Time to cut one cord of wood

[Lumber-Jack]

Rob you’ve clearly revealed some of the realities of trying to make a viable business from selling firewood on a small scale, although if you start taking into account vehicle and equipment maintenance and depreciation the prospects look even bleaker.
For all intents and purposes the only way I think one could make decent profit selling firewood would be to go big. Have wood delivered to a yard by the truck load, invest in one of those large machines where you feed the logs and it bucks and splits it all the same time, and have a conveyer belt that dumps it into a large delivery truck.
Of course by the time you invest in all that equipment and spend a few months of hard work trying to figure out how to run it all efficiently as possible with the minimum number of break downs, all the while trying to build up the huge customer base you’ll need to support such a large scale operation, you’ll probably start feeling a little burned out and start asking yourself why you got into this in the first place. hh:

I’ll stick with cutting wood just for personal use a few times a year. ;-P

 

[snowleopard]

So here I was enjoying a leisurely Saturday morning hanging out on the forums and waiting for the sun to get a little higher before I went out to work on that pile of rounds that needs splitting and stacking.

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

This is me gettin' dressed to go out and get some work done. . .

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Rob you’ve clearly revealed some of the realities of trying to make a viable business from selling firewood on a small scale, although if you start taking into account vehicle and equipment maintenance and depreciation the prospects look even bleaker.
For all intents and purposes the only way I think one could make decent profit selling firewood would be to go big. Have wood delivered to a yard by the truck load, invest in one of those large machines where you feed the logs and it bucks and splits it all the same time, and have a conveyer belt that dumps it into a large delivery truck.
Of course by the time you invest in all that equipment and spend a few months of hard work trying to figure out how to run it all efficiently as possible with the minimum number of break downs, all the while trying to build up the huge customer base you’ll need to support such a large scale operation, you’ll probably start feeling a little burned out and start asking yourself why you got into this in the first place. hh:

I’ll stick with cutting wood just for personal use a few times a year. ;-P

On the other hand, if you just want to bring in a few hundred dollars every year then a processor would not be the way to go. For example, I cut very slow. Well, I do everything pretty darned slow any more; not by choice but by necessity. I do sell a bit every year and a few hundred dollars can come in handy, especially when paying the land taxes. I do not have much wrapped up in equipment with just a small saw and a small splitter and haul the wood with a small trailer behind the atv. The atv and trailer get used for much more than hauling wood but the saw and splitter are just for the wood. Not much investment but then, I do not plan on selling a lot of wood either. It just all depends on what your needs are I guess.

 

[smokinj]

Thanks for all the responses!

I'm not in a race, or trying to set any records.
I was just talking out loud trying to better understand the reality of making a profit, or just breaking even selling firewood.

The further I get into this, the easier it becomes to understand why so many firewood sellers sell green wood, cut split and delivered the same day.
There is so little money to be made, it seems that many decide they must shave costs, and in that business, labor is the easiest thing to reduce.

While cutting, splitting, transporting and stacking, and then drying for a year or more is the best way to deliver a product I can be proud of, it sure drains the profit right out of the bowl.

Larger trees to start with, the ability to cut split and deliver green wood all in the sale day, and large scale operations in general seem to be the answer.

Granted, I'm still learning, but with 6 cords put up in racks drying, I have enough value in the wood, if sold at the local going rate of $225 a cord to pay the wages it took to get to this point and maybe just a little extra.
Delivery, when the wood is dry, is going to put me even or just slightly in the hole.
Breaking even in the long run is the goal, this project/experiment is intended to help pay wages for a man during the slow time of winter.
Making a profit would be nice, but just covering wages would be great.
The two areas I see for improvement are hiring much cheaper labor, say $10 an hour instead of $15, though that only saves a hundred or so dollars, and the other is selling it green, to save the labor required to stack the wood, but then the selling price would be lower too...

Rob

Small piles would be much faster. Maybe lay down some gravle and pile it. You dont want to do monster piles but a couple cords high.

 

[48rob]

Small piles would be much faster. Maybe lay down some gravle and pile it. You dont want to do monster piles but a couple cords high.

Would it dry enough in the middle/bottom in 8-12 months, or would I be sitting on it for 1-1/2 years?

We started out doing ricks (8' x 4' x 16") and have 17 just in this pic, and several more cords waiting to be stacked.
Putting it in a pile would save a good bit of time...

Rob

 

[smokinj]

Running like you are is how a wood burner would do it! With that said you are not going to be perfect and think you can even break even. I would use a 100-200 foot of gravle pile 3-4 foot high 10 foot across. It will be fine unless it oak. Selling it I would be selling by the way I can haul it. (pick-up or trailer load) You will soon learn if you listen to the wood burner you will be paying them to burn your wood! lol

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Rob you’ve clearly revealed some of the realities of trying to make a viable business from selling firewood on a small scale, although if you start taking into account vehicle and equipment maintenance and depreciation the prospects look even bleaker.
For all intents and purposes the only way I think one could make decent profit selling firewood would be to go big. Have wood delivered to a yard by the truck load, invest in one of those large machines where you feed the logs and it bucks and splits it all the same time, and have a conveyer belt that dumps it into a large delivery truck.
Of course by the time you invest in all that equipment and spend a few months of hard work trying to figure out how to run it all efficiently as possible with the minimum number of break downs, all the while trying to build up the huge customer base you’ll need to support such a large scale operation, you’ll probably start feeling a little burned out and start asking yourself why you got into this in the first place. hh:

I’ll stick with cutting wood just for personal use a few times a year. ;-P

On the other hand, if you just want to bring in a few hundred dollars every year then a processor would not be the way to go. For example, I cut very slow. Well, I do everything pretty darned slow any more; not by choice but by necessity. I do sell a bit every year and a few hundred dollars can come in handy, especially when paying the land taxes. I do not have much wrapped up in equipment with just a small saw and a small splitter and haul the wood with a small trailer behind the atv. The atv and trailer get used for much more than hauling wood but the saw and splitter are just for the wood. Not much investment but then, I do not plan on selling a lot of wood either. It just all depends on what your needs are I guess.

It's a labor of love Dennis.
However, including your atv and splitter in your list of equipment brings your overhead up substantially higher than mine. Personal use aside, how many cords of wood do you figure you would have to sell before you break even?

 

[snowleopard]

Well, I do everything pretty darned slow any more; not by choice but by necessity. I do sell a bit every year and a few hundred dollars can come in handy, especially when paying the land taxes.

Dennis,

I don't mean to be presumptuous here, but this part of your post caught my eye. In this area, there are several property tax exemptions available. The ones listed below apply to this borough; whether they are typical or not, I do not know. It might be worth looking into to see if you qualify. Just sayin'.

Senior Citizens 65years of age or older, up to $150,000 on residence
Disabled Veterans with a 50% or more disability
Military non-resident personnel residing in a mobile home
Farm Use Lands actively engaged in agriculture
2% exemption for approved fire protection systems
Non-profit exemption on property used exclusively for religious, charitable, cemetery, hospital or educational purposes
Owner-occupied residential exemption, 20% or $20,000, whichever is less
Additional residential exemption for Volunteer EMS/Firefighters



Pretty ricks, Rob.