WinonaRail's Wood Yard

With five wholesale customers for them i have to keep it going. The stress of not having enough dry in the kinda got to me this year so really focused on bundle inventory. Making another shed for more. Actually taking several trees down at the same location so convenient.
What is an average month for sales at your stand?

 

I think I would only consider one wholesale customer, which I have thought about. That may be in the future if I ever feel like I have enough inventory (which I highly doubt!).

So far YTD, I'm at $485.33 average per month. Last year was $689. I track every stick I sell so I can try to plan for production. I expect the number will start rising once the weather breaks. I should clarify that there are a few deliveries included in those numbers but they are pretty rare.

 

Just checked mine. 450 bundles YTD. $1725 30/$115 my standard order.
I did about 2100 bundles last year, but pretty sure i forgot to mark some down. With 6-7 pieces per thats 12,000-14,000 splits!

I used to make them bigger at .75cubic ft, but slowly made the jig smaller. Happened to look at "factory made" bundles in front of a local grocery store and they were .60 cubic ft. so thats my current size. Remember when a pound of coffee was a pound and a half gallon of ice cream was a half gallon? Not any more.

If i end up going the retail route, ive thought of using mesh .75 cubic ft. drawstring bags and sell at $5 plus .50c deposit for the bag. Ive seen jigs made where the botton is cut off a 5 gallon bucket. Fill bucket with splits, slide mesh over and pull the bucket out and walla its filled.

 

My bundles average 9 pieces, but I probably split a little smaller than you. I'm close to 0.75 cubic feet.

I've looked at bags and come to the conclusion that wrapping is much faster, at least for me. Also less costly (until stretch wrap goes through the roof). The homemade bundler is what works for me. If I had to shell out $1K+ for a fancy one, I'd probably think about the bags. But then again, I'm not selling to stores. Presentation definitely matters.

 

Did some cutting last night and probably overfilled the mini van. I'll go back for more this weekend.

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Had a visitor when I got home last night. Not a huge load but I didn't have to scrounge it and drag it home.

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Is that ash?

 

Any of 'Yins selling to campgrounds? This is a thought I'm having...try to get some deals with a campground or three. Either stock a pile for them to sell, and/or make physical sales calls on the weekends and maybe a mid week trip if they have enough clients in need. I have not bought wood at a campground for some time, but the last time it was ".50 per stick". Seems pretty lucrative? Not looking to gouge anyone, but if I could take advantage of a 'higher tier' market I wood be happy. I am looking at buying a bundle of the potato mesh sack thingies for bundle sales. Would like to offer them to campground owners and clients. One of my buddies had a great suggestion in hitting up the dirt bike race tracks. A lot of those guys have toy haulers now and just camp the whole weekend while racing. I do not have the time to make the volumes needed for bulk sales, so wanting to try the 'merchandized' markets perhaps. My hopes are that I can sell enough wood this fall to bankroll some steel panels for the tractor shed. I mean...getting rich has entered my mind as well...but let's ease into things, no? LOL

 

Won't know till you try. Make some contacts, check regulations.

 

My enthusiasm will be either elevated or stymied with my first attempt. A guy I used to deal with here at work purchased a KOA campground a couple years ago when he retired from the gas co. That's as much of an 'in' as I have to work with.

 

I dont. None close by. All my bundle sales are wholesale.

 

One "in" is better than none. Sounds like a good in IMO. Give it a shot and best of luck.

 

No campground sales for me. I've thought about it but made a firm decision to avoid it. That's simply because I don't have the inventory to do my roadside stand AND one or more campgrounds. If you can get paid on delivery, make just a few trips per year and still make money doing it, I'd definitely suggest trying it. Bundles or bulk wood could both be options. My limited experience is a delivery to a camper who didn't want to pay what the campground was charging. It was a fairly small order that fit in the 4Runner. I think if I showed up with a truckload to sell directly to campers, I would have been booted out so I'd definitely recommend dealing with the campground owners.

 

No ash in this stash. I knew it was some kind of hard maple but I wasn't sure what variety. I went out to split some of the small pieces and found these leaves had sprouted. Now we know!

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X2

 

What kind of maple is it? About the only native maple we have here is red.

 

I call it a red. That may not be accurate. Leaves don't seem fine enough for a Japanese maple.

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Ours is the soft red maple. Leaves don't look like that. You got some good wood, though...

 

Looks like Norway maple

 

Red maple around here doesnt have red leaves like that. I think its some sort of ornamental maple. Cool how it sprouted leaves on the log. Ive seen that happen with other species too.