i am wanting to sell some lumber that has been cut on a personal sawmill. i worked at another sawmill a few years ago and the lumber that it cut was picked up by a flatbed from MO. they took 4x4x8 banded chords of various dimensions. if anyone can let me know where to look or who to get a hold of so i can band and sell my lumber i would appreciate it.
Wanting to sell lumber
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deeker
Tree Freak
We need more information from you. I am a mill owner too. Dimensions, types of lumber, wood specie and dryness. Idea of a price, usually from calling around your area to other mill owners.
Welcome to the site.
Kevin
i want who ever is buying my lumber to tell me what dimension to cut it. i have various species. cedar, pine, walnut, gum, and whatever anyone else wants cut. its a portable sawmill that we just got and are gathering a "client base" of people who want trees cut. we are either cutting on shares or charging per board foot if someone doesnt want to part with their lumber. so any lumber that i cut that i dont personally want to use i was going to sell but am wanting specifics on things. i am not currently kiln drying the lumber. i have some sticker stacked. it would probably be on an "as is" moisture content basis.
deeker
Tree Freak
Tell me about your mill, and your milling experience. There can be a big learning curve while getting started.
I have Norwoods LM2000, for three and a half years now. I am still learning everyday, either from a customer or other millers.
Kevin
deeker
Tree Freak
As for selling lumber......I am unable to produce with enough efficiency, 2x4's to make any money on them. The box stores sell them for less than $2 each. A 2x6, barely breaks even. Bigger dimensions and custom cuts are my bread and butter.
well its my girlfriend's father's mill. its a swing saw. a peterson ats 8". cuts up to a 6' diameter log and with the rails he has now it will cut 20'. it has the capability of cutting an 8x16 beam. he bought it used a couple of months ago with only 78 hrs on the motor. my milling exp is probably basic but im really quick to learn and pick up on things. my x wife's father owned a mill. not portable. probably a 52 or 56" blade with an edger. ran off of a big rig power unit. i worked many hours at that mill. we sawed 1x4's up to 1xwhatever the board would allow. mostly red oak and white oak. some hickory and cherry and gum. 4x4 4x6 6x6 and 7x9 ties none of which were dried. we banded them and waited for a truck from whatever company the owner dealt with to come and pick the stuff up. i think he sold to 2 places. one that made hardwood floors and another that made shipping pallets. they would send him a check in the mail for whatever his lumber was worth to them.
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deeker
Tree Freak
Sounds like you have a great start. I have not used a swing saw. Only CSM and the Norwood bandmill.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
If your "really" interested in selling hardwood lumber, you need to "grade saw" your logs. The better grades of lumber is where the sales are, so you have to get as much of that out of a log as you can. Everyone wants a good grade of lumber, not just lumber, and the higher grades are where the $$ are.
Also, the more recovery you can get out of a log, the more money you put in your pocket!
Rob
Also, the more recovery you can get out of a log, the more money you put in your pocket!
Rob
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
Grade sawing is opening the log to give you the BEST quality lumber possible, then always sawing the BEST side of the cant, turning it every time the grade falls off to keep milling out the BEST lumber possible.
If you don't turn the cant, all your doing is sawing the log to get lumber, and you won't ever get as good a quality of lumber as you "could have got".
Anyone buying lumber wants the BEST grade they can get, so it only makes sence to mill out the best lumber possible out of a log. The better lumber brings a higher price too.
Rob
If you don't turn the cant, all your doing is sawing the log to get lumber, and you won't ever get as good a quality of lumber as you "could have got".
Anyone buying lumber wants the BEST grade they can get, so it only makes sence to mill out the best lumber possible out of a log. The better lumber brings a higher price too.
Rob
well with this swing saw that i am using there is no turning of the log. once it is in place it stays there. theoretically i guess you could turn it but the swing saw was made as it is to eliminate that aspect of milling. so with this in mind what do you think i should do? quarter saw to the heart and then go for the 6x6 or so?
Coalsmoke
ArboristSite Operative
I don't mean to be offending, but you're going about this backwards. First find out who your customer base is and what they are looking for, then figure out your local timber markets, and lastly determine your equipment setup from there. Somewhere along the line you should form a business plan, with a financial plan, and get educated or educate yourself on all this, including getting your technical skills up to a level where you can honestly call yourself a sawyer and handle whatever comes in through the door.
