# Hiring sawmill need advice



## dook (May 5, 2012)

I have about 15000 board feet of pine/fir/larch already bucked and skidded on my place and I just talked to a guy with a Woodmizer yesterday about cutting it into lumber. On reflection of our meeting I realized that I didn't really know what questions to ask. He quoted me 35 cents a board foot. 

How should I expect him to calculate the board feet? Most of it will be cut at 3/4" for board and batten siding. Is a 16' long 3/4" x 12" going to be 16 board feet IOW rounded to the next 1/4"?

The battens will only be sawn on 2 sides, will the width be calculated at the midpoint?

Also, he says he can load it directly on my 16" trailer with his machine. How many board feet should I expect him to cut a day? This is important because I will have to drive 45 minutes in each direction every time the trailer gets full. 
The trailer will only haul about 6000 pounds. What would be the average weight of wood that was cut last July?


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## Sawyer Rob (May 5, 2012)

Call him back and ask HIM the same questions. What "I" would do/charge may not be what HE would do.

If you came to me, 3/4" would be bumped up to 1" to calculate bd. ft. charges.

SR


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## Dave Boyt (May 8, 2012)

Just about any sawyer would round the 3/4 up to 1". There are a lot of models of WoodMizers out there, with different cutting capacities, so you'll have to ask him how much he can cut in a day. Search for weight calculators on the internet. If the weight is given per board foot, multiply that by .75, since your boards are 3/4" thick. If given per cubic feet, a 16' x 12" x 3/4" board is 1.85 cu ft.


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## twoclones (May 8, 2012)

Sawyer Rob said:


> Call him back and ask HIM the same questions. What "I" would do/charge may not be what HE would do.



Sound advice. 

I have a small mill and rarely mill for someone else but, I'd use the Scribner Scale to calculate board feet before sawing. I might loose a bit of money since a bandsaw mill will potentially produce more lumber but I'm a big believer in keeping things simple.


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## chaikwa (May 8, 2012)

Sawyer Rob said:


> If you came to me, 3/4" would be bumped up to 1" to calculate bd. ft. charges.


I never realized that. What about timbers? If you were sawing 6X6 or 8X8 inch timbers, do you charge for the full amount of board footage each timber contains?


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## lmbrman (May 9, 2012)

i charge an hourly rate plus blades


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## Sawyer Rob (May 9, 2012)

chaikwa said:


> I never realized that. What about timbers? If you were sawing 6X6 or 8X8 inch timbers, do you charge for the full amount of board footage each timber contains?



It depends on many things, who's logs, what size ect. ect.?? Some charge MORE for beams, because they are a pain to handle.

I'm sawing out some 6x10-16's, 18's and 20's, also 3x8-16's right now, (along with some other sizes)







And i'm chargeing by the bd. ft. for all of it.

SR


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## Dave Boyt (May 9, 2012)

Nice stack of lumber. All pine? How long is your track? As long as everyone walks away with a smile, you're doing good!


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## chaikwa (May 9, 2012)

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I just wanted to confirm I wasn't over-pricing the guy.

I'm sawing his oak and ash logs that he brings to me. All 8X8 and 4X8 beams, 16', for a huge rec room he's building in his barn. I've been charging him .35/bf, .25/bf if he helps. My mill is all manual and it helps to have someone running the winch for the log turner, off-bearing boards and attaching the strap to lift the beams with the backhoe.


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## dook (May 10, 2012)

Thanks for the replies.


Dave Boyt said:


> Just about any sawyer would round the 3/4 up to 1". There are a lot of models of WoodMizers out there, with different cutting capacities, so you'll have to ask him how much he can cut in a day. Search for weight calculators on the internet. If the weight is given per board foot, multiply that by .75, since your boards are 3/4" thick. If given per cubic feet, a 16' x 12" x 3/4" board is 1.85 cu ft.


