Run a Small-Scale Sawmill – Part 3 – Cons of Becoming a Lumbering Pro
Shared From MOTHER EARTH NEWS Written By: James Fairfield and the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Editors
An old sawmill—nestled back in a mountain cove and covered with kudzu and cobwebs from months of disuse—is just about as depressing a sight as a weathered old sawyer who’s burdened with the weight of bills that can’t be paid. Now failure is never pleasant to consider, but it’s a possibility that you must be aware of if you’re to understand fully what it could be like to be a woodcutter today.
Many small sawmills, you see, are definitely facing hard times, and most of these businesses (whose owners are used to the “old ways” of operation) are totally unprepared for the modern hardships they’ll likely encounter.
Perhaps the single major factor behind the demise of many small sawmills (more important than economic instability, poor wood supplies, or even the ever-increasing government safety regulations) is the growing power of the bigger mills. These giant firms are, quite simply, pushing the “little fellers”out of business.
For example, a large mill or lumberyard might start to buy custom-cut wood from a family-owned mill to satisfy certain customers .. . and later demand that the small sawyer sign an exclusive contract to sell only to the larger outfit (which means the sawyer would have to give up all other customers and depend solely on the large mill for his or her income). Then, when the big mill has—for one reason or another—no further need of the special services, the small enterprise could be cut off . . . and would have no regular customers to fall back on.
Some large mills and yards also employ their own graders to determine the quality of all the wood that comes in for sale . . . and the prices that such a firm will pay are fixed at wholesale rates according to what the grader says a given batch is worth. Ultimately, then, the amount of money a small sawyer—selling to such an outfit—receives could be totally subject to the honesty of a grader he may never have seen. If that “expert” (whose “qualifications” are left up to his or her employer) is trying to help the boss save money or isn’t quite on the up and up—and, at the same time, if the small-scale woodcutter isn’t exactly sure how good his or her wood is—the big buyer could obtain top-grade lumber at low-grade prices. It happens . . . not always, but it does happen.
To continue reading about James Fairfield and the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Editors’ Homestead Business, check out Running A Small-Scale Sawmill Business on MOTHER EARTH NEWS.
