Any money in this?

[STLfirewood]

I live about 40miles from St.Louis. I'm sure in an area that big there are a lot of wood workers. Do you guys think there would be much money in getting a mill and cutting boards for people. I'm not a wood worker so I really don't need any(other then trailer floors and things like that). I do some tree trimming and removal. I have access to a lot of Cedar. I have a lot of really good Sycamore trees I can cut(very big). I sometimes get small logging jobs so I could cut some of the good trees for myself. I recently switched careers and I'm looking for additional sources of revenue. I have seen a lot of rough cut oak sell at farm auctions. I even thought about taking some to auctions here and there just to sell. When I do logging jobs I have around $.10 a bft in saw logs. Does anyone else do this type of stuff.

Thanks Scott

 

[steve fryar]

G'day.What sort of saw and bar do you have?Making a CSM is cheap if you already have the saw.This will allow you to mill some boards and test the waters.I sell my wood as slabs here.
Cheers,Steve.

 

[carvinmark]

If you have the equipment, why not try it?

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

getting a mill

I live about 40miles from St.Louis. I'm sure in an area that big there are a lot of wood workers. Do you guys think there would be much money in getting a mill and cutting boards for people. I'm not a wood worker so I really don't need any(other then trailer floors and things like that). I do some tree trimming and removal. I have access to a lot of Cedar. I have a lot of really good Sycamore trees I can cut(very big). I sometimes get small logging jobs so I could cut some of the good trees for myself. I recently switched careers and I'm looking for additional sources of revenue. I have seen a lot of rough cut oak sell at farm auctions. I even thought about taking some to auctions here and there just to sell. When I do logging jobs I have around $.10 a bft in saw logs. Does anyone else do this type of stuff.

Thanks Scott

He doesn't have a mill.

 

[IndyIan]

Is cedar used for fence posts and rails in your area? For me, posts and rails are really the only profitable products to pull out of my woods.
I haven't done alot of it but I just put up an ad, undercutting the peeled post prices at the local retail stores by 2 to 3 bucks a post. I got a few smaller orders and then cut what they wanted. I charged enough on delivery to make it worth while too. Posts and rails are good as you only need a saw to make them, they store well and there's only a couple sizes that people want.
I also just use my ATV and a trailer to move them, my 141 to cut them, so I would guess my equipment wear and tear and fuel cost would be $5-10/hour and I could cut, limb, and haul maybe $40-60/hour in product, and I own the trees. I never called the local cedar baron to see what he'd give me to cut the same amount but I doubt he could offer 10 cents on the dollar that I made.

Making a useable hardwood board is nightmare in comparision and people will always remember the guy who bought a whole stack at a farm auction for $0.25 a board foot... It may have been case hardened or split 2 feet in a each end, wavy as hell, or otherwise messed up, but it was cheap and good lumber shouldn't cost that much more...
Ian

 

[STLfirewood]

Thanks for the input. I have an MS880 but I really don't have an interest in chainsaw milling. It looks painfully slow to me. I could also take the wood to a kiln and have it dried I have thought about buying a kiln for firewood. I guess I could use that for lumber also. Just trying to find a few different ways to make income. I'm really wanting to avoid getting a real job. I had one for the last 15years and I hated it.

Scott

 

[steve fryar]

Depends on what your milling as to the speed.But you're 95% there to a CSM with an 880.You could mill some serious stuff with that.

 

[the westspartan]

If you have an 880 and are planning on getting a kiln anyway. You should deffinately do this. All I have is a 441 with a $125 alaskan small log mill and I process a lot of wood. I guess it is a little slow going sometimes, but it is fun, and as you said it is way more fun than a real job. I live in an area where there is a lot of oak and black walnut. I have gone in and used the limbs left behind after a professional logging operation has taken their big staight trunks and got a lot of usable lumber out of it (I always ask the landowner before I do this obviously).

I have never sold any of it. But I have used most of it and have not had problems. If I had an 880 and a kiln already sitting around, you can bet I would be selling the stuff.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Dan

 

[STLfirewood]

I'm considering a Kiln because the had discovered the ash bore here in Missouri. If it spreads much more(like it usually does) they might put a quarantine on firewood. If they do that before long I could be screwed for sales. If you kiln dry your wood you can ship it without problems. But a firewood kiln is $25k That's a lot of money to spend.

Scott

 

[the westspartan]

Even without the kiln, I would give it a try. Just air dry it. That is what I do. With a kiln, obviously, it seems like you would solve a lot of problems that come up in air drying. I have never used a kiln, and don't know how different a firewood kiln is from a kiln meant for lumber. I also don't know how much it would cost to run run one.

$25K is a lot of cheese.

 

[carvinmark]

He doesn't have a mill.

Sorry about that!!!
As far as a kiln goes, most people around me don't have one and everything they cut is sold before it air dries.

 

[woodshop]

Not to rain on anybodies parade, but if your time is only worth pennies an hour, them MAYBE you might make a few bucks now and then from an occasional sale to a woodworker. But unless you get a bandmill you're not going to even come close to production work to sell lumber and make anything for your time. Not to mention equipment, and then time to move/stack/store it before it sells... lots of things go into this if you're going to do more than sell a few boards to a few local woodworkers from time to time.

As was mentioned, most woodworkers simply won't use lumber that they have no idea how it was dried or where it came from. Usually their equipment and their time is to valuable to risk on rogue lumber.

 

[STLfirewood]

Your right. I was thinking more of a band saw then a chainsaw mill. I know when I replaced the floor in my truck with 2x10 oak it was't cheap. It was green because I put the boards i touching each other and now there is a gap between them. Again thanks for the input.

Scott

 

[Juicemang]

I sell most of what I mill. Very easy to sell it on craigslist. Paid for my 880 alskan mill and some chains in one winter. If I had to do it again I would have just got a bandmill. I'm too lazy to mill anything but really nice logs now. Make sure you have the space to store what you mill and easy access to let people look at what you have.

 

[redprospector]

It all depends on what you really have in mind.
If you're seriously thinking of making this a part of your income then a chainsaw mill won't yield any profit's. A small manual band mill (that you have to push through the log) is quite a bit faster, but still won't produce enough to provide much return for your time & investment.
The only way to produce enough lumber to consider it a good supplement to your income is to go with a hydraulic band mill, or a small circular mill (like the Mobile Dimension Saw, etc.). That way you could produce from 1000 to 2500 bd ft per day depending on your set up, and the capabilities of the mill you choose. In reality, you'll probably be at the bottom end of that production guess, especially during the learning curve.
The biggest problem is the market. You'll have to develop a market for your materials. Do you invest a bunch of money in a mill big enough to make it worth while, and then try to develop a market? Or do you try to develop a market, and buy a saw mill to fit it? I've alway's found it extremely difficult to develop a market when you don't have the actual product to show.
It can be done, it's just a long row to hoe.

Andy

 

[AndyR]

Who knows...you may just enjoy doing it. People spend a lot more money on hobbies than the cost of a small manual bandsaw mill.

Sell some, keep some, maybe donate some to a local high school shop (tax write off). We had crap lumber when I was in school...maybe if we'd had something nicer we wouldn't have spent so much time throwing nails at each other (not me of course!)

Just another perspective to consider.
Andy

 

[the westspartan]

Who knows...you may just enjoy doing it. People spend a lot more money on hobbies than the cost of a small manual bandsaw mill.

Sell some, keep some, maybe donate some to a local high school shop (tax write off). We had crap lumber when I was in school...maybe if we'd had something nicer we wouldn't have spent so much time throwing nails at each other (not me of course!)

Just another perspective to consider.
Andy

+1
There must be some reason we are all doing this!