Thread: Carl and Alls new sawmill adventure.

Carl and Al

That's all very exciting to put it mildly.

The big questions always are:

Do you have a reliable source of supply for the raw material?
Do you have the equipment to handle this level of production? Loaders, trucks etc.
Do you have a market for the end product?
Do you have an adequate cash flow to keep you above board particularly during quiet spells or bad weather?

Not being the party pooper, but just some very basic realistic questions, at least some of which I have fallen foul of myself on a lesser scale. Otherwise I think it looks fantastic .

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Carl and Al

That's all very exciting to put it mildly.

The big questions always are:

Do you have a reliable source of supply for the raw material?
Do you have the equipment to handle this level of production? Loaders, trucks etc.
Do you have a market for the end product?
Do you have an adequate cash flow to keep you above board particularly during quiet spells or bad weather?

Not being the party pooper, but just some very basic realistic questions, at least some of which I have fallen foul of myself on a lesser scale. Otherwise I think it looks fantastic .

Regards
Paul

It is rather exciting, been hard bloody work for almost 6 weeks so far.

In order...
1. at the moment we have tied up access to 1,000 acres of land to harvest log from, also have a supply of ready sawn log to draw from in the tune (hmmmm, damn can't remember how much, Carl might have to help out - he went to look at it) plus the odd development that comes along as serendipity from land developers we've both harvested from over the past 5-6 years, but this isn't 'counted'
2. Equipment is limited to our bobs at the moment. Bobs can fork a 1,000kg pack around the yard and load trucks with 700kg packs. For smaller deliveries, up to 3 cube we can do them with ute and trailer. For larger volume deliveries customer will need to pay for crane hire block on top of order price. Loader and truck are things on the wish list for once turnover is 'better'
3. Currently have 23 cube standing order per month (from that test cut we did recentlyhttps://www.woodworkforums.com/f132/f...en-qld-178612/) and two other outlets happy for 10 cube each per month, plus the sales we are both already servicing from our 'mobile business's'. We figure that will keep us busy while we learn and then we can search out more markets as we get better/quicker.
4. Current cash flow is BS - less said about that the better, hey Carl the idea is all this past work has been prep for things to roll.

and I don't think ya being a party pooper mate - all very good realistic questions

Good Al

Sounds like you and Carl know what you're up for without too many illusions. I'll have to talk to you in the New Year about the small order I mentioned to you a while back. I haven't forgotten about it and it's still on in principle. I have just been swamped with other things.

Regards
Paul

HOLY COW...I need to update this and show you guys how much 'fun' we've had....tonight I'll get a bit of stuff up for ya

Originally Posted by Sigidi

HOLY COW...I need to update this and show you guys how much 'fun' we've had....tonight I'll get a bit of stuff up for ya

S'okay... I've been lurking over the other place as always. Been going to send you another email too seeing you've got the chipper in.

See, I've been eyeing off one of these:

http://www.borealiswoodpower.com/index.php

Old old technology now available as a turnkey package new again. Takes about 1m3 of chip a day to run apparently, and while 35kva won't go far running a sawmill... it sorta almost if hooked back into the grid might help keep the electrickery bill to the minor heart attack level when it comes.

And the real good news is that y'know that renewable energy subsidy the solar guys all use... well this is also classed as renewable energy and eligible for a 50% government subsidy to install it.

While these things can be home built I'm evaluating a number of the turnkey manufacturers now and have been for a while. When I do I'll get back to you... but just thought I'd plant the seed.

Well I admire your guts and determination to go into this venture!!
There is no way to side step the hard work involved. You are prepared to have a go and I hope all goes well and that you are successful. I think that the greatest part of the deal is the partnership between the 2 of you. I have a regret that I never found a bloke that I could work with in the manner that you have.
All the best of luck to you both and to the new business.

Keep us nosey blokes posted with your progress.

Originally Posted by John.G

S'okay... I've been lurking over the other place as always. Been going to send you another email too seeing you've got the chipper in.

