Forest bi-products

I have spent the last while researching the positive effects forest bi products have on our society. So much information exists to help wood lot owners and individuals seeking to produce a personal income. Forests no longer need to be butchered in order to create an annual income. When you look at what is being created now with non recyclable material or material that takes many years to break down, "Can those products be supplemented with a forest bi product or low end wood product that is not being used on a mass scale currently". Yes some can. Information can be collected from many sources libraries, college and universities, forest service, doctors, pharmaceutical,survivalist (someone who can live on the vegetation from the forest) natural health care,chat groups or blogs, veterinary experts, gardening professionals, food and beverage dealers, North American Native American Bands are one of the best resources for forest bi products-for these people have been here longer than any one,market places and fairs, auction and buying stations for bi product-check with the universities or forest service or city hall in your area if you are uncertain of the locations. Have you had a brain storming session with other individuals in your group again two heads are better than one, one hundred ideas are better than ten and so on."Can you think of any product or group that has been avoided by all others?"Keep thinking and throwing ideas around as creativity creates opportunity. Remember take a tree not a forest.

August 29, 2008 update

We are just waiting for some educational material to arrive from a few sponsors, then all material to be placed on the site will go to the web designers.
Thanks for your patience
Rog

What is sustainable and what is not when it comes to forest products

As we all grow and expand our knowledge base now and in the future, it is going to be very tough to decipher what is and is not the best eco-friendly wood product for our personal use. Most companies now are becoming certified calling them selves sustainable, eco-friendly or green. The question comes down to, How do we truly know how sustainable or eco-friendly the product that we are trying to purchase is? Research and personal choice. If a large company is logging huge areas of timber, replanting and living up to their environmental plan and code, yes they are sustainable because the product will regenerate, yes the creeks and some wild life tree patches will be saved and so on. The small wood lot will log, but in smaller quantities creeks will be saved, wild life tree patches will be set aside and so forth and the majority of the forest floor will be left to mature and develop, that's one of the big differences. I have had a few people ask me how will I know from which source to purchase. Research how the product you wish to purchase is being logged or harvested, what's being saved and what's not. It will come down to personal choice and personal opinion, in what manner do you wish and want your wood product to be harvested . Don't worry we are going to put up as much information as we can to help clarify certain issues,with the help of other organizations and groups in the years to come at Corkboot.com. Remember take a tree not a forest !

Sid Mawson on why to use a small miller

This is another educational video from Mr. Sid Mawson on custom milling. Mr. mawson has many years of milling experience in the Duncan BC valley and he has been an invaluable resourse of knowledge and expertise for corkboot.com.

Thanks Sid

Sample video from our chain saw maintenance selection

Pull cord maintenance video. Mr. Danny Frame is a British Columbia coastal faller who is well respected in his field for knowledge and work ethic.Danny has many decades of experience in the forest industry we are more than thank full for this shared resource.

Educating the public on purchasing eco-friendly forest products

When you look at a large hillside that has been recently logged does that make you happy or sad? If it saddens you it might be time to re-educate yourself with the help of environmental organizations, wood lot owners, wood workers, custom sawyers and wood product dealers. We can all complain but do nothing to change how things are done. Or we can take a stand on how things are implemented and achieved in regards to wood coming out of the bush and produced into products. We can allow over-cutting or we can say enough; we can choose to take only what is needed, making sure the products we purchase are from a source that logs, recovers or creates products in an eco friendly manner. Or we can sit idly by and do nothing. If we choose not to change, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for some of the environmental damage that has been created. If we are truly unhappy with how things are achieved or done in society then we must stop buying the products from the companies or individuals that are not living or working in an eco-friendly manner. When I look at the large stores selling wood products I see a whole lot of people with not much of a purchasing choice in front of them. Corkboot.com wants to help re-educate the public with the help of others to show individuals and companies how to buy eco-friendly wood, calculate product cost, do cost comparisons and send wood to the appropriate wood manufacturer to construct their needed product. Our question and answer section has been designed specifically for this task when the site comes up. If you don't know how to navigate through the system, don't bypass this opportunity - just ask! Give Corkboot.com a chance. Have fun - be creative - place an add for free on our market place when it opens in a couple of weeks. Explain what you are looking for and allow the eco-friendly dealers to call you. Let them try and meet your budget and needs and leave the add running until someone contacts you - it won't take long!

Remember - take a tree, not a forest!

Some thoughts on diversifying your business....

Diversifing a business should be enjoyable and easy to accomplish.

First questions to be asked:

• What are you trying to sell,
• to whom,
• for how much
• who's not buying and what are the reasons why

If you don't know those answers start asking. Sample questions to ask customers that don't buy:

• "I am trying to better my service and business. Can you tell me how I could better my service to receive business in the future from someone like yourself?"

If you get one or two people out of four or five telling you, you are now ahead at the races.

Once you know who your customers are or could be many opportunities become available to you. Where can you best reach your target audience. Diversify through paper, radio, tv, internet, billboards. Do you have a product that can be easily sold? If so, allow other people to help sell it for you in other states, provinces or countries as representatives. You can also market your products at trade shows, market places, fairs, craft shows, home shows, logger sports, outside shopping malls with similar businesses to yours running a mini trade show, a grocery store, middle of a mall. How many computer sites have you linked your business site to (it costs nothing to very little), how many free sites have you joined as an associated business, how many blogs do you run, how many blogs have you linked to? Are you involved in associations affiliated to your business? Are you involved in clubs like rotary or the lions? How many marketplaces are you on? Lastly, do the individuals that you want to purchase your product truly understand the craftsmanship in your product, do they know the advantages to the purchase, do they truly understand what they are getting for their money? If not, show them and as many people as humanly possible. How many people, groups or companies are out there that are not related to your business, but need product and have buying power?

