Thread: Milling in exchange for timber, not $$$

That's how I have done it in the past. Been caught out a few times though. The log I milled for the customer was the best and the others that he offered me ended up being pretty average. I agree that everyone that has a few logs reckon they are worth big bucks because they see a few slab tables in a furniture shop and see how much there worth. They don't really know how muck work goes into them.

I once had some one ask if we could go halves in all the timber that was to come off their block only thing was I had to cut the trees down I had to move the logs and then I had to mill it. I told them by the time all that had happened equal halves was more like 3/4. so now I get paid for what ever I do and if I want some wood I buy it.

Last year I milled a rosewood log that had slabs 1.3m wide and flawless. I told the customer that I would keep one slab for my efforts but he wouldn't be in it. Can't understand why??

Otherwise I have never had any success with trading. I prefer payment.

cheers
Steve

i keep 3/4 or dont bother

Personally,i think 50/50 is a fair deal,provided all you do is mill the log(s).Felling,snigging would be extra charge.

hows 50/50 fair if you buy a log off some one you wouldnt pay 50%. 25% is more than fair

no.

ill slab for 1/3 of teh slabs and $75 if i need some slabs of that size/ species.

to buy a log costs me $70 - $150.
i charge $200.


lets say you have 2 cube of logs.

you get half the timber and i get half. so for teh half you get i should have charged $200, for the half i got i could have paid $ 110.

so you should still owe me $90.

and normally the logs that people want to swap are #### compared to what i buy.

Milling at the tree loppers yard it's a 3 way split but he is falling and hauling the logs to his yard and we store the milled timber there as well so it's fair enough I reckon. Otherwise if I mill on site, normally I take half, but almost every job has been different and it depends on a whole bunch of stuff, like, whether I feel I need to make a $ out of it or not (rare - I'm not doing this for money - its just a hobby), the species and quality of the log, and how desperate I am to get hold of that particular species of timber.

For example, I wouldn't even start my saws on a pine or rubbish logs unless hard $ were involved or it was a big one. I'd slab an interesting, high quality log for a couple of the best slabs. If it was interesting enough, or for a mate, I've even done it for no timber at all - yeah I even paid for the fuel and oil too!

Originally Posted by nifty

Everyone out there with a few logs seem to think they are sitting on a fibrous goldmine. And it would seem more and more want to have you mill them for a quantity of the timber. So what do you blokes think is a fair exchange for your effort plus the wonderful machines we get to play with every day? For me its one third for me, one for my machines and one for the log owner, what about you fellas?

Every 2nd call I get is a timber exchange deal. I work on 50/50 but the log needs to be something special and easy location or forget about it. Owner on site so all fair and no one feels ripped off when there so called large log turns into only a couple of cubic meters of timber. I try to avoid it and purchase log out rite.

Fair call all round lads, just seeing what experiences youve had and whats good and bad. The thing that gets to me is that we are the one with the outlet and the person with the machine to get a product to an outlet and yet the second party involved only has to be fortunate enough to have a tree growing on their propertry that is going to get in the way and must go How much effort do you put into it before the log goes to waste because its all too hard

Local bloke came across this big Marri log blown over on a cockys farm in Bridgy. Asked the owner how much for it and got a reply "Mate of mine thinks its worth a lot and we worked it out at $10k". A furniture maker from Perth found out about it and got the same reply. Instead of getting $2k for his log its now a rotting Marri in the middle of his padock worh nothing

It's similar to the cocky who had a big marri straddling a fence about 8 ft off the ground at the rootball end which held the trunk off the fence while a big forked branch held the other end up off the ground on the other side of the fence.

Who's responsible for the fence I asked, whoever takes the log he said. That was few years ago - I went past the other day and saw it was still there, the branch had broken and the tree had squashed his fence.

I've done a few 'exchanges' but it always seems to end up rough - more often that not on my side as I don't want people bad mouthing me. I'd rather have the log for me or do a cut job, it's clean and simple then

Originally Posted by West OZ Mark

Local bloke came across this big Marri log blown over on a cockys farm in Bridgy. Asked the owner how much for it and got a reply "Mate of mine thinks its worth a lot and we worked it out at $10k". A furniture maker from Perth found out about it and got the same reply. Instead of getting $2k for his log its now a rotting Marri in the middle of his padock worh nothing

NO log is worth 2k let alone 10k unless you have what we do. If that log is sitting in my yard and is curly as, then its worth 2k. Why do so many people with fallen trees think they are Paddy Hannen?