DIY logging

[Nwood]

Hi there,

Have large acreage of mixed woods in NH, (several hundred acres) last harvest was 1980ish before I got the property.
Love working in the woods, although the rocks and wet make it a real challenge. Locating trails can be a challenge between boulders, but it can be done. Had a cruise done on the property, and works out to 4500 bf/acre and 13 cords/acre.

Realistically I have 2 full days/week to dedicate to woods work. Should I stick to just cutting my own firewood or take on some logging? Is DIY logging a paying enterprise or just a way to keep busy in the winter? I think the real payoff is in 20-40 years when the oaks and pines are filled out and ready for harvest.

Plan A
Get some suitable winching/forwarding equipment and become a part time logger. Realistically this would be firewood and pallet logs as TSI cut.

Plan B
Girdle or fell poor quality stems and let 'em rot. This would transfer growth to the high quality stems and I wouldn't have to beat myself up for firewood and pallet logs. Also could get a lot more of the improvement work done without having to remove the wood.

All marking for either scenario would be done with assistance of a forester.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[ToadHill]

Right now I'm clearing out the beech on my 90 acres. Most has beech bark disease and I have been cutting and dragging it for 3 summers now. I have about 3 more summers work. Each year I've cut about 8 cord of wood. At the price of firewood in my area that's about $2200 per year. In honesty I only spend about 6 hours per week at this task.

I apply Roundup concentrate to the stump right after the tree falls since trials have demonstrated that this will kill the roots and stop root sprouting. ( only works on trees like beech that sprout from the roots.)

If you think you can recover some of your investment with the firewood and pulpwood cuts I'd stick with plan A.

 

[SFish]

Hi Nwood. I have a similar situation in northern California (160 acres of redwood, fir and tanoak) and I have decided on Plan C. That is, let the forest mature naturally. I really like naturally mature forest, but I have very little of it.

Even so, I have a lot of logging to do. I am clearing land for two houses and space for gardens, an orchard, and for fire protection, and this will easily develop enough timber for building. I am getting a Logosol mill to make lumber. I also use a lot of firewood. I really enjoy these activities.

I don't know what kind of tractor you have, but if you decide to do some logging I can highly recommend the Farmi winch. It is fast, safe, and makes it easy to skid. I also got a toothbar and bolt on grapple for my loader so I can stack logs. I don't know how I am going to handle the really big ones.

Steve

 

[Wesdor]

I purchased a logging arch this past summer and have found it to be a huge help for my situation - clearing about 40 acres of timber.

You might want to investigate the logging arch:

http://www.futureforestry.com/

 

[BigE_]

Only 4500 bf/acre? I logged 4 acres (actually, just thinned) and took out 56 million bf of lumber. Plus they left a *lot* behind (one of the reasons for me buying a tractor).

I can't imagine trying to do the logging myself and getting done in any decent amount of time. I had a crew out at my place for almost three weeks. 2 loggers felling the trees, 3 guys cleaning up the branches, 1 guy running the loader. Plus you have the guys running the log trucks.

I've been cleaning up the place for the past 11 months now -- haven't made too big of a dent, but I have tons of firewood, and now own a nice 6" hydraulic fed chipper plus a good 27 ton splitter.

With the addition of the tractor purchase, I am now definitely in the red for having logged, but I do have quite a few toys to show for it.

 

[SnowRidge]

Only 4500 bf/acre? I logged 4 acres (actually, just thinned) and took out 56 million bf of lumber. Plus they left a *lot* behind (one of the reasons for me buying a tractor).

I can't imagine trying to do the logging myself and getting done in any decent amount of time. I had a crew out at my place for almost three weeks. 2 loggers felling the trees, 3 guys cleaning up the branches, 1 guy running the loader. Plus you have the guys running the log trucks.

I've been cleaning up the place for the past 11 months now -- haven't made too big of a dent, but I have tons of firewood, and now own a nice 6" hydraulic fed chipper plus a good 27 ton splitter.

With the addition of the tractor purchase, I am now definitely in the red for having logged, but I do have quite a few toys to show for it.

56 million board feet in four acres. That can not be correct. Are you sure it wasn't 56 thousand board feet?

 

[hayden]

First thing I'd recommend is to get a forest management plan by a licensed forester. That will give you context for what should be cut when for optimum management of the land given YOUR priorities (any descent forested will spend time asking you about your goals before drafting a plan). These plans are typically required if you want to enroll the land in Current Use for reduced taxes.

Once you have a plan, you can figure out what to do yourself and what to hire out. I'm in a similar situation with some land I have in VT. So far, all I've done myself is opportunistically pull out firewood for my own use. From what I can tell so far, the challenge with getting more valuable logs our yourself is time and scale. If you cut too slowly, as in a little cutting on the weekends, you will probably have staining and other decay problem on logs before you've cut enough for a truck load. You will also have to go through the process of finding buyers, trucking the logs to them, etc. Plus you have the whole art of evaluating and bucking the logs to maximize mill value. My goal is to figure it all out and ultimately have the time to do it on more than weekends, but so far I've hired out significant cuts.

Everytime I cut, I'm amazed at how little I get done versus what I expect. Maybe it's just me, but the bottom line is that it's a lot of hard slow work. I'd suggest sticking to odds and ends like small quantities of firewood and perhaps some logs to mill for your own use.

You could check with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests - they have lots of resources for sound forest management.

 

[hayden]

56 million board feet in four acres. That can not be correct. Are you sure it wasn't 56 thousand board feet?

Yes, it must be Thousands of board feet. In logging "M" means thousand, same as in finance. I've never understood why M means thousands in one context, and Millions in another, but I didn't get to make the rules (which is probably a good thing)

 

[curly]

56 million board feet in four acres. That can not be correct. Are you sure it wasn't 56 thousand board feet?

I'm no logger, but my half way decent math skills say "No way"

 

[SnowRidge]

Yes, it must be Thousands of board feet. In logging "M" means thousand, same as in finance. I've never understood why M means thousands in one context, and Millions in another, but I didn't get to make the rules (which is probably a good thing)

Funny thing that. I've known quite a few loggers, and I can't think of one of them that spoke Latin?