Sawmilling

North Idaho Wolfman

Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
Jun 9, 2013
30,537
6,594
113
Sandpoint, ID
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. ;)
Why are you getting all defensive, this is not a knock on you making money doing it. ;)

I'm just pointing out that, from the customer side it's not economical or wise to try and " save or make money" on small lumber like 1x's and 2x4's and 2x6's unless it's cedar or hardwood.

Well of course for you it's making money, your not doing all the other work that add the price up, that was my point as to the real expense of it.

And come on, just because someone does something doesn't make it the wise, or smartest choice, even if they do it over and over again. :p
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
My intent was to be neither defensive nor argumentative. As a matter of fact I said the "I have no need to debate the value of my sawing services".

I did try to answer the various questions and remarks for those that are interested. Sawmilling and especially portable sawmilling is a very limited niche market/service that targets landowners that want to build with lumber from their own property.

I have a couple of rather large jobs scheduled, for example, these logs will become kitchen/bathroom cabinets, etc. in the new home that the customer is building. I will start sawing these Oak logs Monday:
 

Attachments

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,616
3,449
113
SW Pa
Is that red oak? I bet the grain would be nice,, I would like to see some pictures of the slabs when you get them cut
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
Yes, Red Oak. I won't have the cut list until we begin sawing, weather permitting, Monday.

Those two closest logs are 36" so each of them will take 3-4 hours to saw but each of them should yield ~500+bf of lumber. That's the good stuff. ;)
 

North Idaho Wolfman

Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
Jun 9, 2013
30,537
6,594
113
Sandpoint, ID
My intent was to be neither defensive nor argumentative. As a matter of fact I said the "I have no need to debate the value of my sawing services".

I did try to answer the various questions and remarks for those that are interested. Sawmilling and especially portable sawmilling is a very limited niche market/service that targets landowners that want to build with lumber from their own property.

I have a couple of rather large jobs scheduled, for example, these logs will become kitchen/bathroom cabinets, etc. in the new home that the customer is building. I will start sawing these Oak logs Monday:
Now that job and final material task is what I would term as economical and good sense, from the customer's point of interest.

Even though we could debate for hours the use / desire for oak cabinets and furniture (yes red oak is better than white oak).
I DON'T do Oak, too many splinters, don't like the grain and finish, hard on tools, but that's me.

Give me maple, cherry, hickory, mahogany and I'll make cabinets and furniture all day long! :D

Now do you charge more per BF for hardwoods?
I know most hardwoods are rough on blades.
How many blades would you run through on average doing that kind of job?
 

Creature Meadow

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
2012 L4600, Disk, Brush Hog, GB60 Garden Bedder, GSS72 Grading Scraper
Sep 19, 2016
1,064
135
63
54
Central North Carolina
I don't have a saw mill but I do enjoy watching videos of the art.

My favorite one on YouTube is Out of The Woods, he does a great job explaining the process, may want to check it out to get some answers to your questions.

Jay
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
My bf sawing rate is the same regardless of the species.

I normally use two blades per day, again regardless of the species, which are resharpened/set by a Wood-Mizer Service Center @$11.70 per blade which includes shipping both ways. I also use ~4 gallons of Diesel each day.
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
My favorite one on YouTube is Out of The Woods
Yes, Nathan has quite a following with his videos. He started videoing so that he would have a few for his Son to watch and it went from there. He has a much better setup now that he has moved and he is also a very nice guy.
 

Creature Meadow

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
2012 L4600, Disk, Brush Hog, GB60 Garden Bedder, GSS72 Grading Scraper
Sep 19, 2016
1,064
135
63
54
Central North Carolina
Yes, Nathan has quite a following with his videos. He started videoing so that he would have a few for his Son to watch and it went from there. He has a much better setup now that he has moved and he is also a very nice guy.
Yes his new mill and shop is quiet a setup.

He has put a lot into his videos and upgrading his cameras since I started watching him.

He appears to be a great guy and does a nice job with his channel

Always like when he pours the water over the wood to reveal the real secrets it hides.
 
Last edited:

D2Cat

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,884
5,684
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
Yes his new mill and shop is quiet a setup.

He has put a lot into his videos and upgrading his cameras since I started watching him.

He appears to be a great guy and does a nice job with his channel

Always like when he pours the water over the road to reveal the real secrets it hides.
I've not viewed his videos, but I am interested in discovering what the water revels on the road! Is it a special mix? I've never noticed anything different on the gravel road nearby after a rain.:D
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
It's amazing what spellcheck can do with a misspelled word changing the meaning to something very often hilarious. ;)
 

Creature Meadow

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
2012 L4600, Disk, Brush Hog, GB60 Garden Bedder, GSS72 Grading Scraper
Sep 19, 2016
1,064
135
63
54
Central North Carolina
DT2Cat, yes things are going well barn is nearly cleaned out from the fire, should be purged tomorrow.

Then the demo and pressure washing.

Lot to do but blessed with friends and good health to complete the tasks.
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
See, you need a guy with a sawmill to saw you a whack of lumber. ;)

Seriously I probably could put you in touch with a nearby sawyer if you need one.
 
Last edited:

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
A guy called with an ugly old Pecan log that he wanted sawn.

Notice in the 4th picture, bookmatched bullet halves. He got eleven 2 1/2" mostly live edge slabs for tables.
 

Attachments

RCW

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX2360, FEL, MMM, BX2750D snowblower. 1953 Minneapolis Moline ZAU
Apr 28, 2013
9,240
5,420
113
Chenango County, NY
Magic - thanks for posting these pictures, etc. I really enjoy it.

I’m a forester by education. Don’t use it a whole lot, but I still like wood and cutting wood.....[emoji3]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,616
3,449
113
SW Pa
That is a stout lookin young man in the gray shirt there,, Well I see you found some steel,, how many nails did you find?
 

Magicman

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
M4900 Utility Special 4WD e/w FEL & 1530 John Deere "Traveling Man"
Oct 8, 2019
5,538
7,680
113
81
Brookhaven, MS
knotholesawmill.com
No steel nor nails. That was an embedded bullet that I sawed in half and that young man in gray is my Son, Marty. He is seen here with my Grandson, Luke.

We had a good morning together.
 

Attachments