Milling: slabs VS dimensional lumber

[300zx_tt]

I googled sawmills near me, there's one about 25 miles from me... they charge $175/ hour.

Another near me is $6 a minute... $360/hour

I think 80/hr is a pretty fair price in my area

 

[Brian72]

I googled sawmills near me, there's one about 25 miles from me... they charge $175/ hour.

Get in touch with Woodmizer, Timberking and other mill manufacturers. I'm sure they keep a list of their customers. They could help you locate a mill. I'm sure there's someone near you.

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[SeMoTony]

I not trying to be rude or combative so please don't take it that way. A good sawyer with a good hydraulic mill could probably do 300 bdft/hr if logs are staged well and off-bearing is quick. Also, a bandmill gives you more product and less waste with the smaller kerf. The convenience of them coming to you is also a big plus. I personally don't think $80/hr. is a bad deal.

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$80/ hour is darned inexpensive. A miller here in Missouri prices his large mobile mill at $350 an hour every week in the free add paper. He indicates production is dependant on how much help is given to him.

I'm a hobby miller with an alaskan & an ms-460 muff modded an 046 and a 661c cylinder ported and muff modded as power choices for a selections from 24" to 72" bars. I've been gifted logs by peeps seeing me mill and their saws are to small. Get an occassioal sale of a green slice right where I'm CSM'n. Was at the yard waste dump Friday and Mark from local family hardware store asks " What are you looking for?" i told him and he bird dogged a couple logs for me.
If I wanted 1/4 sawn I'd seal the ends before center cutting end to end to take out the pith. Then a band saw mill or standard mill to center cut perpendicular to the CS cut then it is rotated 90* for a cut off the other flat. Back and forth is the way I've seen it described for max board feet which is less board feet of standard cut.
I cut more for largest slabs (bark on slices) since no one around me is cutting in that way. It is just right for primitive style furniture, benches from first and last slices off the log. And customers stop and look and ask, perhaps then imagine a way they wood like to use.
Good luck to all of you, play safe out there & enjoy

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

There is a mobile mill guy on Craigslist Delaware, he charges $80 an hour, to give you an idea... I think it's high but...

We charge $135/hr for milling logs that are brought in. Most folks here seem to feel that's quite cheap.

With nice logs and 2 people we can do as much as 400-500 bd ft an hr. No idea if that's good or bad, I do know it's much faster than any chainsaw mill.

 

[Brian72]

$80/ hour is darned inexpensive. A miller here in Missouri prices his large mobile mill at $350 an hour every week in the free add paper. He indicates production is dependant on how much help is given to him.

I'm a hobby miller with an alaskan & an ms-460 muff modded an 046 and a 661c cylinder ported and muff modded as power choices for a selections from 24" to 72" bars. I've been gifted logs by peeps seeing me mill and their saws are to small. Get an occassioal sale of a green slice right where I'm CSM'n. Was at the yard waste dump Friday and Mark from local family hardware store asks " What are you looking for?" i told him and he bird dogged a couple logs for me.
If I wanted 1/4 sawn I'd seal the ends before center cutting end to end to take out the pith. Then a band saw mill or standard mill to center cut perpendicular to the CS cut then it is rotated 90* for a cut off the other flat. Back and forth is the way I've seen it described for max board feet which is less board feet of standard cut.
I cut more for largest slabs (bark on slices) since no one around me is cutting in that way. It is just right for primitive style furniture, benches from first and last slices off the log. And customers stop and look and ask, perhaps then imagine a way they wood like to use.
Good luck to all of you, play safe out there & enjoy

Wow! I'm no expert but $350 and hour just seems off the charts. You'd have to get a lot of valuable wood to justify the cost. Not knocking the man's business as I know nothing about it but that seems very high.

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[Brian72]

We charge $135/hr for milling logs that are brought in. Most folks here seem to feel that's quite cheap.

With nice logs and 2 people we can do as much as 400-500 bd ft an hr. No idea if that's good or bad, I do know it's much faster than any chainsaw mill.

Those numbers look good to me comparing to what I've read in some of the different forums.

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[SeMoTony]

Wow! I'm no expert but $350 and hour just seems off the charts. You'd have to get a lot of valuable wood to justify the cost. Not knocking the man's business as I know nothing about it but that seems very high.

