Off season activities - firewood business

[cutman]

Last year, I splurged and bought a really nice wood splitter. I love splitting firewood.

I created a side business to sell seasoned firewood in my neighborhood, so now I can write off my expenses. So far I’ve made $820 and spent about $17000. It’s clearly very profitable.

Anyone else do something like this?

 

[Mennoniteman]

That's some fun toys. And a pretty nice grade oak tree you're cutting up there in the fourth picture. I also make quite a bit of firewood, but my equipment isn't quite that level of cool, and my pile is currently under a layer of snow. You do need to add the value of the therapy that you are getting, mentally and physically, and you'll find your equipment is paid off already!
In 1979, the first year I was out of school, construction was slow over the winter so my dad and I cut firewood to sell off some acreage that we had. Gypsy moths had killed a lot of oak trees, and firewood was still in demand from the fallout over the oil embargo, and we were making close to $200 a day in cash every day all winter. That is around $700 a day in today's prices, not bad money for a man and a boy who were out of work.

 

[George]

That's some operation.

G

 

[catscratch]

What an awesome setup cutman! I see that we view profits the same way!

I let some local kids cut wood this winter so that I wouldn't have to do it. To big for my taste, I don't like fooling with the big stuff anymore. Plus it was oak, and I don't really like to burn oak. They made good money off of it.

Here's my set-up. I added wings to the blade... so I'm now a complete badass!

 

[Elkaddict]

You’ve added to my “moneymaking” list

 

[cutman]

To be fair, we already had the tractors, gators, and trackhoe. The splitter was the only addition. I love it - it saves my back.

I made a mistake cutting that big oak down. I thought it was dead.

 

[yoderjac]

Very nice setup! Following the same logic and taking something you love and making it a business, we did something similar. For hunting ground, we bought a pine farm, We had a forester write a Forest Stewardship Plan for it that includes wildlife management like food plots. Now, everything we put into that farm becomes a deduction. The real nice thing about a pine farm is that you don't have the "hobby" risk from the IRS. With most home businesses, if you don't show a profit in a few years, the IRS deems it a hobby and all those deductions go away. With a pine farm, the time expected from planting to harvest can be 20 years plus. It is pretty obvious to the IRS why you are not making a profit yet if the trees are not mature enough to harvest.

We have had a couple timber thinnings since we bought the farm so we have made a small profit, but if it wasn't for the tax breaks combined with the fact we love to do the wildlife management work, it would be a horrible investment.