Can you make a buck milling?

[WadePatton]

I'm sure I could sell some slabs around here--these woods are full of cabinet/chair/furniture makers. BUT given the time and costs of milling, is it possible to come out with some pocket jingle?

I don't intend to pay for any logs. Simply take the gimmes and there's more of that than I can handle. Gimmes will be mostly red/white oak, cherry, walnut, poplar, maple, and such. I also have access to bodock, black and honey locust, eastern red cedar, persimmon, hackberry, elm, hickory, beech, and others. Had a butternut once--but it was on the ground too long when we found it. I'll keep my eyes out for another. Also have yellow buckeye.

Just wondering if theres a chance of recovering some of the costs in this hobby? I have too many hobbies where there's NO chance of breaking even.

I know it's addictive and I haven't gotten rolling good yet.:rockn:

I'll be consuming most of my own product in buildings and such...so I'm not just hunting up a money scheme.

 

[stonykill]

I'm sure I could sell some slabs around here--these woods are full of cabinet/chair/furniture makers. BUT given the time and costs of milling, is it possible to come out with some pocket jingle?

I don't intend to pay for any logs. Simply take the gimmes and there's more of that than I can handle. Gimmes will be mostly red/white oak, cherry, walnut, poplar, maple, and such. I also have access to bodock, black and honey locust, eastern red cedar, persimmon, hackberry, elm, hickory, beech, and others. Had a butternut once--but it was on the ground too long when we found it. I'll keep my eyes out for another. Also have yellow buckeye.

Just wondering if theres a chance of recovering some of the costs in this hobby? I have too many hobbies where there's NO chance of breaking even.

I know it's addictive and I haven't gotten rolling good yet.:rockn:

I'll be consuming most of my own product in buildings and such...so I'm not just hunting up a money scheme.

while I haven't tried to sell any wood I have milled, I make my money milling in the money saved from buying the wood, and also have better quality wood. I have thought about offering some up for sale, but thats it, just thought about it. I look at the planed wood, and I see what I'm going to build out of it, and what I am going to get paid for it. I am able to charge more per item selling it this way, wood I milled and cured myself. My customers like that. I see no reason why you couldn't make enough selling your wood to at least pay for your saws, as long as the saw habit doesn't get out of control :help: :hmm3grin2orange: .

 

[WadePatton]

I should add that I'm not a furniture/chair/etc. maker.

 

[Ianab]

A few thoughts...

I assume you are cutting with a chainsaw mill. That seriously limits how much you can cut in a day. But it does mean you can cut anything anywhere anytime

Look for the 'special' logs. Big pieces of walnut allways sell, and they are easy to air dry. Most any figured wood is more valuable. The locust and persimmon are woods that are hard to buy commercially so they are good ones to concentrate on. The cedar is easy to cut and dry, think about mantle pieces or cutting into boards and making outdoor furniture. You dont need fine woodworking skills to build a picnic table

You will probably need to at least air dry the wood before selling it. A solar kiln may be worthwhile, kiln dried is more valuable than green.

Make a living.. no. Earn some saw/gas/beer money at the weekend.. sure can

Ian

 

[WadePatton]

A few thoughts...

I assume you are cutting with a chainsaw mill...

You will probably need to at least air dry the wood before selling it. A solar kiln may be worthwhile, kiln dried is more valuable than green.

Make a living.. no. Earn some saw/gas/beer money at the weekend.. sure can
Ian

Yeah, a few more clarifications are in order. Chainsaw mill. And I'll probably do the solar kiln.

I've chosen to "not make a living" at custom bicycle frame building:jester: . Just getting tooled up to start that one. Our other "certainly not making a living" job is a new startup Antiques Mall. But then that's what debt does for you...whoops I'm WAAAY off topic now. :taped:

BACK TO THE opcorn:

 

[Railomatic]

Choice cuts

Using a CSM alone is almost impossible to make a living with, but if you can get the lumber for nothing this definately helps towards more than just beer money, if you choose the choice cuts of the timber your cutting the following can and has been acheived.

For instance, there are more than just cabinet makers out there to sell timber to, there are many hundreds of turning blanks in a big tree and the D I Y guys who are always out there making what ever will buy something from you.

Every peice of the tree is useable especially some root stocks, where in timbers like Walnut can net you five times the money as the rest of the tree put together, for gun stocks etc, there is burr again for the wood turning guys, who go crazy for the knarly bits in between the crotches of the branches, if you learn how to cut these bits into blanks and seal them, you have more money than just pure plank form.

Then there are the small branches of say six to eight inches across, if you froe these into quarters, they make the worlds best fence posts, not pretty to look at, but will outlast ordinary tanallised post by at least four times, our farm here in the English Lake District, still has posts standing made this way from over 60 years ago,
the wire has come and gone many times, and knocking nails into them again is not so easy, so next time you cut up a tree think about this, many thousands are chipped up every month, waste not want not.

