Thread: Peterson Turbo Saw

Really you would not pay for that saw with salvage timber and would need to be buying large amounts of plantation timber. Anyone telling you otherwise would be foolish. It sounds to me like you would be better off with something like a lucas 8/30 or 10/30. They are a lot less expensive to set up and it sounds like you are not going to be milling large numbers of cubic meters of log.

As said previously look at the viability of what the bloke who owes you is proposing, basically trees are worth negative dollars. By the time they are cut down and removed the amount that they are worth (unless they are plantation pine or such) is generally far and away offset by the costs of falling them and getting them to the mill. There is then also the cost of milling them, cost of drying them, etc.etc. so basically if he is offering for you to cut a few trees off of his property so that you can keep the proceeds you will effectively be doing him a favor removing them and running at a loss yourself..

TREES ARE WORTH ZIP, lumber is worth something. I would make him get the timber milled and pay you what he owes you, trouble is he would be further in debt getting someone to saw the logs for him.

Originally Posted by ian

Hi Mouse
I don't want to pry too much, but how much is your partner owed?
is he thinking...
I'll buy a $50,000 mill, get some logs for free in PART settlement of the debt, mill them up and recover the balance of the debt when I sell the timber?
If so, I think this is a very bad idea.

For example, if the debt is $20,000 (say), what you appear to have is a promise to allow your partner to collect trees to that value from a property owned by the person who owes him the money
You take on additional risk (the borrowed $50,000) adding extra transport and labour $.
If your partner is to avoid working for nothing, you would need to sell the milled timber for about $70,000.

My sums
You buy the mill now, use it for a year or so and then sell it after two years for $35,000 -- the NET cost of the mill is $15,000
You need to repay the loan plus interest -- at10%, the interest on $50,000 over 2 years is $10,000
you need to factor in transport costs -- logs to mill, timber to customer or wholesaler -- I have no idea what these might be but let's say it's a total of $15,000,
the required selling price is the debt + the cost of the mill + interest + transport = 20,000 + 15,000 + 10,000 + 15,000 = $60,000
PLUS some amount for your partner's labour -- say 1000 hours at $10 per hour = $10,000 -- the total is $70,000


If the timber is truely available to cover the debt, a better strategy would be to organise a contractor to fell and mill the logs for you with you accepting the PROFIT on sale as settlement for the debt

like he said X 2

Update on turbomill demo day

The mill is finished being built and will be loaded in a container soon

delivery should be some time in late October early November