Sawmilling

Magicman

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Pictures of my sawmill taken yesterday while I was sawing.

The control box in front of the seat controls the up/down, sawing speed, board thickness, auto-clutch, etc. The controls on the lower right, handles all of the hydraulic functions such as log loading, turning, clamping, & toe boards.
 

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BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
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Aren't you supposed to be resting? Looks interesting but take care of yourself first.




Didn't you say you were on a forestry forum? Is there a list of millers that Skeet might find one close to him?
 

Magicman

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BigG, thanks for the "take care" advice. Yes, I am recuperating from Rotator Cuff surgery and can not lift anything. I can operate the sawmill's controls which I did, (with the Dr.'s permission) but I can not do any log/lumber handling. In this situation, my helper/tailgunner has helped me saw many times and knows exactly what to do. I was there a total of 4 days and he took very good care of me. :)
 

Magicman

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This is an example of what my Grandson I produced in 3 days with my sawmill. The first picture is of the logs before we began sawing and the second is of the finished product which consisted of 2X4's, 2X6's, & 2X10's.
 

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KTuk4J

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B2650 Duetz Allis 6275 CAT D6 CAT 110B
Mar 2, 2020
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Would there be a recommendation for a smaller PTO driven mill?

I'm on 40 acres with timber and would like to utilize my 75hp Duetz Allis for both yarder and use of the PTO.
 

Magicman

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Yes...sorta, but 'smaller' and 'PTO' really don't match. PTO driven sawmills are usually circle mills which have their own mechanical operations, non of which are small.

If the PTO is used to power a bandsaw which would require the sawhead to remain stationary, then you are faced with moving the log and controlling the board dimensions and would be quite involved.

Smaller band sawmills are available without hydraulic log handling capabilities and computer setworks which handle board thickness, etc. staring at ~$3K. Some of these are quite good for small and/or hobby use. The ~$12K-$15K sawmills have many more features and log handling capabilities. It is upward from there depending upon need and expectations.
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
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Tell me how do you figure out your pay for milling someone elses wood? And how much should they have to make if feasible ?
 

Magicman

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I mill for a "per board foot" rate with a one thousand board feet minimum. The above job was 3577bf.

Board Foot Calculator Using this calculator you will find that an 8' 2X4 = 5.33bf.

Sawing rates generally range from .25 to .50 per board foot and my rate is somewhere between. Also if the job is sawing a non-standard cut list, hourly rate may be more agreeable between the sawyer and the customer.
 

skeets

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I just looked and it would be cheaper to go to lowes than have it sawed up,, thanks
 

BigG

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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
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I just looked and it would be cheaper to go to lowes than have it sawed up,, thanks
You are correct if you are cutting up pine logs. However if you are cutting up hardwoods you are way ahead to cut your own.
 

fruitcakesa

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I am slowly using up the pine and oak that I had sawn over the last 20 years that's been stored in the attic of my barn
Working on long delayed home reno projects using my own lumber is a beautiful thing.
I have more logs in my woodpile waiting for the mud to dry out that will get sawn.
Winter pic shown
 

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Magicman

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I just looked and it would be cheaper to go to lowes than have it sawed up,, thanks
You need to recheck your figures because my sawing price is from 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of Lowes "store bought". (I checked too.) ;) In the above instance, those logs were all culls that the commercial sawmill would not accept. Rather than let them rot or termites eat them, he had them sawn into framing lumber for a barn that he is building.
 

Magicman

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Rather than to just make a statement, I went back and pulled some actual prices from Lowes and compared them to my sawing cost. These dimensions are what the majority of the lumber consisted of:

2"X6"X12' Lowes = $6.56 My sawing = $3.60
2"X6"X16' Lowes = $8.65 My sawing = $4.80
2"X4"X16' Lowes = $7.44 My sawing = $3.18

As I said above; ~1/2 to 2/3 the cost of store bought.
 
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skeets

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Got ya ,,I did something wrong on that calculator,,
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Living in the middle of big timber country, I gotten to tune my lumber knowledge quite a bit.

I also have 40 thousand some odd trees on our place, douglas fir, tamarack (western larch), ponderosa pine, white pine, spruce, cedar, poplar, birch, hemlock, and others.

7 years ago we logged out 8 semi loads of Tamarack, Douglas fir, and hemlock, and 2 semi loads of birch. and that was just to clean up some areas.

One thing I can tell ya about working with timber, is it's not easy, clean, safe or cheap to do.

The cost of milling lumber is not really as cheap as you say because of many more factors.

Included in that final price,
Time (labor), fuel and expenses to fell, prep, retrieve, and move the logs.
Time, fuel and expense of dealing with the logs to get them to and on the mill.
Time, fuel, and expense to sort stack, cure / dry the "finished" lumber,
And finally the time, fuel, and expense to deal with the scrap and cleanup.

Sadly all this adds up to somewhere around the range of $1.50 to $3 per board foot depending on the working conditions and size / weight of the logs that you're trying to process.

So in this case they were cull logs, so your cutting / milling was higher loss than good mill logs, what would you say 20% loss?
Do you only get paid for good wood or anything you cut?
Most get paid for cuts, even if the wood ends up bad in any way.

They are only air drying and not being kiln dried so you'll have loss there, Figure about 20% due to warpage and twist.

What size do you mill them to? true width, shrinkage width, or planer width.

I love mill run lumber, but it's brutal to work with, you'll end up with some wicked splinter possibilities, that's one of the reason production lumber is crimped or has eased edges (rounds edges).

Also building some barns, sheds, fence, other projects with rough milled lumber is fine, but anything that will be structurally inspected, this will not pass. :(
 

GreensvilleJay

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MM, what are you inputting as your labour cost per hour ? I knew when I bought my mill 8 years ago it wasn't going to be economical more for fun.Though how wrestlin with logs is fun ? There's no way I can make an equal 2by6by12' for $3.60.Like NIW , I did the 'math'. Have decided to sell the mil once the 'all clear' is given, late all I assume, hopefully.
 

Magicman

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I have no need to debate the value of my sawing services. I am in my 18th year of sawing and probably half of my customers each year are "repeat customers". The above customer was a repeat.

I saw whatever dimension lumber that the customer ask for.
I sticker stack the lumber as seen above for air drying, and I don't stack junk.
Properly sawn logs do not produce twisted/warped lumber.
Cull logs may have had felling tearouts, etc. but still produced good lumber.
Yes, most of the framing lumber that I saw goes for building barns, sheds, etc.
I sawed over 100 thousand of bf of flooring, ceiling, posts, and beams last year.

GreensvilleJay, I did the math too, and I laugh all of the way to the bank. ;)
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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Its funny how a hobby can turn into a job aint it,,lol
 

Lil Foot

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As a younger man, I worked a summer of weekends & few other days logging and sawmilling for an old guy who had his own sawmill. We made lumber one week, and then slabbed logs on three sides for a log cabin build the next. Learned a lot, and I'm not sure if the old guy made money or not, but it was some of the most enjoyable & rewarding work I've done.