I sincerely mean it when I say I wish you all the best, I hope it comes together for you. I'm just concerned at the haphazard approach.
I sincerely mean it when I say I wish you all the best, I hope it comes together for you. I'm just concerned at the haphazard approach.
Brmorgan
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Well with a swing saw, at least as far as I understand them, it should be possible to saw most logs to grade fairly well. Maybe not 100%.
As Deeker pointed out, you'll likely have a hard time making a good profit with basic dimensional lumber, since there are big commercial mills that can crank out half a million board feet per shift or more. You'd probably have to get contracts with local builders and contractors to make that really pay. Though, in that case, the lumber would NEED to be grade stamped to meet code, so that's something else that you might need to consider. On a similar note, I know a couple local contractors/builders whom I've talked to about milling 2X6 Douglas Fir posts once I get my bandmill set up. They said if I can deliver for the same price or lower than they pay the building supply, they'd buy whatever they needed from me. They do use a fair amount of them for things like carport/garage support posts and the like. I also asked one of them about making the little 16" cross-braces they use between floor joists to stabilize them and he said the same thing. These could be milled out of small edgings and scraps - might not be really time-efficient money, but I could use ANY money about now, so these are just ideas I've been tossing around myself. I'm in about the same situation as you, though I don't have an operational mill other than my Alaskan as of yet.
As noted the money is in custom cuts. There was an ad on Craigslist in a city near me a couple months ago from a guy looking for someone to mill him two custom pieces - one 28" wide by 20' long(no specified thickness) for a bar top, and another 36" X 4" X 12' for a tabletop. He was offering $1000 for them both, which I realize might be below going rate (not sure), but still would be good money since a guy could easily mill those two pieces in a day. Obviously didn't make sense for me, since I'd almost need to hire a flatbed truck to haul the pieces the 260 km distance, but if a guy was local and had the necessary equipment for large pieces, it would be a good job to take.
As Deeker pointed out, you'll likely have a hard time making a good profit with basic dimensional lumber, since there are big commercial mills that can crank out half a million board feet per shift or more. You'd probably have to get contracts with local builders and contractors to make that really pay. Though, in that case, the lumber would NEED to be grade stamped to meet code, so that's something else that you might need to consider. On a similar note, I know a couple local contractors/builders whom I've talked to about milling 2X6 Douglas Fir posts once I get my bandmill set up. They said if I can deliver for the same price or lower than they pay the building supply, they'd buy whatever they needed from me. They do use a fair amount of them for things like carport/garage support posts and the like. I also asked one of them about making the little 16" cross-braces they use between floor joists to stabilize them and he said the same thing. These could be milled out of small edgings and scraps - might not be really time-efficient money, but I could use ANY money about now, so these are just ideas I've been tossing around myself. I'm in about the same situation as you, though I don't have an operational mill other than my Alaskan as of yet.
As noted the money is in custom cuts. There was an ad on Craigslist in a city near me a couple months ago from a guy looking for someone to mill him two custom pieces - one 28" wide by 20' long(no specified thickness) for a bar top, and another 36" X 4" X 12' for a tabletop. He was offering $1000 for them both, which I realize might be below going rate (not sure), but still would be good money since a guy could easily mill those two pieces in a day. Obviously didn't make sense for me, since I'd almost need to hire a flatbed truck to haul the pieces the 260 km distance, but if a guy was local and had the necessary equipment for large pieces, it would be a good job to take.
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well i dont know how serious the owner is about actually turning it into a business. he and i both have jobs. i hate mine but that is beside the point since it pays well. so this mill is hopefully going to be some extra income on the side. i dont know if it will work this way but i was just hoping that whenever we banded up a chord that we personally werent going to use that we would know someone or some place that we could sell it to. i think that is all im looking for at this point.
thanks for the craigslist tip. ill check there and other like places and see what i can find.
Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
As a woodworker a bulk sawn log is useless to me. I want specific wood for specific projects and I rarely if ever buy #1 grade lumber or lower. So when I see a pile of mixed wood I skip it. I will sort through an entire lift of R2F FAS cherry just to get the boards I need.
