One of our companies just cut down about a mile by 50-75' wide of trees, the beginning 3/4 is mostly 8"-12" birch, perfect for one split and stack. The last 1/4 mile is mostly very nice bigger oak. The wood is already topped as we are burying the tops and going to haul of the logs or aghast, let them lay. This is in a pretty remote area and is gated. It does not have public access.
I have found a logger who will load & deliver the logs for $85/hour, which I think is reasonable. He hasn't done his first load yet but he says worst case 2 hours to load. But we need to do some to be sure.
Two questions about this:
1. Anyone want to buy a load of log length delivered? I think I would be happy making $250 over the cost of trucking/loading. This is going to take some time to develop, not sure how soon it could be delivered. If you need it tomorrow forget it. We might be able to roll in 2-3 weeks. I know I have some taken already and they will go first. Not sure on this trucker and how many he can do for me a week. It might be a fill-in situation for him. It might take as long as February or March to get something delivered.
2 is a business question. The logs loaded on a truck are essentially free to me. I have a very large flat staging area where I could ship, store, and handle these logs. Any thoughts on hiring some kids to split the wood? Cutting it isn't a problem either I would do that or I have a few adult friends who I could pay to do that. I have a bunch of kids who look for work and if I put a splitter there and let them go to town, we could process a bunch of wood. I know I could sell it, that isn't really a problem. Anyone have any thoughts on a very small firewood processor? Is there anything I could buy for $5k? Even a skid loader or tractor TPO attachment? I am not buying a $20k processor. If you had a few thousand dollars to spend and wanted to get good production, what would you do? My staging area already has trackhoes, forklifts, skid loaders, tractors, and backhoe's there for my use.
I have found a logger who will load & deliver the logs for $85/hour, which I think is reasonable. He hasn't done his first load yet but he says worst case 2 hours to load. But we need to do some to be sure.
Two questions about this:
1. Anyone want to buy a load of log length delivered? I think I would be happy making $250 over the cost of trucking/loading. This is going to take some time to develop, not sure how soon it could be delivered. If you need it tomorrow forget it. We might be able to roll in 2-3 weeks. I know I have some taken already and they will go first. Not sure on this trucker and how many he can do for me a week. It might be a fill-in situation for him. It might take as long as February or March to get something delivered.
2 is a business question. The logs loaded on a truck are essentially free to me. I have a very large flat staging area where I could ship, store, and handle these logs. Any thoughts on hiring some kids to split the wood? Cutting it isn't a problem either I would do that or I have a few adult friends who I could pay to do that. I have a bunch of kids who look for work and if I put a splitter there and let them go to town, we could process a bunch of wood. I know I could sell it, that isn't really a problem. Anyone have any thoughts on a very small firewood processor? Is there anything I could buy for $5k? Even a skid loader or tractor TPO attachment? I am not buying a $20k processor. If you had a few thousand dollars to spend and wanted to get good production, what would you do? My staging area already has trackhoes, forklifts, skid loaders, tractors, and backhoe's there for my use.
