Soft maple and other ?'s

[cre73]

I have about 10 acres of very dense timber that I am going to start clearing to improve hunting, firewood and other recreational purposes. It has a mixture of oak, walnut and soft maple. I plan on selective harvest at this point for firewood and to leave more desirable trees to continue to mature for future use. At some point I would like to buy a small mill and do some milling. So the whole point I am trying to get to. Is soft maple worth saving for milling. At this point I have marked about 75 Walnut and about 50 Oak trees to save for later purposes.

 

[gemniii]

Welcome
Sounds like a good plan.
First ask your county forester.

Now, some questions to consider:
Is this supposed to be a "for profit" exercise?
When you write "save for milling" what time period is implied by "save" and what comes after milling?
What is this milling you write about? (a 60cc saw and a Mark III or a Woodmizer LT70?)
Are these 6" DBH trees which will become 20" DBH in 20 years or 20" that you will mill next year?
Are you planning on selling the milled lumber for profit or self use?

Soft maple is used for railroad crossties, boxes, pallets, crates, furniture, veneer, wooden ware, and novelties.
http://www.mapleinfo.org/htm/maplumprop.cfm

I've got similar plans over a bit more land. I got to this forum because I wanted to
a) clear for food plots, fire lanes, and trails
b) make sheds, deer blinds, etc. on-site.
Thus to me, instead of cutting the trees for a) and hauling the logs out and then hauling store bought lumber in for b) it will be simpler to mill on site.

At this time it seems it's easier to sell firewood than lumber. It may take several years for the furniture market and lumber market to rebound.

However after my first CSM attempt

I've dried and further processed the wood and have built a crude workbench. And plan on building some simple chairs and benches.

So without further info and no near term projected use of milled lumber I'd say it's not worth saving the soft maple for milling.

good luck

 

[cre73]

My current plans are looking out about ten years probably a little longer. I believe I'm intrested in a portable bandmill from the reading I have done. The trees average about 18in in diameter at this time. Also yes I would like to make some money doing this. As this will be going on when I am getting closer to retirement. It would be nice to do something I enjoy and make money at least once in my life. So another question. Is there any fast growing trees that would be mature enough to mill in 20 years? Hybrid Poplar? I have another 5 acres I would like to plant some trees on to expand a little. Thoughts. Thanks for your time.

 

[qbilder]

Check out Lumber Smith sawmills. They are small band mills that weigh next to nothing but cut very well. They are super versatile so you can mill the log right where the tree falls, seriously. I love mine. I have a bigger mill now but I there's things I can do with the LS that I cannot with the big mill. For instance, sometimes it's easier to get the LS into the forest to a log and cut rough cants to bring to the big mill, than it is to maneuver the large log out of the forest to load on the big mill. And they're cheap (cheap for sawmills) at about $2000.

 

[gemniii]

What I've planted in Ms. is what we called "super-pine" either a slash or loblolly.

We are looking at first thinning around 20 years.

As far as BSM's - if your not harvesting for a few years check back. Several of the major mfg's are raising prices.
There are presently three levels of NEW equipment (someone is sure to jump in and say buy a used Lumbermate 2000).

Dirt cheap, needs rails beefing up - Harbor Freight $1,600 if you get a 20% discount - not a production machine, apparently sensitive to set up.

Woodmizer LT10 - $3K recently - low end hobbyist machine

After that you go to about $5K and up. If you are looking at milling 125 trees total the Woodmizer LT10 would be a good entry point. And resale value is great.

I've got about $1500 in my present CSM setup below for reference.

 

[qbilder]

I spent about $5500 on my bigger band mill. I bought it off a guy who sells them on ebay. It's a Linn model 1900 kit that he puts an axle under. He sells them for $4995 but I had an engine upgrade to 16hp with electric start. I'm in the process of installing RV jacks on all corners & 2 in the middle so I can leave the axle on while milling. It'll get a mount for a pick-up truck bed crane & winch for loading logs once I get the jacks on it. I'll have around $6000 in it total with all the mods rigged the way I need it. It cuts a full 30"x16.5'. I have had it for a bit over a month & have already sawed enough hard maple to pay for itself.

I build pool cues & use quarter sawn maple for the front shafts. When buying lumber I pay $8-$12/bf for QS stock. When buying dimensioned blanks I pay $10 per 1"x1"x30" turning square. After a half dozen logs & one blade I am all gravy from here on out.

 

[gemniii]

<snip>It cuts a full 30"x16.5'. I have had it for a bit over a month & have already sawed enough hard maple to pay for itself.

I build pool cues & use quarter sawn maple for the front shafts. When buying lumber I pay $8-$12/bf for QS stock. When buying dimensioned blanks I pay $10 per 1"x1"x30" turning square. After a half dozen logs & one blade I am all gravy from here on out.

And that's what I mean by "what comes after milling". qbilder has an end product and does not have to sell the lumber on a fluctuating market.

And if you look at his cues they are well worth $25/ board foot Heck, maybe even $30.

In the photo with my saw and stack of lumber I had planted that tree back in about 1984. I had never planned on making a work table out of it when I planted it. I had planned on firewood.

I've seen several people posting here with large stacks of board air-dried for a year and nothing to do with the wood. So try to think of the real end use of what you plant.

 

[qbilder]

That's very true. You can only make money if you have an end product or can sell the lumber efficiently. Otherwise you'll just be another wood nut with a mill & lots of wood. Anything I don't use I sell to others in the same industry as myself.

 

[cre73]

The end use will be selling custom lumber through different outlets. A person down the road from me was doing this for many years. He was trying to get me to buy his property and business all together when he retired and moved, but it just didn't fit my agenda at this time. He reviewed his books with me and he was doing pretty well for himself padding his retirement fund. So in time that is my plan. So any fast growing trees that could be recommended? Thanks

 

[qbilder]

Silver/water maple would fit the bill. It grows very fast & gets very big, but requires a lot of moisture. The lumber is similar to that of sugar maple except a little softer & more brittle. It's also cleaner & more consistent color, a creamy white without the heavy mineral & sugar stain often seen in sugar maple.