Good or bad idea? Saw sharpening or stump grinding?

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Well today I went and seen the Franzen in action, ally I can say is WOW!!! It's a very easy and smooth operating piece of art. I can't believe how well it sharpens but for the price it should. I'm 80% sure that I'm gonna own one. So when I pull the trigger all you guys can send me your chains and I'll sharpen them (of course for $8.00 a chain) lol
 
Well, as a side gig, I really thing you should reconsider a move that is going to have negative cash flow. ie, you're going to be sharpening chains for a long time before you actually add any revenue to the coffers. If you cut a cord of wood, you've generated revenue. I understand the desire to move into something less physical or risky. Depending on your local market, stump grinding may actually be a better revenue generator but that has a lot of cost associated with it too.
What Harley was referring to re chain grinding is that chain sharpening is a service that businesses do for their customers but it isn't really a cash generator in and of itself. If you're not selling chains/bars/mix oil and so forth, I don't see how chain sharpening alone is going to make you much money. Many people used to invest in Foley sharpening equipment to sharpen all sorts of saw blades and so forth before most of those cutting items became disposable. I doubt many of those people got much beyond the paying hobby phase as it takes such a high volume just to offset the initial investment. Chain sharpening is going to generate a huge amount of customer involvement for a very tiny profit margin. Really think about this before moving forward.
 
I'll send you my 140 DL full comp chains to sharpen.. I'll hand file the shorter ones ;)
 
Hogheadjeremy said:
Well today I went and seen the Franzen in action, ally I can say is WOW!!! It's a very easy and smooth operating piece of art. I can't believe how well it sharpens but for the price it should. I'm 80% sure that I'm gonna own one. So when I pull the trigger all you guys can send me your chains and I'll sharpen them (of course for $8.00 a chain) lol
Click to expand...

Your competition on the bay is cheaper with the same equipment:).
 
Franzen is a great piece of machinery, my local BIG dealer bought one when they couldn't keep up with chain sharpening anymore, they had a tech doing it full time and that leads to mental fatigue and rushing the job, burning teeth, etc.
They do 50+ chains daily at $10 for up to 84 dl of non carbide chain.
Shop rate for techs is $95 so it I still like having an extra tech with no workers comp, uniforms, vacation, payroll taxes, sick days, etc.
Every 6-8 minutes a tech swaps chains.
They encourage the tree services to drop off bulk orders during the off season by offering a per loop discount on 50 loops or more during slower times of year.
Liquid cooling was added, and makes a big difference.
They do carbide at 1.50 per cutter (not dl), but they don't like the franzen as well as doing those by hand (never asked why).

Something to consider is that if you get a franzen and it is successful for you, the local dealership that loses that sharpening business is likely to buy a franzen or Oregon auto grinder and undercut you, even ata loss to themselves.
Every time a customer enters the dealer shop there are all kinds of other things there for them to buy and make money on, so they have a big reason to put you out of business.

I considered buying a used Franzen, when I had the opportunity a year or so ago, and it didn't make sense to put that kind of capital into a business that would require that amount of time and effort to generate business and would tie me to a machine every 6 minutes while I could be doing other things that generate revenue and don't piss off my dealer who does more chains in a week than I could reasonably count on doing in a quarter

Dave
 
Definitive Dave said:
Every 6-8 minutes a tech swaps chains.
Click to expand...

That sounds like something the dealer/owner would say.

But it would only be "true" if you had a large batch of chains that are the same and roughly in the same condition, and the "tech" working the machine can do little else but set up and load the machine, and badly rocked out chains take some extra fussing as well, unless the water cooled feature allows them to grind the poop out of them now without burning.

With the water cooled feaure, what kind of extra investment is that? A small pump, filter, and collection system?
Or just a pump and a wet mess? I haven't been to the EXPO in several years, might have to go this year.
 
Oil cooled i think
I havent studied it closely since they added that but they said he grinding can be single pass unless atrociously rocked
They batch by pitch and gauge and around here 90% of chains are 3/8" .050
The machine has an alert light on top to tell tech its time to swap

The guys at cutting edge in new york have one as well
 
Takes money to make money, and even though a stump grinder costs a lot more, and all the associated costs of operating it, a guy can make a ton more money with one in a day than you could make in a day of grinding. In my area, gstump removal is usually something like $2-3 per inch of diameter depending on whether they clean up or not. So get 5-6 good sized trees lined up every weekend and you'll pay that thing off sooner than you may think. The key is getting in with tree guys/city dpw's etc to get the vloume you need. Also it would depend on how many guys in ur area are doing stump removal already.
 
