arboriculturist

Fair enough. I have never been one to base a buying decision solely on price. Of course, you will be well placed to give sound advice and I am listening thanks. I am thinking up to now most Joiners just phone up and order what they want and it is an easy thing to do. They have probably built up trust with the businesses they regularly buy from. Maybe having a nice variety of species and very local gives more of a USP? So it looks like a data gathering exercise - format a spreadsheet and fill in all the boxes, eventually resulting in a price list.

OK, I will spend more time searching in detail as you suggest - thanks. ?

Ah, good points there. The vast majority of business appears to be from Joiners. They buy from 2 or 3 of the established Hardwood suppliers - all kiln dried. I will research further and also what Green timber market there may be. I am guessing you need to be 20% less in price than the established Hardwood retailers.

I have over time built up considerable stacks of various species of timber on bearers and having had a lot of generous advice from members on this Forum re: mills, etc. etc. I am getting close to finally investing in a Bandsaw Mill. Like most business ventures, it is often the most straightforward part producing the product, especially with good quality equipment. What I am really concerned about is the pricing and marketing of the milled boards as I know next to nothing about 'marketing milled boards' - freshly milled or air dried and the sizes to mill at. Someone mentioned that I should email photo's to every furniture maker in a 50 mile radius once. I am capable of setting up a Facebook page, Instagram and a Website using Wordpress. I have a GoPro Hero 8 black, which is great for stills and videos. However, clearly I have a lot to learn, so any advice on pricing and marketing + milling sizes would be most gratefully received.

What ballpark price would you put on SC sleepers of say 8ft x 10" x 6" ? Perhaps 4" thick SC would be adequate?

Mmm, I am not sure the customer will buy more than they need because they are in smaller bags - I would think that is more likely with bulk bags. It seems to work for you. Maybe you bag softwood and sell for £6.

Thanks for the speedy post. 1m3 hardwood bulk say £120 = 20 bags @ £6 retail to customer yourself = £120 and all the overheads/handling. 1m3 bulk delivery - we don't need to touch a log roundwood to delivery point. So cannot see unless selling all soft for £6 bag there is any margin. Perhaps there is not 1/20th / m3 in a bag, as I don't know the bag size or packed dimensions / log length. I must be missing something. I have always wished to sell barrow bags and your size bags but I have never been able to make the costings stand up ! Please advise ?

Is it actually worth retailing nets given bag cost, the amount of labour, packing ,handling transport costs and delivery, where in a single bulk delivery you can sell say £ 240? Thanks.

Small mill drawing 50Kw, sounds quite large ! Which mill do you have?

Email arrived - ' The ball is rolling' i'll update how things progress ?

Thanks to you I contacted your media friend Jack and I am waiting to here back from the email I sent him Friday - basically I said 'yes please' to the package he offered, especially as he offered a discount after I mentioned your name as you advised ! ???

I don't think there is the option to run this on Single Phase especially in 1300mm version. Maybe with a 'Digital phase converter', but as I know little about phase converters I couldn't comment ? TTS-800 PREMIUM Wide-Band Frame Sawing Machine – Trak-met TRAK-MET.PL

Sorry, of course it is. 11,000 v. Just 2 - single phase unfortunately. I have not seen an U boat engines advertised locally recently.

Selling the slabs is my main concern - not sure if a listing on Ebay would do the trick ?

Thought about Digital phase converter but know little about them. Not sure about your question above sorry ?

There is no 3 phase here and the 11Kva single phase transformer on the wooden pole is approx 150 m away. So probably I should be looking at a diesel generator, capable of running an 800 - 1200mm mill and edger and other bits and pieces. I have been offered an 'old school' generator rated at 27.5 kw with a Gardiner 5.5 ish Litre engine and Maudsley alternator. There is a wierd device the size of a shoebox attached with a winder knob on the front and 2 x 2" diameter x 12" long tandem vertical coils of wire coiled tubes in the back that a T bar moves up and down when you twist the knob at the front. Anyone know what the shoebox is, what Kva it will actually produce all day long under constant load and what it is worth ? Is it worth buying ??? The whole setup is mounted on some hefty RSJ's, came from a sawmill 30 years ago and it starts on the button and runs sweetly. Deciding what Kva to buy is not straightforward, as I know diesel generators cannot supply the rated Kva continually all day / 8 hrs. NEW diesel generators are relatively inexpensive and very fuel efficient, so perhaps worthy of consideration ?

Wise words there ! - Basically I am not interested in any personal involvement, I would have once but as i'm busy enough, I would prefer to give the work to others.

I have been offered an 'old school' generator rated at 27.5 kw with a Gardiner 5.5 ish Litre engine and Maudsley alternator. There is a wierd device the size of a shoebox attached with a winder knob on the front and 2 x 2" diameter x 12" long tandem vertical coils of wire coiled tubes in the back that a T bar moves up and down when you twist the knob at the front. Anyone know what the shoebox is, what Kva it will actually produce all day long under constant load and what it is worth ? Finally is it worth buying ??? The whole setup is mounted on some hefty RSJ's, came from a sawmill 30 years ago and it starts on the button and runs sweetly.

All the posts have given some perspectives on moving timber, which is 'Big Butts' I would want to extract to mill myself. We are not talking about bog standard really great milling timber, as it is rarely going to be cost effect to move them, as its far less expense to buy a lorry load delivered in as Big J has already pointed out and he should know. It is the 'special' big butts, that will mill into a 'high value' product. I has sort of resigned myself to having a good working relationship with the Valtra and winch man and the Crane lorry and hefty Hiab man. Winch man - looks at roadside, route and big butt and says, - NO it's not feasible this time or - Yes I can get it roadside by the bench at the bus stop for £ 220. Crane man - YES I can haul it from the bench by the bus stop to yours for £ 120. I think that's the long and the short of it. Like Spuddog say's - you just have to let some go.

It's totally beyond me how you ever manage to sell everything you mill - you seem to going for it 'hammer and tongs' relentlessley, day in day out with no letup !!!

Yes totally, if you've spent out on a 800 mill it needs to be productively employed and as you say consistent material is key. My post was really aimed at the Butts I get offered that knowone wants or is able to shift. I should have made that clear. Many many m. stems locally get ringed up for firewood, some with quality burrs etc. and I can be offered them for free just to clear the job. It will be a fair few years before all those whips we planted today get to a milling size !

He his an very interesting site but one butt I have in mind is 8.8 tonnes, I can't see it being quite suitable for an arch. 5ft dia. Thanks for the link though ?

Sorry, I should have mentioned that one, as it is the obvious solution - but thanks. However the days of endless hours of dust and toil are in the past now for us. Everything has to be mechanised, so it looks like the cost of tractor and winch just has to be factored into the cost of getting the timber from A to B. There is not much a good operative cannot shift with a Valtra and winch, using offsets etc. to get big butts to roadside, and ground disturbance can be minimised if you have a banksperson moving skids etc. along with the timber.

I do some of my best thinking in the middle of the night ?

That's a rare offer and even rarer, you with not much else on !!! However, yet again work takes over here. 5 us on the ground trying to complete a tree planting project so we have to hit the ground running early. It's going to be a long day and drought conditions not ideal for this planting. We'll catch up in time for sure. I should be sleeping now of course but I doubt I could. My thoughts were to use ground mount solar to heat an insulated accumulator tank that feeds thermostatically controlled rads in the drying container, therefore maintaining constant temp. avoiding peaks and troughs. I appreciate all the feedback from this thread - quality.