In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

And then there was Four!

Discussion in 'The Wood Market' started by LodgedTree, Jan 21, 2018.

  1. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    Looks like Maine is losing another two paper mills. We currently have 6, but the largest share holder of Verso Paper which owns both the Jay and Rumford Maine mills has sold off 18 million dollars worth of his stock in the last two weeks (the first two weeks of the year) calling the mills "bad investments".

    This is no big surprise to many of us in the logging industry.

    The other mills are located in the far corners of the state and far too far for my wood to go too. With so much wood in Maine, and so few places to sell it now, this will be a huge issue for landowners, loggers, paper mill workers and the general economy. This is the most forested state in the nation after all.

    Ultimately this will also kill the sawmills who rely on the paper mills to take their waste products like bark, sawdust, and slabs.
     
  2. Mwalsh9152

    Mwalsh9152

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    damm, that' not good news for me either. Catalyst buys my batteries.
     
  3. shack

    shack

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    Peace and Prayers.
     
  4. Flamestead

    Flamestead

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  5. The Wood Wolverine

    The Wood Wolverine

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    Doesn't stop there. I thought for sure I'd retire in printing. Spent 26 years in it, 23 of those as a pressman. 20 years in the same company then handheld devices changed it all. We printed scientific/technical/medical journals primarily. Doc's started using kindles and similar, and it progressed quickly. Our industry tanked. I ended up going to a mom and pop shop for the last 6. Ipads killed us!
    I still subscribe to several magazines. To me there's something special to having the printed piece in my hands.
     
  6. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    I hear you.

    From what I heard, basically hardwood makes fine white paper which still has a lot of uses. Softwood was the yellowish, grayish paper (think newsprint) that has very little use now. Amazon has bought up a ton of land here and is working on putting in a special paper machine at the local paper mill and for that they will use hardwood pulp, and a little bit of softwood, but not much. This is so Amazon shipping boxes will be more sustainable (green).

    It is good news for Maine, but one paper machine is not going to suffice all the forest growth we have. Some of these mills were consuming 900-1200 cords of wood per day! Now start eliminating 10 of them and it is easy to see why the logging industry has just tanked!
     
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  7. The Wood Wolverine

    The Wood Wolverine

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    The print shop is near (and I love relatively close to) the Gladfelter paper mill in Spring Grove Pa. As customers and direct users, they gave us a very thorough tour. Let us take a handful of the liquid pulp. It was very cool!
     
  8. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    When i was 18 years old, I worked for a construction company as a welder and put in a recycling plant (62 million dollars) at Bowater Paper Company in East Millinockett Maine. I had cut wood for paper years all my life, but will never forget when I was told to shuttle a long piece of pipe between two paper machines. When I entered the paper mill, I just stopped and my jaw dropped. I could not believe the amount of paper coming off those two machines.

    The mill in Madison Maine was one of the fastest in the United States; it produced 45 miles of paper every hour!
     
  9. The Wood Wolverine

    The Wood Wolverine

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    Yeah man! They are huge!
     
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  10. MaineMtnMan

    MaineMtnMan

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    I'm curious if they'll keep one of those open and close the other. So close together you'd think it's a matter of time. I've worked in both, and would bet Jay closes first
     
  11. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    I heard from a Sappi Forester that Rumford is in worse financial shape then Jay, BUT I am not sure what they produce for products, which is the only thing that really matters. You certainly could be right, and it may be that that "biggest investor" just had money in the Jay Mill, even though it is the same company that owns both. I don't know though?

    We truck wood to Rumford, but being so far away, we prefer Jay (naturally) and of course Hinkley. Madison was nice, but Bucksport was the best...so close and so much wood!

    The only one I have not been in, is Madison.
     
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  12. MaineMtnMan

    MaineMtnMan

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    I've been in almost all of them If guess. They guys in Jay told me their main boiler is the only one of that type in the country that hasn't blown up yet! You have to sign in and out of that building so they have an accurate missing persons report when it does blow!

    But paper makes are good story tellers too...
     
  13. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    I heard that same thing from them.
     
  14. Stinny

    Stinny

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    Had not heard this LT. Thanks for the post. I guess Mainers were just waiting for the inevitable. It's very sad and a whole lot more of an economic blow to the state than many realize. Good to see Amazon is going to invest... for now anyway.
     
  15. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    I practically lived at the Rumford Paper Mill.

    That was because on any day that it was raining, or cold, or snowing, or any other kind of weather that made it miserable to be outside; the locomotive crews would call up the engine house and request service be done on a locomotive up there at the mill. Knowing it was a 2 hour drive one way from the Engine House to Rumford, then an hour to "fix" the locomotive, they would get 3 hours of respite in their shift from the weather.

    It was all a game and everyone knew it.

    So we would head up to Rumford, sign off on the fictitious problem with the locomotive, wait an hour or so that it all looked good, then call up power control, tell them the locomotive was back in service, and head back down to the engine house.

    A lot of the reason the paper mills are suffering/suffered in Maine was because of the railroads. The Rumford paper mill alone needs 21 empty box cars for their paper per day at full capacity, and the railroad could only provide (3) per day on average when I worked for them. From the condition of the locomotives, to the condition of the track (which is 10 mph from Leeds Junction to Rumford); it is hard to make money if you cannot get the paper to market. They tried going to trucks, but there is just no way they can haul enough paper that way, though several tried.

    Sad.
     
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  16. LodgedTree

    LodgedTree

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    I had heard they were going to close even though Jay was starting to make money. It was one of the reasons why I was clearing my land. It does not matter how you calculate it now; forest is just a losing proposition.

    I average $70 a cord for wood, and at 30 cords per acre; clear-cutting a person will make $2100 per acre (if they cut it themselves). But when a person calculates that it takes at least 35 years for that wood to grow, (and that is being very conservative), that is a dismal $60 per acre per year!

    Even in these depressed lamb prices I make $75 per sheep, and I can put 10 sheep per acre. That is $750 per acre instead of $60.

    Sad...everyone here is clearing land back into fields. The State hates it, but they are limited on what they can do to stop it. The University of Maine got a huge Federal Grant to come up with a market for Maine's wood, but they will never develop anything. Any kid that is there who has an idea will keep it to himself until he can get into the private sector and get credit for it (and money) instead of letting the University of Maine take all the credit. That is just how it works today.
     
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  17. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    Haven't a few become pellet mills in recent history?
    It seems that could be a viable option, as long as transportation was cheap.
    Rail being the obvious choice, but not so good with the state of the rails in many spots.
     
  18. boettg33

    boettg33

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    I wonder if that will open the door for pellets or other products to take the waste products. Seems like the demand for pellets and fire bricks are on the rise. A friend of ours grew up in Patton. Over the years his dad had to keep coming further south as mill after mill closed down. He's retired now, but it's a sad testament to the changing times.
     
  19. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    considering the depressed economy of Maine, and the many ports, we can only hope that the European power plants that have converted from coal to pellets would take a look at the potential in Maine, lots of trees, lots of people looking to harvest them, and ports without much trade going on at this point.
     
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  20. MaineMtnMan

    MaineMtnMan

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    I shudder to think what the European thirst for wood pellets would do to our forests