Log Grapple

[250quality]

Last year we had a horse logger in for 3 weeks. I did helphim skid a bit with the tractor and this is how it ended up.
We took approx. 5000ft of red oak out and some where veneer quality. The mill came and offered me $480.00 per thousand. I had to split that 50/50 with the logger and pay the trucking from my half which means I would have got about $500.00 for a mountain of beautiful logs. I sent the mill on there merry way and paid the logger $1200.00 that would have been his half from the mill and kept the logs. I do have my own band mill as well so I milled them all and now have it all stored in a buddies kiln.
They say its $2.00 a foot off the mill and $3.00 out of the kiln. With close to 5000ft in the kiln I think I made the right choice even if it takes a while to sell.
So the firewood. You get 3 bush cord out of 1000ft of lumber in log form. I sell firewood for $300.00 a bush cord that translates to $900.00 a thousand for my oak or $9.00 a foot.
This year we sold out with 33 cord in the yard and still real early in the heating season. Got a bunch more wood dragged out now ready for the processor for next year but the next section I'm cutting is mostly marked as logs not firewood. My bush has never been cut and is 3 times overpopulated according to the fellow I hired to mark it so what do I do? Will it hurt to leave all the stuff marked for logs for a while as I have lost a few already with the odd wind storm but there firewood now.
Got some maple putting on the beef now so maybe the market will be strong when there ready.

 

[IndyIan]

I looked up 1000 bdft of red oak lumber as 3500lbs. I guess that lumber would take 4500-5000lbs of logs to make depending on the size of the logs and the mill type. So I think its closer 1200-1400 bdft equaling a cord of wood.
But you're probably going to be able to sell cords of oak far more easily than lumber... Which is pretty sad when you think about it... Not as many people seem to buy solid wood furniture anymore or even kitchen cabinets or trim. Particle board and plastic seem to rule right now.

 

[Scooby074]

Last year we had a horse logger in for 3 weeks. I did helphim skid a bit with the tractor and this is how it ended up.
We took approx. 5000ft of red oak out and some where veneer quality. The mill came and offered me $480.00 per thousand. I had to split that 50/50 with the logger and pay the trucking from my half which means I would have got about $500.00 for a mountain of beautiful logs. I sent the mill on there merry way and paid the logger $1200.00 that would have been his half from the mill and kept the logs. I do have my own band mill as well so I milled them all and now have it all stored in a buddies kiln.
They say its $2.00 a foot off the mill and $3.00 out of the kiln. With close to 5000ft in the kiln I think I made the right choice even if it takes a while to sell.
So the firewood. You get 3 bush cord out of 1000ft of lumber in log form. I sell firewood for $300.00 a bush cord that translates to $900.00 a thousand for my oak or $9.00 a foot.
This year we sold out with 33 cord in the yard and still real early in the heating season. Got a bunch more wood dragged out now ready for the processor for next year but the next section I'm cutting is mostly marked as logs not firewood. My bush has never been cut and is 3 times overpopulated according to the fellow I hired to mark it so what do I do? Will it hurt to leave all the stuff marked for logs for a while as I have lost a few already with the odd wind storm but there firewood now.
Got some maple putting on the beef now so maybe the market will be strong when there ready.

$300 a cord. Wow. Id be in the firewood business too! that must be cut/split and delivered? Were about $200-225 C/S/D here or $100 in 8' lengths.

Thats some beautful wood. Hate to see it go for FW, but properly managed its a renewable resource.

The grapple looks sweet.:thumbsup:

 

[250quality]

Yea Jason thats cut, split and delivered but the wood processor and dump trailer take a lot of work out of it. Last year we hand piled it all but trying to find a better solution this year. Thinking of bulk bags or wrapping it as done on a couple you tube videos I saw. Neet set up just an oversize barrel for a form sitting on a skid you fill up then wrap with netting as you lift it off.
Gonna work on that next. Need something to do at night, stupid daylight savings time!

 

[Scooby074]

Yea Jason thats cut, split and delivered but the wood processor and dump trailer take a lot of work out of it. Last year we hand piled it all but trying to find a better solution this year. Thinking of bulk bags or wrapping it as done on a couple you tube videos I saw. Neet set up just an oversize barrel for a form sitting on a skid you fill up then wrap with netting as you lift it off.
Gonna work on that next. Need something to do at night, stupid daylight savings time!

I thought of the Euro system is well. Stackable is nice.

Look at Peiche (sp?) for a manufacturer of the wrap system

Edit: the company is Posch. http://www.posch.com/allsite_prod1/ContentView/6/FrontEnd?pageId=26202&language=en Theyre out of Austria. Heres a video you may have seen. http://youtu.be/12aZxiBucWU

A few years back i had envisioned doing the "euro system" in my area. Set up a truck with a crane and do weekly or monthly deliveries of bagged, dry, tumbled (no loose bark or incomplete stringy splits) wood on a delivery schedule, sort of like oil. With the crane you could drop a bag right on the ground by the door. Very convenient. and neat with no wood in the house (bugs, rodents) nor a big, ugly pile of wood in the front yard to plow around.

It would also give a consistent amount of wood. The Bags hold 1m3 of wood i think. Dont know off the top of my head. There have been many issues of people paying for a 2 cord truckload of wood and only getting 1.5 when it was piled neatly.

But the numbers wouldnt pencil out, at least as full time work. People wouldnt pay the premium for clean, neat wood deliveries. As i said $225 gets a mound of wood dumped in your front yard, and youd have to see $300 to pay the extra overhead of the euro system

 

[davygp38]

We just had our forester bring a logger in to bid on a 150 acre piece for a select cut. He would not touch it. He said the roads were not good enough. The access was limited etc.. I got the impression that he wanted us to cut, skid, and load his truck at our " loading facility," for peanuts. The market for hard wood is way down. I remember about 11-12 years ago when the loggers would skid logs off the side of a cliff because the price was so high. The great thing about trees is, they just keep getting bigger, till the market gets better.

 

[tlbuser]

Yep, hard to give it away. Nobody here wants to pay for lumber either. Got a bid on a 15 acre tract for $10.00/ton. Applied for a burn permit, we'll rip and burn and get done ahead of schedule.