In my opinion, prior to automation, there were probably a lot of industrial accidents at sawmills that increased workers compensation claims and thus lawsuits and insurance rates. Add the Affordable care act to that and it just made It prohibitively expensive to run some operations in the northeast US because employees cost too much. I think this applies to other industries. But some industries see consolidation among several small businesses or with the big ones gobbling up the small ones. That didn’t seem to happen in the timber products industry, at least in the northeast, so mills just shut down. I think subsidies in Canada make the mills more economically viable. Just my humble opinion.
Put it all aside. That is the most premium cooking wood. Save it all for that premium price you should start charging. Have a chat with your customers, the ones that don’t use cherry give them a few sticks to try. Watch them become premium cherry wood snobs. And charge accordingly.
There’s a local circular sawmill here owned by a logger, that only he and his wife can run due to OSHA rules. His employees can’t even be in the same building as the sawmill, which makes it tough for any kind of production. He only runs the mill on weekends when the employees are not around, to keep everything from becoming a gray area. He came out and bought two truck loads of big hemlock logs from me to saw up for a timber frame barn and board and batten siding. Since he’s in the next town over, I got to take a tour, and we chatted quite a bit. He and his wife are mid 60’s and looking to slow down a bit. Said without any help at the sawmill it will end up being sold. I’m sure insurance played a part as well, but the man hates OSHA with a passion.
Sounds like workman’s comp laws are ticking him off. Varies by states but family members are usually exempt from WC requirements. The insurance for a sawmill is probably just too expensive. OSHA can be a pain. One size fits all mandated regulations don’t fit all situations. Safety inspectors trained at a desk can be intractable. Everyone in large scale construction projects hates OSHA, as did I. Then I found there are worse things than OSHA. Safety Officers for General Contractors in conjunction with Insurance companies that develop their own regulations far and above anything OSHA would dream up. It’s an ever developing monster that increases constantly and feeds on the workers trying to do a job. They push for safety so hard you can no longer do the job.
My favorite wood to process because of the smell. If they ever turned that into a perfume, I'd be in trouble!
Did put off a nice aroma while I was bucking. Took a break and sat on a cherry round. Who needs Mando when you have cherry!
Cut and loaded the rest yesterday. Turns out it's silver maple and a "wild" grown one so nice and straight. What's been split at storage. Bundle wood splits piling up. General cordage. What was left to split.
Brad, I’ve been reading/following your threads for quite some time, but the same question in almost every thread, is pounding in my head !! Why in the hell don’t you have a Dump trailer ??
It was OSHA, and I get why, have an employee at the sawmill, and you have to follow OSHA rules. If just the husband and wife owners work the sawmill, nothing OSHA can do as they are exempt. There’s no way you can make an old circular sawmill that’s belt driven be anywhere near OSHA compliant. The sawmill was under its own LLC separated from the logging. I come from working at the largest civil contractor in the state, we hated OSHA for a lot of reasons. One year they made a rule where they couldn’t drive through a road job without stopping and doing an inspection. While we had the main road to the OSHA office all torn up for a summer, it was quite comical to see them stop. The owners that I worked for ended up complaining enough, that they changed the rule as it was costing us money daily. Company policy was all work stops when OSHA shows up onsite, until they leave.
I’ve often wondered the same thing, guess it would take up space. Based on the looks of his tailgate, the trailer would need to be really beefy!
