Logging help

[KsRancher]

Am considering starting my own business logging walnut. Would like to ask a few questions if anyone has any experience with it. Shoot me a PM. Thanks

 

[GotDraw?]

@KsRancher
Have you ever done any logging?
Any?

 

[Rich M]

You gonna cut logs like the AK style?

 

[LoggerDan]

I’m a logger!
Know your sorts, grades, lengths?

 

[WV Mountaineer]

logger Dan x 2. Know your grade and pricing per grade. Most log buyers will like them long. So, don’t go bucking them up in 8 foot logs and trim. Let him decide if he wants you to cut them. Good luck and God Bless.

 

[GotDraw?]

@KsRancher

I design/build fine furniture for fun and I similarly thought about this years ago. I even logged a few. My conclusions:

• Logs are frickin heavy and the best trees are not always easily accessible and where you want them to be. Unless said tree is on the edge of field, you're hosed. You'll need a tractor or compact track loader to skid them, and then a log truck or large flatbed to move them. You'll have to fell a bunch of other trees to skid your single, prized walnut from somewhere in someone's woods. The land owner will love that.
• It is hardly worth mobilizing all the equipment to harvest a couple trees, unless they are exceptionally large and clear. Or, you need to find a large grove of walnut trees so you can get some economy of scale by logging a number of trees in on spot w/o moving your equipment.
• There is not much money in lower quality "saw" logs, so unless you have a source for high quality saw logs, veneer quality logs, or you plan to move to CA or OR to "log" Claro walnut in orchards in CA, it becomes a question of the amount of mobilization effort vs revenue.
• The money is actually not in logging in order to "wholesale" sell logs to mills. The value-add and pricing money is in sawn, dried high quality lumber or veneer. Then you're adding a ton of work and investment to your effort. You will need a bandsaw mill and kiln, which will sit unused most of the time while you work your regular job.
• Economical, profitable logging on a small scale only works when you find trees in a hedgerow or edge of a field or someone's yard so they're easily felled, transported. Then you have to be concerned that it has metal/nails in it.

Best of luck w/it. A fun idea, but not so practical for in my estimation. Perhaps others see it differently.

JL

 

[Pony Soldier]

In my early years, I was a tail sawyer in a saw mill. We had a bandsaw that could handle logs up to five feet in diameter. Excitement was defined as when the sawyer would hit a nail or railroad spike inside the tree. It would peel the carbide teeth off the bandsaw and shoot them at me like a machinegun. Today's metal detectors will help but I certainly would not be surprised to see metal in wood from farmsteads.

Like Logger Dan said, logging specs totally control what you cut. Those are controled by the market. My hunting partner was a faller on the Washington coast. His biggest tree was a 16ft spruce. It took a day to prepare the bed to fall it into and another day once it was down to determine the most optimal lengths to cut into logs. You need to fully understand the market.

 

[squirrel]

Growing cutting milling drying then selling is where the $ is. Lot's of middle men taking their well deserved cuts. Nothing about it is cheap or easy. What part of KS are you going to practice on? Ive got some beauties that while gorgeous to look at need to be harvested. I just put a tape on my biggest, 11'-10" chest high Circumference. beautiful tree. And as stated above you can pull up right next to her! better than a bull moose 5' off the road!

 

[Forestryguy]

Know your market and buyers. Know what they want and how they want it cut. Know how to fell, it can be short life if you don't know what you are doing. Most guys can not make a living on just cutting one species, they will also become known for high grading and if you do a crappy job your reputation is not going to be good.