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Anyone done their own logging?

IowaBowHunter1983

IowaBowHunter1983

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Thinking small scale

Say a guy had a dozen or so mature Walnuts to harvest. Not that hard to cut them and load on a trailer to go to mill. Wondering if I guy could do that much better going that route vs. selling them to middle man logger (even if highest bidder).

Perhaps this is an over ambitious thought.
 
Do you have the equipment necessary to load and transport them? Also, and please double check me on this, I think that a mill operator may balk at getting logs from an amateur because they might be more likely to be a "yard tree" or from along a fence, etc. In other words, they may be skeptical that there could be metal hidden inside the tree if you are not someone that they know, etc.

I am pretty sure that a mill operator would not want trees that have been drug along the ground and consequently would have dirt/debris in the bark which could lead to dulling a blade, etc. I have thought about buying my own mill/band saw a few times and cutting some myself and then curing them, etc. But...I need another time consuming hobby like I need another hole in my head. :D So that dream is as of yet, unrealized. :D

I would talk to a mill operator, or two, and see what they tell you. I would want to have a pretty good understanding, before dropping a dozen walnuts say, of what the mill operator is willing to do/accept. Good luck with your new career as a logger! :D
 
Had a friend do that in MN, he was paid pretty well for black cherry and some basswood. It was a rare deal as the buyer needed ti for simple wood working.

I think Bill Winke has done that, brings in log buyers to bid.
 
If you don't know what your doing with the cuts and lengths you can also cost yourself a lot of money.
 
Certainly know cuts, lengths, etc. No issues on equipment. Loggers skid trees, I would so the same until I could get forks on them. Probably good points on relationship/ trust aspect. Not something I am am considering in immediate future but pondering for down the road.
 
Maybe conduct your own sealed bid process but with stipulation that logs will be harvested and in a row ready to load. Include diameter and length and species of each tree but at least u are not cutting trees without assurance that u will get a good price.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Thinking small scale

Say a guy had a dozen or so mature Walnuts to harvest. Not that hard to cut them and load on a trailer to go to mill. Wondering if I guy could do that much better going that route vs. selling them to middle man logger (even if highest bidder).

Perhaps this is an over ambitious thought.
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A search of your states DNR forestry web site might be of better info as to the questions you have. I have researched the same questions as you and found almost all the answers about selling timber that I have. Takes some research, and reading , but well worth the time.
 
The short answer is yes you could do this, a description of your equipment and experience would be more helpful. I taught my self how to cut doing TSI on no value trees. High value walnut is cut different then any other tree they are very prone to splitting and the better the tree the more they split. Felling and skidding is only part of the battle, bucking to lengths can change the value a lot. I finished a cut last week 46 trees brought over 30,000. That was picked up at the farm. Good luck with whatever you decide to do
 
hans1 said:
The short answer is yes you could do this, a description of your equipment and experience would be more helpful. I taught my self how to cut doing TSI on no value trees. High value walnut is cut different then any other tree they are very prone to splitting and the better the tree the more they split. Felling and skidding is only part of the battle, bucking to lengths can change the value a lot. I finished a cut last week 46 trees brought over 30,000. That was picked up at the farm. Good luck with whatever you decide to do
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I have a good friend that owns a tree trimming/removal business. All he does full time. I learned a lot from him; enough to feel comfortable even thinking about this.
Did you sell the trees before you cut them? Or cut them and then have people come out and bid on them? Curious how that worked.
 
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http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,29848.0.html This is a link to almost the same topic on a popular forestry web site. On this last one we brought all the logs tree lenght to the landing site and received bids there. Some bids include the trucking some don't, I ask that all bids include the trucking . If you have 12 real good logs and assuming they cut good, no hollow,or off center heart,or fiber pull you may get some competing bids. Tree size is a big part of the equation. 12 trees that average over 22" may have enough to fill one truck. I don't really know how to post pics or I would .
 
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