See, I've been eyeing off one of these:

http://www.borealiswoodpower.com/index.php

Old old technology now available as a turnkey package new again. Takes about 1m3 of chip a day to run apparently, and while 35kva won't go far running a sawmill... it sorta almost if hooked back into the grid might help keep the electrickery bill to the minor heart attack level when it comes.

And the real good news is that y'know that renewable energy subsidy the solar guys all use... well this is also classed as renewable energy and eligible for a 50% government subsidy to install it.

While these things can be home built I'm evaluating a number of the turnkey manufacturers now and have been for a while. When I do I'll get back to you... but just thought I'd plant the seed.

tick tick tick...thinking...also the heat can be used to push kilns, drying timber for free..plus electricity bill could be much lower...if its automated could happlily run 24/7...and if there is a rebate for installing it......WHOA!!!!

Cheers John, bloody legend

Originally Posted by chambezio

Well I admire your guts and determination to go into this venture!!
There is no way to side step the hard work involved. You are prepared to have a go and I hope all goes well and that you are successful. I think that the greatest part of the deal is the partnership between the 2 of you. I have a regret that I never found a bloke that I could work with in the manner that you have.
All the best of luck to you both and to the new business.

Keep us nosey blokes posted with your progress.

Sorry Rod,

got a bit taken with family stuff last night, probably best to give an update over the weekend

Originally Posted by Sigidi

tick tick tick...thinking...also the heat can be used to push kilns, drying timber for free..plus electricity bill could be much lower...if its automated could happlily run 24/7...and if there is a rebate for installing it......WHOA!!!!

Cheers John, bloody legend

Nah, it's not quite that easy. They run on "firewood" timber or woodchip, not sawdust. Fine particles tend to smother the fire reducing output. Woodchip is best for a couple of reasons... automated feeding and because the drier the wood is the easier it burns, and chip is obviously easier to dry. The exhaust heat off the engine can be fed into the chip storage bins however to dry it faster, meaning less storage required.

I've been turning this over in my head for 12 months or so... got it narrowed down to two turnkey system manufacturers who've been building these things for years and a third who also has been doing it for a long time as well. The two turnkey mobs both base theirs on a petrol engine, and give around 35-45 KVA electrical output. They are semi automatic... turn it on and go and it feeds itself from a hopper, but needs to be shut down daily to clean out the residue ash from the firepot.
Third guy does larger fully semi-auto setups in the 80 - 100 KVA range. His are based on 2 stroke detroit diesel engines driving the alternator... apparently 4 stroke diesels are not an easy conversion to woodgas.
Then you get to the large systems that are fully automatic... fire it and forget it, and actually be selling an excess back into the grid... what was my comment in that other thread... roast the pig.

I got into this because I know an old guy and he can actually remember woodgas powered trucks being around when he was a kid just after WW2. You can actually get US Dept of Energy plans to build your own at home... run tractors and stuff. Link to a PDF copy:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0...ma.woodgas.pdf

I'm considering that option too for an initial trial... not that hard to lay hands on a secondhand 6v53 ex greyhound bus motor, and my neighbours are far enough away that they don't complain about the noise too much. This is really simple stuff on the small scale level... and how hard can it be to set up a feed conveyor system?

Sawmills in Europe have been doing this for years... when the technology got shelved after WW2 here it didn't there. I tell ya... if I can get 45KVA, let alone 100 or more... for burning stuff that I was burning anyway (we just shoot slabs and trimmings to the burn pile... can't get enough for chip up here to make it worth installing a chipper... man would have to be stupid not to at least look at it it.

Exactly what I was thinking too John, we'll have more than enough chip to do something like this.....hmmmmmmm

we got the 1 man bench running but the breaking down saw is waiting on parts so we have started breaking logs down on the lucas and punching out board on the bench, we are cutting 1" board for a flooring order,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGMh...ature=youtu.be

sorry about the poor quality i had to hold the camera wile operating the bench.

Carl and Al

It's looking good, although starting to get away from the portable aspect. never mind it looks to be a good venture .

Regards
Paul

Thanks for the youtube link Carl...keep it up boys

Nice one fellas, and thanks for the you tube link. All the best with ya venture and am looking foreward to seeing it in real life one day

Skippy