On Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 2:54:42 PM UTC-5, Electric Comet wrote:
> scenario
As best I can determine, you are not a professional. You are a hobbyist, maybe? .... *We've never seen any of your woodwork. You don't have a clue, as to what you are contemplating "leaning" into, if you are actually contemplating such.
You seem to post about such a wide variety of stuff and there doesn't always seem to be a common thread connecting all the different things you post about.
> i am leaning toward making the property owner pay some money no matter
> what just because of the amount of work and threat to life and limb
Is that your first thoughts, the bottom line or end product. i.e., profit? Typical thinking for a failed venture: Though you appear to be considering the "work involved", your comments suggest a round-about way of looking at the end product (profit), without considering all that precedes it, required to accomplish it. I get a sense that your business planning/thinking is about as valid (meaning erratic) as your varied woodworking postings.
For a property owner who has significant timber on their property, they won't be advertising on Craigslist, period!! They will go directly to a dedicated lumber/milling company. For this 50-100 trees, I highly suspect it's scrub stock or firewood, at best, and the property owner is looking for someone unknowing, of such things. Or did you make up this story, about these 50-100 trees, simply for the purpose of posting something (again), here on the forum?
I'll bite, though:
I suggest, if you want some (hobbyist) lumber for yourself, to inquire about cutting 1 or 2 trees, only. Size up that job (and the milling, etc.), before you even remotely consider tackling an acre of (questionable?!) timber land.
BTW, for that property owner, who advertises on Craigslist, .... and as others, here, have proffered...., I would recommend you Google "Hold Harmless Agreement", even for collecting 1 or 2 trees.
As a hobbyist, I once cut down 5-6 trees, at one time, for lumber, long ago. The lumber value wasn't worth the labor effort. The pleasure of getting it was the value, at my naive age and/or lack of intelligence of such things. Since then, I've always salvaged a downed tree, or one that was to be fell by someone else, then had it milled. For a hobbyist, lumberjacking is a big job and the "profit" (of 1 or 2 trees) is usually only in the pleasure of getting a particular tree/lumber, not necessarily the monetary profit of the lumber.
Scenario: Let's say you cut all those trees and have them milled (rough cut). Then what? Where you gonna store all that lumber, before you sell it? .... *I assume you gonna sell it? Kiln dried, air dried? Is it to be planed or will you sell it as rough cut? Then you have to find some buyers, and that's another whole new ball game!
Side note: Generally, anything 8" (sometimes 10") or less, in diameter, is not milled, is not worth milling, for lumber. By the time the log is squared, there's no significant amount of "beam" remaining, to cut a decent amount of lumber.
If you want some hobbyist lumber, for a cost of labor only, I would recommend you find an old house, barn or shed to salvage, rather than lumberjacking. .... and again, consider a Hold Harmless agreement for demolition. More often, the property owner pays to have a structure demolished.
Want to find an old house to demolish? Go to your city's code office/appropriate department and find out what old houses are listed as condemned, mandated to be demolished. Go inspect the properties, to see which ones have some good/desireable lumber. Quote the owner a fee for demolition. You'll likely need a contract, as to what all needs to be done to satisfy the city's ordinace and/or the owners' wishes. For condemned houses, the city will often give the owner a time limit to have the building demolished, or else the city will do it, at the owner's expense. The city's demolition fee is usually non-negotiable. What's the city's typical fees, for various structures, and use that as a guide for your quote.
Not familiar with Hold Harmless agreements? Go to the Court house (files) and find one/some... see what is entailed, how it's worded, etc., etc.
Sonny