfectO biner though, about as compact as tree climbing biners get I think.

Any of y’all got a favorite kind of carabiner?
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All I own is Pirate... Dunno what you call the shape. The ones that are sort of a soft triangle. I was happy with my first two, so just kept going with it. From my whitewater paddling days, I have a bunch of rated non locking biners, and a single screwgate I got in case I needed to use my rescue pfd(never did). I use those to clip stuff to my saddle.
 
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