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I have only read the adds. Never met the man, or seen his work so have no personal experience to have an opinion. My bud has a woodmizer that provided all of the boards for his house from trees harvested from his just bought land. This was years before we met and hit it off.

 

[Mad Professor]

If there is only 5 logs now see what kind of market for live/edge slabs unless you need the wood.

I can see people paying $$$ for slabs for tables/counters/bartops.

In fact I've spent some down time on a nice mahogony ridge........

 

[300zx_tt]

Wow! I'm no expert but $350 and hour just seems off the charts. You'd have to get a lot of valuable wood to justify the cost. Not knocking the man's business as I know nothing about it but that seems very high.

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The $6 a minute was from a lumber yard, I think to them a walk in customer with a log or two to mill is more of a pain in the ass than anything so if they're gonna deal with the pain, they wanna make a bunch of money.

If there is only 5 logs now see what kind of market for live/edge slabs unless you need the wood.

I can see people paying $$$ for slabs for tables/counters/bartops.

In fact I've spent some down time on a nice mahogony ridge........

I have several species of logs I was just thinking of quartersawing the oak, because I know it's desireable it is when it's quartersawn.

What I'll probably end up doing is slabbing the red oak and quartesawing half of the white oak and slabbing the other half.

 

[Brian72]

I have only read the adds. Never met the man, or seen his work so have no personal experience to have an opinion. My bud has a woodmizer that provided all of the boards for his house from trees harvested from his just bought land. This was years before we met and hit it off.

I don't have a problem with a man making a fair wage for this type of work but that just seems out of reach. I don't see how he could cut enough lumber to ever justify the price but maybe there's more to it than we see. I can't make any negative comments without knowing the facts.

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[Mad Professor]

The $6 a minute was from a lumber yard, I think to them a walk in customer with a log or two to mill is more of a pain in the ass than anything so if they're gonna deal with the pain, they wanna make a bunch of money.





I have several species of logs I was just thinking of quartersawing the oak, because I know it's desireable it is when it's quartersawn.

What I'll probably end up doing is slabbing the red oak and quartesawing half of the white oak and slabbing the other half.

Boxed heart oak is a timberframers go to. If you could do long lengths then even more so for plates.

 

[300zx_tt]

So this was my idea, I'd slab the log, the middle slab I'd cut 4" thick. I'd cut the heart of the log and make it a 4x6 beam, I'd then slab the left overs from that slab and have someone resaw them (should be quarter sawn?) then slab the rest.


Anybody see any thing that wouldn't work with this setup?

Sorry for the pic, I had to draw on it with my finger on my phone.

 

[hseII]

Framiliar with Berwick, my fiancé went to Bloomsburg so I was up there every other weekend. There was a logging expo up there not too long ago at the fairgrounds. Couldn't make it but it looked decent.

My problem with the bandsaw mill is the width it can cut, all the sub $5,000 mills can only handle a ~20" log, for lumber making that would be ok as I can cut cants with the CSM. But for slabs that won't work for me, most of the stuff I have is 25"-36" diameter.

For now a bandsaw mill is out of the question, planning a wedding and buying a house come first. But I'd love an lt15 wide, that's a ways down the road, after I start making money or I go down in flames. (It will be the former)

Portable Sawmill Service Have downed trees? Need lumber?

https://scranton.craigslist.org/mat/6278695404.html

2014 Lt35 Hydraulic Woodmizer Sawmill

https://altoona.craigslist.org/tls/6295122321.html

There are a lot More available down here than up there.

We bought sold one of our LT-40s for $5,000 a few years ago.

They've went up some.

 

[Boogedy_Man]

$80 an hour is good?

I may be undercharging. I charge $75 an hour and let the customer help, if they choose. With good customers that help I often approach 500bf/hr. Paying fuel and blades I'm still pretty happy with that rate.

I do not chainsaw mill anything for under $100 (at my location). Your location is 100 per hour, with min hours dependent on distance.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

View attachment 600252So this was my idea, I'd slab the log, the middle slab I'd cut 4" thick. I'd cut the heart of the log and make it a 4x6 beam, I'd then slab the left overs from that slab and have someone resaw them (should be quarter sawn?) then slab the rest.

BTW, These are "slabs",

Your pict. shows milling out "flitches"...

SR