Making money with a portable sawmill

[4x4American]

He means that they go great together. Great idea with the slab holder. At the sawmill I worked at I'd just pile the slabs as neat as I could then take my 066 with 3ft bar and cut it up best I could and use the wood to run our maple sap boiler/OWB

 

[STLfirewood]

He means that they go great together. Great idea with the slab holder. At the sawmill I worked at I'd just pile the slabs as neat as I could then take my 066 with 3ft bar and cut it up best I could and use the wood to run our maple sap boiler/OWB[/QUOTE

I thoughts that what he meant. Just caught me off gaurd becase I have a wood fired kiln and most people don't.

Scott

 

[KiwiBro]

Here is a picture of a slab holder I made. It works great for my secondary market from the waste.

How much of that sort of firewood do you produce each year and do you stack the slabwood to dry or cut it and then what - stack the firewood length wood or pile it or are they all in crates or on pallets or?
We can but dream:

 

[Jim Timber]

I don't know why more people don't have wood fired kilns. They seem like a no-brainer for a mill operation. You produce a decent amount of scrap just truing up the logs - might as well use it to speed up the drying times.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I don't know why more people don't have wood fired kilns. They seem like a no-brainer for a mill operation. You produce a decent amount of scrap just truing up the logs - might as well use it to speed up the drying times.

Because I use it to heat my house and shop....it saves me a lot of money in a years time.

SR

 

[Mike Van]

Me too Rob - Some people say "slabs - ugh" theres a lot of heat in good hardwood slabs. I use all the pine etc for the syrup evaporator. Burned 4 cord in that evaporator year before last.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Over the years I've dealt with slab wood in many different ways... Cross braced holders for chain sawing, chain sawed right off the pallet forks into piles, tractor/belt powered cross cuts ect... As I get older and hurt more, I just like to make a pass with the BSM, then chain saw the slab right where it lies! Then I pick the firewood lengths and throw them onto my sno-machine trailer,

When the trailer is full, I pull it to the splitter and split the bigger pieces to size,

If they are big enough, they hit the 4-way, if not, they go right under it,

These days, I'm taking lumber right off the mill and building 1/2 cord fire wood boxes,

Once filled, they are easy to move with my tractor,

In the winter, the seasoned wood will be easy to move again, to the house to throw down into the basement to be burned.

SR

 

[STLfirewood]

How much of that sort of firewood do you produce each year and do you stack the slabwood to dry or cut it and then what stack the firewood length wood or pile it or are they all in crates or on pallets or?
We can but dream:

I sell a min of 2 full cords a week of cook
wood. Some weeks it's 2 1/2 cords. So
that's over 100 cords a year of that type
of wood. I also sell 100-150 plus cords
Of regular firewood through the winter. I pile it. I don't stack it until I'm selling it.

 

[STLfirewood]

I don't know why more people don't have wood fired kilns. They seem like a no-brainer for a mill operation. You produce a decent amount of scrap just truing up the logs - might as well use it to speed up the drying times.[/QUOTE

I think the main reason is cost.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Labor, too. with gas or electric, you just push a few buttons, and you can sleep all night without feeding the furnace.

 

[CRThomas]

Howdy
wondering if there's much money in the sawmilling business? What would be the best ways to make money with a wood mizer portable mill? Is it possible to achieve a steady and comfortable income sawmilling?
Any advice or ideas are welcomed and appreciated
Thanks!
Doug

I HAD A FRIEND BOUGHT A LITTLE $3000.00 SAW MILL FOR HIS OWN USE WHEN HE GOT HIS WOOD HE NEEDED SAWED HE LET IT SET A FELLOW FROM ST LOUIS MO ASK HIM IF HE WOOD CUT SQUARE LUMBER HE QUIT HIS JOB AND DOES THAT TYPE OF WOOD. HE STILL HAS THAT SAME MILL. HE IS DOING VERY WELL DOING SQUARE WOOD WHAT EVER THAT IS. HE TOLD MY FRIEND HE WAS HOING TO HAVE TO BUY ANOTHER MILL AFTER 3 YEARS IT HAS TOOK IT TOLL ON IT HIS LITTLE MILL RUNS ABOUT 60 TO 80 HOURS A WEEK. I WENT BY HIS PLACE AND HE WAS KNEE DEEP IN SAW DUST. HE BUYS LOG FROM MILL THAT ARE GOING TO SELL TO WESTVACO BECAUSE THEY ARE TO SMALL FOR THERE BIG ROUND BLADES JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ON.

 

[mountainlake]

The best way too make money with a woodmizer is to buy any mill but a woodmizer unless you get a small manual one. The bigger WM hydraulic mills are way to complicated with the electric over hydraulics, electric feed that is real troublesome, cantilevered head that is hard on bearing and not easy to adjust plus they have been over priced but are coming down. Cooks. Timberking and Baker make some nice hydraulic mills without all the troublesome electric . Far as making money you can do good custom sawing if you saw straight lumber at a good pace (right now I'm way too busy and the 2 biggest complaints I get about other mills is that they are slow and cut crooked) and charge a reasonable rate. Sawing straight is not hard on any mill, have the mill set up right and use the right blade that's sharp, as soon as you see it cut one board crooked it's time to change blades. Also I sell a good amount of lumber for trailer decking, fencing etc which I make good money buying logs white oak logs for .30 a bf and selling for .90 to $1.00 a bf and the short side boards go to flooring for .60.. Nobody thinks twice about buying a $30000 car or pickup, a $30000 sawmill is a way better investment. With that said don't quit your day job until you have a good business going. I quit mine a bit early as it was ^^%& job and the first couple years were a little tight but I got by OK. One other thing if you plan on doing a lot of sawing get a diesel, I've saved over $8000 since I put a diesel on mine. Steve

