What equipment to buy for commercial firewood operation

[5.9rookie]

I've got about 15 acres of oak,hickory, few cedars and elms to clear. This property is in northeast Texas. I'm clearing the land for a sand pit, so I'm not gonna leave stumps. I've tried cutting the wood the old way ( man on a saw). I can't find any decent help. So I saw an ad about skid loader firewood processor. I've got an excavator to fall the trees. So if I bought the firewood processor is there anything else I'm not thinking of I would need? With the processor I would still have to cut the limbs and drag and stack the brush. Then cut the logs to whatever lengths the processor can handle. If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it. It sure was simpler back in the day. Dad would fell the tree, my brother and I drag brush and load and split the wood. Thanks in advance Tony

 

[BradAZLR]

I demoed one that was built in Minnesota that a guy was trying to sell locally. It only liked straight trees and I think the trees had to be cut 8 to 10 feet in length. For my firewood needs it wouldn't work and I thought it would be to expensive per hour using my machine as the power plant. I ended up buying a used timberwolf firewood processor it worked really well. But if your only doing 15 acres and that's it maybe you could find someone locally doing firewood to come in and cut it and buy it from you. Just my 2 cents. Brad


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[5.9rookie]

Thanks Brad, I can't find a local who doesn't hire theives. Every time I've let some one in, my batteries and diesel etc. start disappearing. I tried hiring day laborers and they tore up two brand new stihl saws. I can hire decent operators so I thought I mite try getting some kind of processor. I have been just burning the trees and screening the ashes with the topsoil. It just seems like a waist of good wood. Down here a cord of wood will bring 250 to 300 dollars, and that doesn't include delivery. So I think I can invest a little money in this venture. Any thoughts and opinions welcome

 

[Pixie]

Are you going to deliver the wood ? Stacking it for pickup sounds laborious…

As Brad said, the processor and/or skidsteer is a lot of money for one lot.

Maybe cut and stack in 12' lengths and truck it to a mill of some sort or to someone who already processes firewood. If you do go this route, the logs need to be 6''over and you should find out what lengths your buyer wants.

 

[BradAZLR]

How many cords of wood do you estimate are on your parcel?


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[5.9rookie]

I really have no idea how many cords I have. I'm guessing around 1000. If I can get the wood cut. Was gonna use rubber tire loaders to push cut wood in a pile. Then use dump trucks to haul it to my yard on the interstate . I used to cut firewood back in high school. We got 80 a cord delivered and stacked. I seen that processor and thought maybe I could get someone to run it. This type of manual labor is hard to find help for.

 

[Junkyard]

I'm going to watch this thread closely. I'm kind of pondering a similar venture. We clear and burn so much timber every year it seems like a huge waste. Been talking to buyers for the walnut and white oak logs around here. Also been pondering building a chainsaw mill to saw lumber for my fence and a cabin or two. Also have a rough idea of how I want to build a processor to handle logs, cut to length and split. Then maybe a conveyor of some sort to pile wood then put the kids to work going from the pile to neat stacks either rick or cord size. There are tons of ideas for processors and mills on the net you can build yourself and they really reduce the labor needed. If I make any progress I will update with my findings.

Junkayrd

 

[BradAZLR]

Where I'm at we deal primarily with junipers and see yields around 10 cords an acre give or take. We did a 100 acres restoring it to a grassland for an organization. It took about 8 weeks for the processor to eat through 900 cords.
The first thing I would do is call your county ag office and see if they employ a forester and ask them to verify how many cords per acre you have roughly. You'll need a fairly accurate estimate because if your off by 200-300 cords that will really hurt your bottom dollar. On a 1000 cords I wouldn't waste my time with a skid steer processor its to much for it as I see it. I would buy something along the lines of a cord king c-60 I did have a timberwolf I did 900 cords with but wouldn't go that route again for several reason biggest being lots of chainsaw chains and sharpening on it. A buddy of mine just bought a used c60 w/ 32' conveyor and screener for 70k and he put another 20k into it. So a good size processor that will do 4 cords an hour going to cost 90k and you haven't split any wood yet. You can buy a smaller processor for 50k but you'll get less production 2.5 cords an hour. Then you have to figure equipment cost, labor, fuel, insurance, transportation of firewood to your yard etc. I would figure 60k so now you've got a 1000 cords of firewood sitting in your yard and your a 150k in. Will you be seasoning the firewood and turning the piles over so you can sell it for 300 a cord? Then your going to have to deliver it and stack it truck and labor 75 dollars a cord so 75k I don't know that's just a guess on my part. So you spent 225k to sell 300k in firewood you made a 75k profit. 75k pay day isn't bad but it a ton of work. Then you have to deal with a customer base, we gave away 900 cords for free and we had people complain. If I was to do it I would buy a bundler and sell it by the pallet to convenience stores and your per cord price could jump up to 600 dollars a cord. Your numbers might vary from mine I didn't put pencil to paper but that's what I would expect to spend in my area. No matter how you do it it's a lot of work to sell firewood. Are you going to burn all the limbs and stumps or rent a grinder and turn it into mulch to sell?



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