All this and much more is acheivable with a CSM, if you have a small band mill as well then its a whole different ball game, and a weekends work using both, will soon pay for thenselves and in the long term, then becomes a very good second income.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Using a CSM alone is almost impossible to make a living with, but if you can get the lumber for nothing this definately helps towards more than just beer money, if you choose the choice cuts of the timber your cutting the following can and has been acheived.

For instance, there are more than just cabinet makers out there to sell timber to, there are many hundreds of turning blanks in a big tree and the D I Y guys who are always out there making what ever will buy something from you.

Every peice of the tree is useable especially some root stocks, where in timbers like Walnut can net you five times the money as the rest of the tree put together, for gun stocks etc, there is burr again for the wood turning guys, who go crazy for the knarly bits in between the crotches of the branches, if you learn how to cut these bits into blanks and seal them, you have more money than just pure plank form.

Then there are the small branches of say six to eight inches across, if you froe these into quarters, they make the worlds best fence posts, not pretty to look at, but will outlast ordinary tanallised post by at least four times, our farm here in the English Lake District, still has posts standing made this way from over 60 years ago,
the wire has come and gone many times, and knocking nails into them again is not so easy, so next time you cut up a tree think about this, many thousands are chipped up every month, waste not want not.

All this and much more is acheivable with a CSM, if you have a small band mill as well then its a whole different ball game, and a weekends work using both, will soon pay for thenselves and in the long term, then becomes a very good second income.

Very well stated, Rail.

 

[Semi-Hex]

I had no intention to make money when I started with my csm. I was able to see all of the possibilities when I slabbed my first log. There's burl, crotchwood, "funny pieces" and the like that the LC has since left. I've only sold 2 items, but the potential is there. So this is just a plus for me but in no way am I going to work this into a money earning project. I just don't have the time and I want to enjoy myself.

 

[burlman]

all for nothing

Yes you can make a few bucks with the right wood for the right customer, but it is very hard to get the 2 to meet. First they wine that it is not kiln-dried so they want it cheaper, even though it is well air dried and well stored.Next no matter what they are building they will want to grab your widest planks, so I now charge a premium for wide stock. I mill mainly for my own use and sell a little bit to offset the costs.I'm always getting deals from fellow tree services on trees but some how joe public thinks he should get a deal because I did. where was he when you are wrestling a 2 x 24 in oak plank into the barn.

 

[Railomatic]

Fussy cutomers

When you are confronted by people like this, here's what I do, first think about what they have said to you before speaking, because your first reaction to them can make or break a deal, you must box clever here.

If they mention its air dried and not kiln dried, let them know the advantages of air dried timber and its higher quality over kiln dried, which knocks hell out of their tools especially oak, if they are craftsmen you can bet your bottom Dollar that they already know of this fact, and the reason why they are coming to you for the air dried in the first place.

If they are after the widest boards only, they could be on the make and have another customer waiting to sell it onto straight away, I stop this by telling them they will have to take a selection of boards in a lot or nothing.

Hide your widest boards away for those who have the money to buy them, if they ask to see wide stuff then they have shown an intrest and you have the upper hand.

I'm not a miser myself, I will pay a decent price for something I need, its all a game and I'm a student of life within that game, but remember you have the timber and they need it to do what they want, barter is best line of defence.

 

[woodshop]

Using a CSM alone is almost impossible to make a living with, but if you can get the lumber for nothing this definately helps towards more than just beer money, if you choose the choice cuts of the timber your cutting the following can and has been acheived...

...All this and much more is acheivable with a CSM, if you have a small band mill as well then its a whole different ball game, and a weekends work using both, will soon pay for thenselves and in the long term, then becomes a very good second income.

Very well put Rail. By a small band mill I assume you are talking about something larger than my little Ripsaw. With a 36"csm/small Ripsaw bandmill combo like I mill with, you can expect about 400 bd ft in a day (5/4 stuff) if you include felling the tree, and the time setting up etc and handling the lumber from the log to the truck, packing up tools etc and cleaning up the site... which is a large part of the day. More bd ft if you are slicing thicker stuff, or logs are already bucked and ready to mill... less if there is extra setup/cleanup involved which takes extra time. So... making money? As was said, you have to match the product with the customer... often difficult without lots of marketing (expensive) or you have an inside with a large group of woodworkers like a local guild or something. How much is your time milling worth? As was said many times on AS, a csm and even many of the smaller less expensive bandmills were never designed to take the abuse of all day every day commercial sawing. They will wear out in a heartbeat under that kind of use. Can you make a couple hundred bucks here or there if you mill something and have a customer for it with a csm/small bandmill? Sure. Enough to pay for the saws and mill even as was stated. I personally sell very little of what I mill because I bank it for my woodshop.

 

[WadePatton]

Thanks for the input guys.

Rail-one must always "box clever"--just never put into those words.