Remember, take a tree not a forest!

Update for Corkboot.com

Just a quick update for everyone, I talked to the web designers yesterday they are presently working on and almost finished with the forum section. Then the wood wanted/wood for sale areas for each state/province and outside North America areas will be constructed. The majority of content will go up over the next two weeks I had a meeting with the video and arts departments two days ago and they should be finished in another few days.
The entire site should be up by the first or second week of September.

I hope everyone is having a good summer!

Rog

Creating Vision

People have asked, "How do I see, what drives me to be creative?". Life, I usually say! Look around - what do you see compared to what I see? Take for instance a couple of scenarios. If I gave you some images to place into your brain what would come to mind?
1)Pile of sand
2)Wooden chair
Place the images one at a time into your brain and really think about the item for 20 seconds. What appears?
1) Pile of sand - what did you think of? A beach, dune buggy or motor cross racing, sun set, summer, bottle of wine and a companion with an endless conversation.
2)Wooden chair - tree, wood working plant, custom made furniture, department store, mill cutting tree into lumber.

How I see is sort of like this. Take the pile of sand - I see a concrete plant or highway crew working and making us safe. I see the sand in the concrete side walks, foundations, planters, new and old buildings. I see the manufacturing plants that make the equipment that make the concrete products, the workers, the bolts, conveyors, belts, paint and metal. I wonder how these items are made and from what, by who and for how much and yes I think of the beach and fun also.
The wooden chair - I think size, shape, colors, textures, styles, smell of the wood. I see the worker sanding and bending the corners, the tools, the hand made seats and spindles, the family using the chair around the table, the custom made chair being passed down from generation to generation, the wood stains, selection of wood type, re usage of lumber from an old train trestle or barn, the old wood worker passing down his techniques to the young person, the hand tools shaping the wood into a true craft form rather than power tools forming a production line item.
Opportunities exist all around us; some good some bad. I do not believe in the word "can't" when I am researching and implementing new ideas. I use the words "keep trying". I figure there is always a solution to a problem you just have to look and be receptive to thought changing ideas. I always wonder how things are made and from what, who uses the product and for what reason, who else can use the product. I always put a cost analysis on things, I do things if they make sense, if it is not financially viable I don't give up, I keep looking for the right answer. I incorporate as many people around me as possible as two heads are better than one, a hundred ideas are better than ten and so on. I keep smiling as I work through the opening of corkboot.com. People will soon realize that small to medium sized forestry and wood working, wood lot owners combined with individuals looking to further enhance their sustainable life styles actually have a larger role and impact on the world's economy and ecosystem than most would tend to realize or believe. Remember - take a tree not a forest.

An endless opportunity for knowledge

Forestry, wood products, wood working and environmental issues, they all create an endless learning opportunity. I always enjoy learning something new.Not a day goes by where I have not been able to read, watch or listen to someone teaching a new subject. So many topics to cover on a vast array of subjects make the above careers unbelievable when you explore deeper and really research and inspire yourself to grasp what is being taught. My father told me a few years ago to listen closely to everyone, as everyone we encounter in life, whether young or old, can teach us something new. For they have learned something from someone that we have never come in contact with. Simple things like talking to the environmental groups and listening closely to how they understand and know the land and the issues surrounding them, to the back yard craftsman who knows a special way to configure certain cutting patterns or has remedies for homemade finishes for his wood products past down from his forefathers that make his products shine like the morning sun, or the young lad in the bush who is colour blind but is able to see the shape and texture and defect patterns in the solid and rotten wood before him. Endless opportunities exist and it creates a very special place when they are combined.Welcome to corkboot.com. Remember take a tree not a Forest.

Creating a resource base from which to work from

It is possible to promote our business or look for business, as we all know, in many ways. When you scroll through the Internet on a given topic, read the articles, the thing I see would be the the power of knowledge that has not been linked. You have a lot of businesses and individuals sharing knowledge on the given topic but wouldn't it be nice if you could combine that resource to learn and grow and expand your business or personnel potential to a fuller extent. Look up an association that has similar associations in other states, provinces or countries and all of them have creativity, knowledge, loads of education, failure and success stories. Combine techniques and knowledge on the success and failures of the organizations or groups, what I mean is there are so many people sharing and educating throughout the world that it would be impossible for us or our businesses to grasp knowledge on every topic on a given subject. It would be like studying for a high school or college exam getting 90% plus which is good but what happens to the other 10%. If we allow the 10% to go by without researching what had been missed or forgotten every time we wrote an exam and missed being perfect by the 10%, the knowledge base lost would add up very quickly. For the rednecks(blue collar worker) that are saying "yeah but I'm not in school what does this have to do with me?" put it in terms of someone just having shared some knowledge with you but you only allowed 70-80% of the knowledge to sink in. What happened to the rest and what did you miss? Corkboot.com wants to combine this knowledge and allow everyone an opportunity to grow and expand and showcase their talents. Some people have said to me in the past few weeks that if I share my knowledge I will lose some of my business. The world is a very big place, look at your area of origin, how many cities are in your state, province or county? How many people reside there? How many businesses unrelated to yours operate there? How many government or municipal offices, schools, malls? The list goes on! How many people do we need to purchase our products for us to be truly happy and content? The world is a place of endless opportunity and wisdom. Share a little, gain a lot. Remember, take a tree not a forest.