 

[4x4American]

The best way too make money with a woodmizer is to buy any mill but a woodmizer unless you get a small manual one. The bigger WM hydraulic mills are way to complicated with the electric over hydraulics, electric feed that is real troublesome, cantilevered head that is hard on bearing and not easy to adjust plus they have been over priced but are coming down. Cooks. Timberking and Baker make some nice hydraulic mills without all the troublesome electric . Far as making money you can do good custom sawing if you saw straight lumber at a good pace (right now I'm way too busy and the 2 biggest complaints I get about other mills is that they are slow and cut crooked) and charge a reasonable rate. Sawing straight is not hard on any mill, have the mill set up right and use the right blade that's sharp, as soon as you see it cut one board crooked it's time to change blades. Also I sell a good amount of lumber for trailer decking, fencing etc which I make good money buying logs white oak logs for .30 a bf and selling for .90 to $1.00 a bf and the short side boards go to flooring for .60.. Nobody thinks twice about buying a $30000 car or pickup, a $30000 sawmill is a way better investment. With that said don't quit your day job until you have a good business going. I quit mine a bit early as it was ^^%& job and the first couple years were a little tight but I got by OK. One other thing if you plan on doing a lot of sawing get a diesel, I've saved over $8000 since I put a diesel on mine. Steve

Thanks for your advise. I have been in touch with a few WM owners and they seem to be happy with their mill..I looked into Baker. One woodmizer rep I've talked with seems to think that gas is the way to go for door to door milling which I will most likely start out doing. The electric over hydraulics doesn't scare me, I went to school for diesel technology and there was quite abit of hydraulics classes I had to take. I have a good understanding of them, and at my past few mechanic jobs I've done a bit with hydraulics. What do you think of Norwood? What kinda mill do you run? And you're right, I always think the same thing, you see people all the time taking out $30k +- loans on cars/pickups, and alot of them don't use the vehicle to make them money.

 

[4x4American]

I am researching cooks right now, so far from what the company claims, they're bulit like a burlap bag full of bobcats

 

[4x4American]

I can't seem to find any prices on Cook's sawmills, does anybody know the price range of an AC-36 with a diesel?

 

[mountainlake]

I have a B20 TK with over 9500 hours on it and very few break downs on anything except the electrical things, mostly switches and a couple of solenoids as mine has electric up - down. I've had to call TK less than 5 times in 11 years , one guy on the Foresty Forum doesn't even like to saw on Saturday as WM is closed then, read a little on the FF forum and you will see one problem after another with WM mills. As far as TK putting WM down Wm puts TK mills down or maybe 4 post mills in general as there is a lot of miss information about TK mills. I really cant see how you can saw a perfectly square log with a cantilevered head as they claim the head pulls down 1/16 of a inch and that pull down will vary depending on wide you are cutting and how hard the wood is plus how much power you have. On the plus side for WM they have a better debarker and the setworks homes in on where it should be but quite a few are having trouble with the head dropping in the middle of the cut as their gearbox won't hold the heavier heads . Just watching and looking over a TK 2000 and a LT40 or LT50 the TK should sell itself as it's a lot simpler machine that's built rugged. The new 2000 TK did away with that and the only thing electric on it is the power in and out guide roller. The Norwood is a fine mill but if your going to do custom sawing and give a good value for the money you really need a fully hydraulic mill. I really like the looks of Cooks and Baker mills also. Keep in mind maintenance can eat up a LOT of money and my TK has not cost much to maintain. Also there is no way I'd go with a gas motor unless I did very little sawing, I'd guess a diesel will pay for the extra cost in 2000 to 2500 hours, plus way less maintenance, oil changes at 200 hours instead of 50 hours, a Kubota or Yanmar should last 10000 hours vs anywhere from 2500 to 5000 for a gas. I'd stay away from Cat as they seem to have a lot of trouble Steve

 

[mountainlake]

I can't seem to find any prices on Cook's sawmills, does anybody know the price range of an AC-36 with a diesel?

Cooks sends me a flyer every once in a while, I'm thinking a AC36 is close to $40000 and should be compared to a LT70 WM, A TK 2000 with a Kubota diesel is around $34000 and should be compared to a LT50. What ever mill you get make sure it has a chain turner as they rotate a log real fast and you can back up a little with them. Steve

 

[hamish]

It happened again, made some extra money tonight at the mill.

2 hours of milling and almost made as much in my pocket as I would have after my regular nine hour day at work.

 

[4x4American]

It happened again, made some extra money tonight at the mill.

2 hours of milling and almost made as much in my pocket as I would have after my regular nine hour day at work.

Thats great to hear! What kinda mill are you running?

 

[4x4American]

Cooks sends me a flyer every once in a while, I'm thing a AC36 is close to $40000 and should be compared to a LT70 WM, A TK 2000 with a Kubota diesel is around $34000 and should be compared to a LT50. What ever mill you get make sure it has a chain turner as they rotate a log real fast and you can back up a little with them. Steve

I like the looks of the Cook ones quite a bit, they seem to be built real well. And heck, maybe a road trip down to Bama might be fun!