Critique My Plan

[TNLC]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading on here for about a month now and have decided to post a message. I'm completely new to the firewood business, but I would like to get started yet this winter in preparation to begin selling wood in the fall of 2008. I figure if I can get a set number of cords cut and split this winter, then they should have a decent amount of time to dry before I try to sell them next fall. Here's me tentative plan that I would like to run by all of you more experienced guys (and gals) out there.

Right now, the wood I am interested in has already been cut by a logging company within the past 5 years from a farm which I will be moving onto very soon. Furthermore, the wood is in relatively small piles that are easy to access with a truck. I plan to cut the wood up into stovelength pieces, (about 16") and then load them into the truck and haul them closer to the farmhouse (about .2 of a mile) in order to split them at a later date. Currently, I don't own a splitter and am not ambitious enough to do it all with a maul. Therefore, I plan to stockpile as much wood as I have room for and then rent a splitter and have a day set aside to split as much of my pile as possible.

After the wood is split, I plan to stack it into face cords along a fence row and allow it to dry until I can sell it. I would like to gather more input from you more experienced wood cutters before I take to the woods and begin this process.

In my area, it appears to me that there are very few "professional" people trying to sell wood. Those who are listed in the newspaper appear to be the fly-by-night type who only sell wood by the truckload or dumptruck load. This leads me to believe that there is a reasonable amount of potential in this market to pursue such a venture. The only cost I will have in the process is my time, fuel and maintenance costs for the saw, (an old Stihl 020AV I think), and the rental fee for the splitter. I currently own a lawn care and landscape maintenance company which keeps me busy in the summer months, but I would like to find something profitable to do in the winter as well. Hopefully this idea will fill that viod.

I'm looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[daemon2525]

Sounds like a plan. My only comment would be about renting the splitter.

Splitting is hard work and time consuming. I can split about 1/3 cord per hour, but I am tired of doing it after about a cord or so, (three ricks). If the splitter costs 50$ per day to rent, and I sell my cord for $150, then I'm not making much money. Some folks claim they can split much faster than that.

Your mileage may vary.

Also, I have never rented a splitter, so I have no idea how much it costs. I was just trying to get you to look at this issue.

 

[ktm250rider]

I see too many steps. Why not just stock pile it where it is right now? That way your not wasting work by loading it and moving it .2 miles. Even if the piles are spread out, it would be less time to move the splitter to each pile.
I split all my own wood by hand (because im cheap and a sucker for punishment) and Ive started doing it in central locations around my property. After its cut up, I come by with the trailer and load it up, dump it by my furnace.
Less handling means less work. In your case, more money.

 

[buckwheat]

The fact that the wood is free obviously increases your profit margin. The fact that you have most of the needed equipment also decreases your overhead.

How many cords do you think you can produce/sell? Is this a one shot deal, or do you plan on a long term operation? Do you plan to deliver, or will it be pick up only? How much do you plan to charge per cord?

As for renting the splitter, I would offer up this: What is the difference in cost and the value of your time if you were to sell the cords in rounds (not split?) For instance, if you could get $100/cord unsplit v. $150 split, the obvious difference is $50/cord. So say with a rented splitter, you could do 3 cords in one day. At face value, you're ahead $100; but that's assuming you feel your time spent splitting those 3 cords is worth $100. Is that time where you would otherwise be on the job, making $200?

See my point? I think most firewood operations are done as an afterthought, without much thought going into how much work goes into each dollar made.

 

[b1rdman]

I see too many steps. Why not just stock pile it where it is right now? That way your not wasting work by loading it and moving it .2 miles. Even if the piles are spread out, it would be less time to move the splitter to each pile.
I split all my own wood by hand (because im cheap and a sucker for punishment) and Ive started doing it in central locations around my property. After its cut up, I come by with the trailer and load it up, dump it by my furnace.
Less handling means less work. In your case, more money.

Same thought here...too many "touches".

I've done the same thing here to avoid driving my truck in the woodlot when the snow is deep and during mud season. Sometimes there's no way around it ( if you really need year round access to the wood).

 

[ericjeeper]

My thoughts

If most of that wood has been laying on the ground for 5 years.. It won't be worth bucking up./Unless it is an oak. Pretty much anything else will be doatey or pithy, How ever you describe soft punky junk wood.

 

[STLfirewood]

Yes to much touching. If you really ant to do this investin a dump trailer. Some said it right you might be wasting your time splitting it. Before we can really give advice we need to know what you see your production being. What is your plan when the logging wood runs out? Also even 5 year oak can be pretty crappy. If the wood was cut down when the sap was up the will be a lot of punky wood. Sap down you might be ok. Good luck it's a lot of work but you can make some decent money with the right set up.

Scott

 

[clearance]

If most of that wood has been laying on the ground for 5 years.. It won't be worth bucking up./Unless it is an oak. Pretty much anything else will be doatey or pithy, How ever you describe soft punky junk wood.

Yeah, what he said.

 

[timbrjackrussel]

My thoughts

Wood doesn't dry very much in the winter in my neck of the woods, I like 2 summers. You want to start with fresh cut tops, if hard maple a year old MAX. Ash a bit longer. Get a bigger saw if they are large tops I have an 028, two 066 and a MS660. Wood won't dry in the rounds, split it. Share a splitter ownership with someone if you can't own it yourself. Move the wood as little as possible, pile it out in the open ,not in the bush. Good firewood will bring the best price.

 

[TNLC]

A Little More Info

Thanks for all of the replies. After hearing from several of you that I might want to just cut the wood where it is and process it there, I think I will do this. The wood is in a pasture field and it won't hurt anything to leave it there. I can still access it year round if I need to. Do you think old tin sheets of roofing material will be sufficient to stack it on and cover the top layer once it is split and stacked? I know most of you use wooden pallets, but I'm not sure where to get as many as I might need. I have a few, but it wouldn't be enough to stack more than a cord or two on.

As for the comments about renting the splitter versus selling it in rounds or splitting it by hand, I can rent a splitter for $35 per day, which doesn't sound too bad to me. My next question is how many cords could I expect to be able to split in a day's time, roughly 7 hours or so?

In my area, wood is selling for between $50 & $60 for a "truckload" or around $200 for a "dumptruck" load. Of couse, this tells me very little about the price per cord. What are your thougts on this? I'm looking to prepare as many cords as I have time for this winter, right now I'm think between 10 & 20. Keep in mind I have limited experience with this process and I don't know if I will be able to make much of a profit, so I'm starting our rather conservatively at first.

I also read some comments about the duration of my plans. After I have exhausted the piles that I have described, I would like to continue to take down dead trees and clear the fence rows around the property as long as the demand for wood is such that I can make some money at it. If things were to really take off and I exhaust the supply from my own property (about 300 acres), I would consider trying to partner with area tree removal companies and maintain a good supply of wood from them.

Some responses also questioned whether the piles of wood I'm considering starting with are still any good in the first place. To be honest, I'm not sure yet, I plan to examine them later today and see if the wood is still any good. What specific things should I look for to decide if it's worth my time or not? I might be able to take a pic or two and post for you to see exactly what I'm working with.

Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I appreciate your opinions.

 

[drmiller100]

split wood does not dry any faster then bucked up wood.

so buck the wood as quick as you can where it is at so ti starts drying.

stacked wood doesn't dry any faster then wood laid out in a field, as long as it is dry ground.