The best way to make money is to find a niche and fill it. I met a guy in IL that logs with horses, mills the wood on a swing mill (Peterson) dries it himself and then mills the wood into flooring. And then he installs the floor and finishes it. His value added to his lumber is astronomical and he is booked years in advance. He specializes in quarter sawing with his mill. He said there is zero value in flat sawn lumber because everybody with a bandsaw mill or swing mill is cranking it out by the gazillion board feet per year.
The best way to make money is to find a niche and fill it. I met a guy in IL that logs with horses, mills the wood on a swing mill (Peterson) dries it himself and then mills the wood into flooring. And then he installs the floor and finishes it. His value added to his lumber is astronomical and he is booked years in advance. He specializes in quarter sawing with his mill. He said there is zero value in flat sawn lumber because everybody with a bandsaw mill or swing mill is cranking it out by the gazillion board feet per year.
at the risk of sounding stupid on this forum; what other types of lumber are there? is it not all graded? #1 being best. what is better? im confused on how im being told to saw. plain and quarter. thats what i know. how does "grade sawing" fit into these? at what point on a face of a log do you decide that it isnt the best side to be sawing on? for one: whats done is done. you cant unsaw what has been sawed. two: you cant change the grain pattern. what you see is what you get.
what is most desirable? and how should i cut to get that?
by "mixed wood" you mean what?
what is most desirable? and how should i cut to get that?
by "mixed wood" you mean what?
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Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
You should start by getting a copy of the NHLA (National Hardwood Lumber Assosiciation) lumber grading guide and also possibly signing up for one of their classes. #1 Grade lumber is not the best and is actually one of the middle grades. #1 Has knots and can have certain parts of a board clear of knots and nothing more. FAS is "first and seconds" and if often clear. R2F refers to black cherry where Red 2 Face and then a number ratio of something like 90/20 means that one side will be 90% red/10 percent sapwood and the opposite wide will be 80% red/20% sapwood. Maple and walnut all have different heartwood/sapwood grades and even length requirements. Example would be that walnut FAS boards can be much shorter (6' I think) than maple or cherry or oak.
As for sawing the logs lots of mill operators "read" the log before they start sawing. They will often get the saw on the sled and turn it several times getting a good look at every face before they start to do any cutting. One mill I buy from in PA will spend over a minute rotating a log over and over to make sure they know exactly where to start cutting. They never just hack into a log. Once they start cutting they constantly review what they find and adjust where they make their boards.
And then once you get the log sawn up now you will want to be watchful for how it is dried. Stick wood out in the sun and if it dries too fast it will warp, cup, twist and bend and worst of all case harden. That is where the outside gets very dry and the inside is still wet. When a cabinet maker cuts into a board that is case hardened is warps and none of his cuts come out straight. And if that is not enough to worry about too fast drying will cause the surface of the wood to crack all to heck and the board is useless. Oh, and if the wrong stickers are used to separate the boards you can get "sticker bleed" where mold gets into the boards leaving a shadow in them that never planes away.
I don't mean to scare you but there are a ton, and I do mean a ton of people out there that get a mill and they start sawing and they expect cabinet makers like me to buy their lumber. When we get snooty and turn them down they get cranky for us being so demanding. It is not that we are demanding but there is a lot that can go wrong and a lot of time (money) can be wasted by buying inferior lumber.
A great place to find a ton of information is www.woodweb.com.
And if you want to see what the best of the best can do with lumber, and get the absolute most money per log, check out Horizon Lumber (http://www.horizonevolutions.com/). Horizon sells millions of board feet of lumber to the US and especially to Europe and the far east. They get the absolute most out of every stick they cut. Take a look at their online store for an idea of what really, really nice lumber looks like.
Coalsmoke
ArboristSite Operative
Very well said Curly.
Coalsmoke
ArboristSite Operative
Don't worry about stupid questions. Anyone who gets upset because a member is asking basic questions needs to find a different forum. There's a lot of good knowledge here.
May I make a suggestion? Start with smaller dimensional building products. They are more forgiving to cut, will work better with your mill, and cost less when you mess up, which will happen. In time, the technical knowledge will come. I generally spend roughly 10 hours a week reading everything I can find in this industry, and have been doing so for 8 or more years. What I'm trying to say is the technical knowledge, history, terminology, etc etc will take a while. For the mean time, do some asking around to local builders, farmers, etc and see what type of product they'd want to see. That will at least give you a place to start, and you can build your part time venture from there.
