“Being “Treeincarnaters” has become a profitable part-time business for woodworkers Mark Udey and Ray Lindgren. Their full-time jobs maintaining roads and mowing give them plenty of opportunity to observe the changing landscape around Swede Home, Nebraska. Thrifty by nature, they noticed how many storm-damaged and bulldozed logs were ending up in brush piles or landfills—potentially good lumber that only needed transportation and sawing. After Ray, who makes rolltop desks, watched a custom sawyer turn a log into lumber, he and Mark decided they wanted to make their own lumber.
They had two goals: One was to have fun, now and in the future: “We want a big pile of free lumber so we can putter at woodworking when we retire,” Mark says. Secondly, they hoped to make some money, to pay for the sawmill and to supplement their retirement. They began with one simple rule: They resolved not to harvest any trees just for lumber. They would only cut wood that would otherwise go to waste.”
Read more: Mother Earth News
Image source: Love These Pics.com
This concept is worthy of adding to your list of “Cottage Industries” blog post.
Most individuals that are thinking of constructing their own home will already have many, if not all the tools they need to at least get started.
Good vehicle for hauling.
Good trailer.
Hand tools.
Saws
etc.
An enterprising individual can make money several different ways.
1. A home owner may hire you to clean up their property after a storm downs a tree.
2. Sawing the best wood into lumber for personal use or resale.
3. Cutting the offcut slabs and the medium sized branches into firewood for personal use or resale.
4. Running the small branches through a woodchipper to make it into mulch for resale.
An individual can make even more money if they buy or BUILD their own sawmill so they don’t have to hire a sawyer. YouTube has a multitude of very interesting designs.
5. Don’t forget to collect the sawdust. Those that use sawdust composing toilets will probably be willing to pay to have some delivered, and it also makes great homemade potting soil base.
There is no part of a tree that needs to go to waste. Everything is useful. The trick is to find the people that need each different portion of the tree and fill their need.
I’m still working on a Top 10 Cottage Industry list. This seems good enough to qualify.
Where does, “Mass Producing Cottages” rank in your Top 10 “Cottage Industry” list?
(Bada Boom Crash!)
Thanks everybody. Drive home safely. Tip the waitstaff.
Another good post :)
This topic was covered once before, but it’s so good that I thought I’d bring up the topic again.
https://naturalbuildingblog.siterubix.com/milling-and-selling-specialty-woods/
This other blog post emphasizes how you can obtain very valuable/hard to find hardwoods using this method. You actually get paid to gather valuable wood.