I found green weights per cubic foot. I suppose I should subtract about 2 pounds since it was cut last summer. Good point about the .75 multiplier. I could haul about 1800 "board feet" of the 3/4", yet only 1350 real board feet of 1".


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## Dave Boyt (May 10, 2012)

dook said:


> I suppose I should subtract about 2 pounds since it was cut last summer.



I would not assume that the log has dried since last summer. You'd be amazed at how well a log holds its moisture. Give yourself a safety factor and calculate load at full green weight, at least for the first couple of loads until you see how it pulls. A broken axle with a load of wood sucks. There's also the safety issue of being able to stop when some idiot in front of you hits the brakes (believe me, it happens). Be careful & have fun. You might just find yourself looking at sawmills before the job is done!


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## Sawyer Rob (May 10, 2012)

Dave Boyt said:


> Nice stack of lumber. All pine? How long is your track? As long as everyone walks away with a smile, you're doing good!



Yes, it's all white pine, although he did buy a load of pine logs for me to mill for him, and i noticed there were a couple red pine mixed in.

I can saw 20'-6" right now, boy a 6x10-20' beam, even in pine is a big stick to handle!

Even the 3x8-16's like these can wear you down,






Just a note: The logs are "random lengths" when i get them, i chainsaw them over length, mill them and charge him only for the length he specified. That gives him some room to "trim them" when he's building with the lumber.

SR


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## dook (May 10, 2012)

Dave Boyt said:


> A broken axle with a load of wood sucks.


Trailer axles bend easy. You can generally complete the delivery. The insides of the tire tread will wear fast. My trailer has 3500# axles which are common. Those rating must be "highway rated" because I have bent one on another trailer with 800# less than rated load when I went over a low cattle guard. No brakes on my current trailer, will be pulling it with an older Tundra. Bringing the load home, I have to deal with my steep dirt driveway which is 16% grade in some areas. I'll have to keep the speed up to avoid spinnning tires in loose gravel, even with 4x4.
I may just sticker them where I cut them and take my chances on theft. I live 40 miles from where I harvested the trees.


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## gemniii (May 11, 2012)

chaikwa said:


> Thanks for the info guys. I guess I just wanted to confirm I wasn't over-pricing the guy.
> 
> I'm sawing his oak and ash logs that he brings to me. All 8X8 and 4X8 beams, 16', for a huge rec room he's building in his barn. I've been charging him .35/bf, .25/bf if he helps. My mill is all manual and it helps to have someone running the winch for the log turner, off-bearing boards and attaching the strap to lift the beams with the backhoe.



Boy you had me going there - 8x8 16' beams ALL MANUAL. Then I get to "backhoe".
I'm playing with my LT10 and just made a 6x6x12 of white oak (manually, the tractor went away so it's me, my LT10 and a peavey). I could NOT imagine muscling 8x8x16's by hand routinely.
Wouldn't that be near 400 lbs?
Timber and Lumber Calculators at WOODWEB


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## chaikwa (May 11, 2012)

gemniii said:


> Boy you had me going there - 8x8 16' beams ALL MANUAL. Then I get to "backhoe".
> I'm playing with my LT10 and just made a 6x6x12 of white oak (manually, the tractor went away so it's me, my LT10 and a peavey). I could NOT imagine muscling 8x8x16's by hand routinely.
> Wouldn't that be near 400 lbs?
> Timber and Lumber Calculators at WOODWEB



Heh, I meant the sawing part was all manual. Thank God for my backhoe! I'd say they're all of 400 pounds.


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## GeeVee (May 12, 2012)

AT 5 grand to get it milled, are you sure you don't want to buy a new mill and sell it when you are done?


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## asdf4240 (May 12, 2012)

GeeVee said:


> AT 5 grand to get it milled, are you sure you don't want to buy a new mill and sell it when you are done?



Someone else who thinks like me  But if I was to buy it I wouldn't sell it once I was done.


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