Ok, I really do see where you guys are coming from and your concerns not to waste my money. With that being said, I'm really not afraid to try something that has potential to be a success. Most of the saw shops around here don't know how to sharpen chains at att and yet they are pretty busy doing it. Also if they did buy one that's ok with me to because ,

1. This is a side money gig, like I said I've already been blessed with a good job and I'm not going to get a loan for the machine I'm gonna pay for it up front, so no worries on making a payment on each month and yes I still want a return on my investment as well, and I'm sure it will come.

2. If they did buy one and under cut me then so be it, I'll just match their price and keep my already happy customers. They still have to pay a man to tend the machine reguardless, I'm not paying anyone but me , myself and I. I'm not out to tick anyone off or trying to cut anyone's throat, I like my local saw shops and deal with them all the time. I believe 110% in our father in Heavanly and he says "you reap what ya sow" . So with that said , if I pull the trigger on this and it works out then eeehaaa, if not then I sell it and move on to the next adventure:):):)

I like doing the firewood but like I said, there a lot of worries and headaches that come along with it. As far as the stump grinding goes, well it seems to be in the same boat as the firewood. I'm still doing my homework and I really do thank all of you for all your advice and input and opinions on this subject.
If anyone knows of a used Franzen for sale please let me know , thanks and God Bless you all , Hog:):):)
 
Hogheadjeremy said:
Ok, I really do see where you guys are coming from and your concerns not to waste my money. With that being said, I'm really not afraid to try something that has potential to be a success. Most of the saw shops around here don't know how to sharpen chains at att and yet they are pretty busy doing it. Also if they did buy one that's ok with me to because ,

1. This is a side money gig, like I said I've already been blessed with a good job and I'm not going to get a loan for the machine I'm gonna pay for it up front, so no worries on making a payment on each month and yes I still want a return on my investment as well, and I'm sure it will come.

2. If they did buy one and under cut me then so be it, I'll just match their price and keep my already happy customers. They still have to pay a man to tend the machine reguardless, I'm not paying anyone but me , myself and I. I'm not out to tick anyone off or trying to cut anyone's throat, I like my local saw shops and deal with them all the time. I believe 110% in our father in Heavanly and he says "you reap what ya sow" . So with that said , if I pull the trigger on this and it works out then eeehaaa, if not then I sell it and move on to the next adventure:):):)

I like doing the firewood but like I said, there a lot of worries and headaches that come along with it. As far as the stump grinding goes, well it seems to be in the same boat as the firewood. I'm still doing my homework and I really do thank all of you for all your advice and input and opinions on this subject.
If anyone knows of a used Franzen for sale please let me know , thanks and God Bless you all , Hog:):):)
Click to expand...

I like your attitude. Glass half full kind of guy. Looks for ways that things can be done instead of looking for reasons to stay on the couch.
 
bulletpruf said:
I like your attitude. Glass half full kind of guy. Looks for ways that things can be done instead of looking for reasons to stay on the couch.
Click to expand...
Ty very much and yes, I figure you can't hit a home run if you stay on the bench because your scared of the ball, sometimes you get hit and sometimes you hit a grand slam:)
 
Hey fellas how’s it going? As you can see I decided on the saw sharpening side business
So far I love it. It’s sorta like Christmas everyday, lol sometimes when I get home there are chains there and sometimes not. Either way I’m good with it. I told myself in the beginning that if I did this that I wanted to stand out and do the best job I could do for folks , as well as be different from other sharpening guys. so that’s why I bought the Franzen and why we give a full service instead of just sharpening and sending back. Our customers really do appreciate all the time that we put into servicing their chains, which it does take a good amount of time to do them correctly. I do each chain as if they were my very own and I paid for them.
We want the WOW factor when our customers get their chains back and open the box and package. So far we have a good customer base and honestly not 1 complaint yet on our services. We do get a ton of compliments and repeat customers.
Our customers range from California to Florida to Maine (Basicaly coast to coast). No we don’t get chains everyday but Im good with that for now as I do like to have a life too, lol, it’s getting better as time goes on and our name gets out there more. I prayed a lot about this many times and also took your opinions along with others to heart. I thank ✝️✝️✝️god and believe he is leading us down the right path on this one, without him our success so far would not be as good. Now got 2 Franzens (God is goooood) to service the chains faster and quicker turnaround time for our customers
I hope if any of you fellers ever need your chains serviced that you’d give us a try, I promise we’d treat ya right and get those chains of yours RAZZORSHARP....
It’s super time and the Wifie and my big belly is a calling so I gotta roll, I’ll check back in later, thanks and God Bless
 

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