Firewood business - pics and questions

[Patrick62]

Like a rock

Think of the Bob Segar song.... pretty fitting for this lad!

later on this year (once I have a decent pile) I will show some photo's.

.... easy money .... (not!)

-Pat

 

[Dan Dill]

So far this spring I have cut for three different people after work. Since I work a 50 hour work week, I have only been able to cut 15 cord so far of local hardwoods. I will try and get pictures of them soon, but I doo not sell my wood. I either use it myself or it goes to my Dad and two friends who are elderly and have trouble cutting it all themselves. Dammit they try to help way too much though. My Dad, and those two fine gentlemen only use wood for heat. Two them have no other means other than wood.

 

[STLfirewood]

I started when I was 16. it's good to see there are other people doing this. My senior year of high school I sold 80 ranks of wood. I didnlt have a splitter then it was all by hand. I see a couple things that you might be able to do different. First off I never stack any wood until it's delivered. It's really a waste of of a lot of time. I store it thrown in a pile. I deliver it thrown in a truck and trailer. I made a dolly that holds 4 cubic (face feet) When I deliver I give each person 8 dollys. It saves a lot of time only stacking the wood at the persons house. Also you might want to check into a Super Splitter. I have one of these and they are great. It has a cycle time of 2 1/2 seconds. I have the midsize one and it was $2800. This thing is fast and uses very little fuel. I would say it's the best splitter on the market hands down for speed. I have a full time job so I can't cut as much wood as i would like. I sell about 50 cords (150 ranks) a year. There is an old man by me that sells around 1000 ranks a year. He buys and cuts. He had a super splitter for 20 years and never work the gear drive out. Just went through a couple engines.

Scott

 

[VernonFirewood]

another youngin here

i'm 18 and a senior in high school i have been running my small part-time firewood operation for to years now and really enjoy it. its a he#@ of a lot better then working in the back of some greasy fastfood restraunt making minimum wage. but im not sure of wat the future will hold for the biz since i am going off to college next year. if i go to school at the beach i probably won't bring the biz with me. but if i go to school in colorado i definately am considering moving the biz up there with me.

 

[sloth9669]

buy logs

If i was you id look into buying logs and having them dropped off at your yard. I found for the 70-120 average per cord people pay its worth no having to drop and cut up a tree. The load it and haul it. Thne split it and stack it. Buy it cut it stack it done. This money spent may be worth not doing the extra work. I started at 16 averaged 5-10 cords for many years. Took few years off started up 3 years ago and iam well over 50 cords a year. Target this year is 100 cords. To me thats good part time money.

Any questions pm me.

 

[A. Stanton]

I say good for you.
I too would recommend a work table for your splitter. A guy on ebay was selling one for about $60--his handle 33flame. I have the same splitter you do and his table works fine with it.

 

[user 19670]

My guess is -- The entrepreneur of today is the leader of tomorrow.
One of life's lessons that I refused to listen to is that once you carry a lunch pail you will always carry a lunch pail and you will always have trouble getting ahead. Someone who works for himself only has himself to limit his ambitions.

My hat is off to you and to other young men / women with the entrepreneurial spirit.

 

[Marc]

Hey, my only advice after several years of cutting and burning hardwood- put something under your stacks as another member mentioned, to improve air flow to the bottom layer and keep it off the ground if the ground is wet. Old railroad ties, if you can get them for free, work really well. They don't rot and keep your stacks level if you dig a little trench for em.

I use tarps only to protect seasoned wood ready to burn, so I'll cover the 5-6 cords of the oldest wood in the fall and take from that all winter to keep the rain and snow off it. I'm on a 2-3 year cycle though, so it's all pretty dry by then. Doesn't sound like tarps would much benefit your business anywhere.

I also went to school for engineering (mechanical and fire protection). If you have any questions about that too, feel free (not that I'm an authority on the subject or anything).

 

[timothykamp]

thanks for the advice- I've been off the forums for a few months focusing on engineering - and I'm getting some great experience connecting and programming the head unit that caterpillar uses in all their new logging equipment (IQAN). I'll be back at the wood business this summer if I can't find a summer internship in an engineering related field

 

[Lignum]

Hey, my only advice after several years of cutting and burning hardwood- put something under your stacks as another member mentioned, to improve air flow to the bottom layer and keep it off the ground if the ground is wet. Old railroad ties, if you can get them for free, work really well. They don't rot and keep your stacks level if you dig a little trench for em.

I use tarps only to protect seasoned wood ready to burn, so I'll cover the 5-6 cords of the oldest wood in the fall and take from that all winter to keep the rain and snow off it. I'm on a 2-3 year cycle though, so it's all pretty dry by then. Doesn't sound like tarps would much benefit your business anywhere.

I also went to school for engineering (mechanical and fire protection). If you have any questions about that too, feel free (not that I'm an authority on the subject or anything).

You can scrounge around the business district where you live or work and can come up with a bunch of skids that will serve you well. At the print shop where I work, there are a bunch of skids that have large legs/runners that can provide a good 6 inches of ground clearance. Just look in the phone book and see what you can find.

 

[kevin j]

congrats on the business. Middle son started mowing lawns at age 12, worked up to trailer and walker and zero turn hydro, up to 28 customers by high school graduation. With second year of college under his belt he will finish next year on lawncare and move on to another school.

It is SO funny to hear him whine about hard to get good teen help, taxes and expenses are high, customer only wants low bid, etc. i tell him know you have gronw up when you sound like your dad....

he has learned so much about business and life and independance.

and, his major is business, moving to an 'entrepenuerial progarm' which is farily unique compared to most 'become an MBA in a corporation' tracks.

k

 

[BaldSawRunner]

Kevin, good for your son! I am wanting to go to college, but I really haven't found a major in the "adult" campuses I want to take. I do agree with the get the MBA, off to coporate Amercia comment. I told someone at my church I just couldn't see paying for an MBA, then going to work for Wally World.

 

[kevin j]

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it
work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will
it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries
with that?"



that said, youngest is going to be a choir teacher, will be very good, will be lovin it, just hope she is eating.....

 

[timothykamp]

the graduate with a good engineering degree and a strong background in business/entrepreneurship says:
"How can I make it better and then turn a profit off it"


(hopefully that will be me)

 

[BaldSawRunner]

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it
work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will
it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries
with that?"



that said, youngest is going to be a choir teacher, will be very good, will be lovin it, just hope she is eating.....

The engineers I usually work with asks, "How does it work, and how can I make it more complicated to build, in the same amount of time as before?"

 

[redprospector]

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it
work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will
it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries
with that?"



that said, youngest is going to be a choir teacher, will be very good, will be lovin it, just hope she is eating.....

Hahaha. That's pretty good, but I got all my degree's from the "School of Hard Knock's".......So,
The entrepreneur with no degree's from accredited school's,
1- May start out asking, "Do you want fries with that?"

2- Then when they've scraped enough together, ask, "How long will it take that piece of equipment to pay for itself?"

3- When the equipment breaks (and it will) they ask, "How did this thing work? How can I fix it? And....How can I make it better?"

And last but not least.........
4- They never ask why does it work, but simply state's "Get the h3ll outa my way so I can get this job done and get paid.

Hope your choir teacher does well, but you may have to help feed her for a while.

Andy

 

[Marc]

The engineers I usually work with asks, "How does it work, and how can I make it more complicated to build, in the same amount of time as before?"

No, no, you're thinking of a completely different engineering axiom.

Most people say- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

An engineer says- "If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet."