# western red cedar load



## cmlands (Oct 27, 2009)

Delivered today, my first big load, I've been milling some stuff around my property, 10 acres, mostly western red cedar, some douglas fir, and alot of maple. This load was delivered to me by logging truck for 300.00, the wood was free from a friend who just wanted it gone, the straightest trees i have ever seen. Look at the photo section of my website. I don't know how to resize them for this site.

http://foursonsfarm.snappages.com/Photos.htm


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## mtngun (Oct 27, 2009)

Your website took me to pictures of goats and baby birds. After about 5 minutes, I finally see some logs. I downloaded one pic and it is 566 kb and I think this forum has a 300kb rule. 

So ...... I opened the pic in GIMP, then saved it. When I saved it, GIMP presented a "quality" option which I set to 50%. That shrunk the file down to 69 kb. Then I went back to this post and clicked the paper clip icon which gave me a menu to upload the picture as an attachment. I've never done an attachment on this forum so lets see if it worked ???? 

Normally I put my pics on Photobucket then copy and paste Photobucket's image tag directly into my thread.

Nice logs and nice mill, by the way. I'm jealous.


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## Ted J (Oct 27, 2009)

That's a nice load of logs for the price!


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## cmlands (Oct 27, 2009)

Thanks mtngun, thats only half the logs, not even, Here are the other logs,I did what you said,the lower quality means the pics, not the logs. Thanks for the compliments also. I'm making siding for the pole barn in the pics. It will be board and batten cedar, 10 " wide boards, 3" wide battens.


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## deeker (Oct 27, 2009)

cmlands said:


> Delivered today, my first big load, I've been milling some stuff around my property, 10 acres, mostly western red cedar, some douglas fir, and alot of maple. This load was delivered to me by logging truck for 300.00, the wood was free from a friend who just wanted it gone, the straightest trees i have ever seen. Look at the photo section of my website. I don't know how to resize them for this site.
> 
> http://foursonsfarm.snappages.com/Photos.htm




Nice logs, but they did not bring them here to Utah......

Kevin


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## mtngun (Oct 28, 2009)

Now I'm jealous of the pole barn, too ! ! !

Looks to be nice country, lots of trees and green stuff. 

Is that a Norwood mill ? How do you like it ?


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## cmlands (Oct 28, 2009)

It is a Norwood Lumbermate 2000. I purchased it about six months ago and I am loving it. It has the 13 HP Honda and flies through all the lumber I have cut, as long as I keep the blade sharp. I don't do it as a business but only as a bit of a side gig, mostly for myself and friends so far. I do have a small hobby farm of goats and chickens so the pole barn was a necessity, and with the amount of wood on my property, I think I could continue, with good management, endlessly.


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## RPM (Oct 30, 2009)

cmlands said:


> Delivered today, my first big load, I've been milling some stuff around my property, 10 acres, mostly western red cedar, some douglas fir, and alot of maple. This load was delivered to me by logging truck for 300.00, the wood was free from a friend who just wanted it gone, the straightest trees i have ever seen. Look at the photo section of my website. I don't know how to resize them for this site.
> 
> http://foursonsfarm.snappages.com/Photos.htm




Nice score! We are buying coastal cedar and trucking it as far as revelstoke to mill. Nice sawlogs like those are going for anywhere from $175-$300 m3.

I've got a bunch of Bigleaf maple and red alder from a buddy who lives on the Island....nice wood! lets see some pictures once you've opened them up.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 1, 2009)

RPM said:


> Nice score! We are buying coastal cedar and trucking it as far as revelstoke to mill. Nice sawlogs like those are going for anywhere from $175-$300 m3.
> 
> I've got a bunch of Bigleaf maple and red alder from a buddy who lives on the Island....nice wood! lets see some pictures once you've opened them up.



If you're paying 175-300 / meter for that grade of log, you are getting ripped off. No offense intended, just the facts.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 1, 2009)

cmlands said:


> It is a Norwood Lumbermate 2000. I purchased it about six months ago and I am loving it. It has the 13 HP Honda and flies through all the lumber I have cut, as long as I keep the blade sharp. I don't do it as a business but only as a bit of a side gig, mostly for myself and friends so far. I do have a small hobby farm of goats and chickens so the pole barn was a necessity, and with the amount of wood on my property, I think I could continue, with good management, endlessly.



Hey Cm, nice setup you have, where abouts are you located? What are you using for sharpening? I am using norwoods sharpener but am getting tired of buying the little stones at $6 a piece plus shipping, taxes, etc. Since I sharpen 5-8 times a day, it adds up.


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## clearance (Nov 1, 2009)

RPM said:


> Nice score! We are buying coastal cedar and trucking it as far as revelstoke to mill. Nice sawlogs like those are going for anywhere from $175-$300 m3.
> 
> I've got a bunch of Bigleaf maple and red alder from a buddy who lives on the Island....nice wood! lets see some pictures once you've opened them up.



Does that include the trucking?


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 1, 2009)

*Just a note of caution.*

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post, if you live anywhere from Hope on west through the valley / mainland, BE CAREFUL about having more than a couple of logs lying around anywhere near a mill without timbermarks. (I had a friend up in 100 mile tell me its the same way there as well) In fact, if you have a decent log deck, it would be good to get them timbermarked now. In my yard for example I keep a paper record of all my marks, and, they are either stamped or painted on the logs themselves. If forestry wants to take a looks its all there in black and white. So far I've played by forestry's rules and haven't had any trouble, but, a part time hobby / side profit mill over on the abby / aldergrove area got himself in a real mess of trouble when forestry caught on to him buying and cutting unregistered wood, lost all the money he made in the past few years with his mill and then some. He figures they have a plane and look for this kind of thing from the air and noticed his setup that way. I don't know all the ins and outs about when they will come knocking, all I know is I play by the rules and sleep easy at night. I don't want to see a fellow arborist site member have to take a second mortage out to pay for a ridiculous fine.


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## clearance (Nov 1, 2009)

Coalsmoke said:


> One thing I forgot to mention in my last post, if you live anywhere from Hope on west through the valley / mainland, BE CAREFUL about having more than a couple of logs lying around anywhere near a mill without timbermarks. (I had a friend up in 100 mile tell me its the same way there as well) In fact, if you have a decent log deck, it would be good to get them timbermarked now. In my yard for example I keep a paper record of all my marks, and, they are either stamped or painted on the logs themselves. If forestry wants to take a looks its all there in black and white. So far I've played by forestry's rules and haven't had any trouble, but, a part time hobby / side profit mill over on the abby / aldergrove area got himself in a real mess of trouble when forestry caught on to him buying and cutting unregistered wood, lost all the money he made in the past few years with his mill and then some. He figures they have a plane and look for this kind of thing from the air and noticed his setup that way. I don't know all the ins and outs about when they will come knocking, all I know is I play by the rules and sleep easy at night. I don't want to see a fellow arborist site member have to take a second mortage out to pay for a ridiculous fine.



Thats forestry for you, they are c--- toys for the big tfl holders but they crucify the gypos. Thanks for giving everyone the heads up.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 1, 2009)

Yep, pretty much my thoughts too. I would love to see forestry open the reigns on small scale milling and timber harvesting / timber salvage and forget about the paperwork for those of us under the 250mbf/year line. I think it would promote a network of more small owner operated mills instead of having the industry and province dominated by a handful of million dollar corporations who care very little about the people and environment that supports them, and more about profit. In fact, I was on the phone with forestry last week about timbermarks and asking about whether there may be inroads to be made for situations where a tree company or individual may want to sell or give away a few logs, I'm talking maybe 2-5 m3 worth. Their answer was a clear no. Any log, even one single log, MUST be timbermarked by the land owner before it leaves the property. So, I got the impression they don't give a hoot about the local small scale timber community or the people in it. As soon as you try to make a dollar at it, the paper trail starts.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 2, 2009)

Well, I guess I sure know how to kill a thread. Where'd everybody go


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## Kicker_92 (Nov 2, 2009)

Coalsmoke said:


> If you're paying 175-300 / meter for that grade of log, you are getting ripped off. No offense intended, just the facts.



If it's a small load, and that price is delivered, it might not be too bad. I haven't checked out cedar lately though. What kinda prices are you seeing around here Coalsmoke?


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 2, 2009)

Kicker_92 said:


> If it's a small load, and that price is delivered, it might not be too bad. I haven't checked out cedar lately though. What kinda prices are you seeing around here Coalsmoke?



I agree, if its a small delivered load, but I've never seen prices include delivery. It seems to be industry standard that the logs are FOB the log yard.

I'm paying around the $50 / mark for utility grade cedar, around the $105 mark for cedar gang, and around the $125 mark for standard or merch grade cedar. $400 for transport will get a full log truck (40 meters) to my door and unloaded and decked nicely with the hauler's self loader. I suspect there may be cheaper logs out there, but this is all legitimate wood, so I sleep easy.


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## cmlands (Nov 3, 2009)

sorry, I am fairly new to all this. How many cubic meters would my load be (approx.)? What grade of wood does the cedar look to be? I'm cutting siding for my barn, is this the grade that one would use for this purpose?


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 3, 2009)

cmlands said:


> sorry, I am fairly new to all this. How many cubic meters would my load be (approx.)? What grade of wood does the cedar look to be? I'm cutting siding for my barn, is this the grade that one would use for this purpose?



Sorry, but scaling over the internet is pretty hard to do, one needs to see them in person. How a log scales out is also going to be affected by knot size, straightness, length of logs, other defects, taper, diameter, etc. But, it looks (and looks can be deceiving) like you have somewhere around 8 - 12 meters worth of decent quality logs. What you should keep in mind when buying logs is that there are three values involved, #1 is the open market value, and #2 is the value to you with your specific mill, and the third, customer proportional and market value, you don't need to worry about since you're sawing for your own use. A person must have a handle on all three if they plan to saw for profit, and the first two if they plan to buy logs at a fair price for an equal product.


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## aojgnar (Nov 3, 2009)

is this paper trail and log stamping something only in BC? im in the US and havent heard of such regs.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 4, 2009)

aojgnar said:


> is this paper trail and log stamping something only in BC? im in the US and havent heard of such regs.



I'm not sure, my suggestion is to call your state forestry office and find out what they want in terms of legalities. I just know how to play by the rules for BC.


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## RPM (Nov 14, 2009)

Coalsmoke said:


> If you're paying 175-300 / meter for that grade of log, you are getting ripped off. No offense intended, just the facts.



Just re-read that ... no you are right ...not $300/m3 for that grade shown. Gang sawlog - nicer lengths and dia. (with trucking) at the height of the red cedar market last year was up around $175/m3. Hauling in at a 16 hour cycle = $40 -50/m3 just for trucking depending upon weight conversions - how dry / wet the logs are.

No. 1 and 2 cedar (D/F grade) - large butt logs and slabs- coastal old growth was up to $300/m3. 

Western red cedar - coastal is far superior to the interior stuff and you pay for it. Sometimes we get into some real old growth around here but they are half rotten most times.

I'm guessing maybe you get your stuff from private land owners / land clearing etc. to run through your little mill? Ever half to complete with every cedar manufacture in BC for cedar? We will buy on the open market - from the booms on the Fraser or from BCTS type bids. Varies year to year but anywhere from 5,000m3 - 20,000m3 comes up from the coast. High end re-man is the end product - vertical grain (VG) cedar products.


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## Coalsmoke (Nov 14, 2009)

RPM said:


> Just re-read that ... no you are right ...not $300/m3 for that grade shown. Gang sawlog - nicer lengths and dia. (with trucking) at the height of the red cedar market last year was up around $175/m3. Hauling in at a 16 hour cycle = $40 -50/m3 just for trucking depending upon weight conversions - how dry / wet the logs are.
> 
> No. 1 and 2 cedar (D/F grade) - large butt logs and slabs- coastal old growth was up to $300/m3.
> 
> ...



No, that would be a wrong assumption you're making. I buy from registered log brokers.


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