What I'm looking at now is a 36 acre plot "high-graded" with tops and butts and odds left all over the place. I bucked out two 6' pieces from a 16" walnut cut and left for nothing. There are mostly maple and red oak leavings. If I had a loader, I could clean the place up in a few days. Working on that. As it is I have to drag everything...which doesn't help. But unlike the typical logger around here, I'm not doing it whilst the mud is knee deep on a mule.:censored:

There are four or five places like that within a mile or two. I could stack up logs for some time.

 

[Railomatic]

Very well put Rail. By a small band mill I assume you are talking about something larger than my little Ripsaw.

Yes I have made myself this outfit from plans and help from one of the forum members.

 

[Railomatic]

Very well put Rail. By a small band mill I assume you are talking about something larger than my little Ripsaw.

Yes I have made myself this outfit from plans and help from one of the forum members, she cuts a full 25" across and 15" foot long and is light enought to be manouvered into the place you want with a quad bike.

It stands me at just under $ 2000.00 Dollars all in, and has almost paid for itself in the two months I have been using her.

I buck the big logs over 30 inches with my Roller-Matic and convert the rest on the band mill, I only wish I had the band mill sooner.

The picture of my CSM is a Mk 10 model capable of cutting 45 inches across, the log on which I took this picture is 52" -56" in place across and 27 feet long, once the CSM reached its max, we cut the middle section out using the Lucas until the CSM would reach across again further down the log, Oak.

 

[ropensaddle]

Using a CSM alone is almost impossible to make a living with, but if you can get the lumber for nothing this definately helps towards more than just beer money, if you choose the choice cuts of the timber your cutting the following can and has been acheived.

For instance, there are more than just cabinet makers out there to sell timber to, there are many hundreds of turning blanks in a big tree and the D I Y guys who are always out there making what ever will buy something from you.

Every peice of the tree is useable especially some root stocks, where in timbers like Walnut can net you five times the money as the rest of the tree put together, for gun stocks etc, there is burr again for the wood turning guys, who go crazy for the knarly bits in between the crotches of the branches, if you learn how to cut these bits into blanks and seal them, you have more money than just pure plank form.

Then there are the small branches of say six to eight inches across, if you froe these into quarters, they make the worlds best fence posts, not pretty to look at, but will outlast ordinary tanallised post by at least four times, our farm here in the English Lake District, still has posts standing made this way from over 60 years ago,
the wire has come and gone many times, and knocking nails into them again is not so easy, so next time you cut up a tree think about this, many thousands are chipped up every month, waste not want not.

All this and much more is acheivable with a CSM, if you have a small band mill as well then its a whole different ball game, and a weekends work using both, will soon pay for thenselves and in the long term, then becomes a very good second income.

Don,t overlook osage or bois de ark fence posts but a better niche is for custom bowood but must be cured no kiln with ends sealed to prevent cracking, if you have good quality staves can sell for 50.00 and up a stave is 2 to 3 inch by 6 feet and needs to be straight as possible with least knots as possible aged at least 1 year.Best staves can sell 100.00 or more. If that interests you pick up traditional bowhunter magazine and look in back at stave prices it is hard on a saw but they're is money

 

[johncinco]

Between the saws I bought, the small mill, mods to the mill, the 4x4 tractor with FEL, the cant hooks, the band lube, extra bands, gloves, hearing protection, a new washer from the sawdust going through the old one, losing my ratchet twice in the sawdust, I think I am at about $92 a board foot now.
Wooo Hooooo!

I did a small job for someone down the street milling up a fallen oak in their yard. They ended up paying me $75 and a board out of it. Priceless!

 

[Judge]

Can you make a buck milling ?

As a side note...I bought my little manual band mill just for cutting some siding for my shop and boards for barns and corrals. I never thought about making money off it. After I had only had it about a week, this contractor who was building a log cabin contacted me about cutting the angles on his ridge beam and purlins (6" x 12 " Douglas fir beams!) We knocked together a couple of jigs from 2x4's and OSB (34 degrees) and milled the beams. I received $ 100. for less than a couple hours of enjoyable and instructive work.


Judge

 

[WadePatton]

Well I have access to bodock fer sher. Glad it doesn't grow on my place, but it's all over Mom's place down there in the flatlands. Green and small is how I cut that stuff. Takes a special kind of patience to work with osage orange.

Now my buddy is going after a 36" bodock, but he has a 41" bar and 120cc's behind it. I'm going to watch!

 

[ropensaddle]

Well I have access to bodock fer sher. Glad it doesn't grow on my place, but it's all over Mom's place down there in the flatlands. Green and small is how I cut that stuff. Takes a special kind of patience to work with osage orange.

Now my buddy is going after a 36" bodock, but he has a 41" bar and 120cc's behind it. I'm going to watch!

Amen on bois de ark osage
is the toughest wood in our country! If you think it's hard to cut with a saw
I have used a draw knife to make bows out of this tree! Patience will make a
very very nice longbow especially with buffalo sinue placed on with hide glue