Saw Mill Prices to Mill Lumber?

Mark Rice

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99
Location
Red Feather Lakes, CO
I have a bunch of beetle kill pine logs that I need to have milled. The local mill quoted $200.00 an hour to mill it. I don't mind paying that if they produce a good amount. A person should get paid for what they do.
It is a round blade type of mill. They have the potential to produce it fast, from what I have heard. The logs are a minimum of 15 inches diameter and average 12 foot long.

1. Is that price about the norm?
2. How much should I be able to expect, ball park, to get milled in an hour? I want half 1 inch and half 3/4 inch and as wide as they can cut it. No dimensional lumber. I can do that later.

What I am trying to avoid is paying 200 to get each log milled. At a price of 200 each log I would do better to buy a mill. I am going to do that eventually but it isn't in the budget till at least next summer.
 
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Hi Mark, this is going to be a little like comparing apples to oranges, but:

I don't know where you live, but where I live on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, I can get a guy to come to my house with a portable sawmill, and he'll do as much as he can for $300/day. He says he can mill about 1000bf per day. More than one guy gave me the same price. (I have several big leaf maples that need to come down shortly, weather permitting.) For me, it's a whole production and $$$ just to get 2-3K bf to/from the mill, so I'll just do it at home, thanks. :rolleyes:

So I guess the question for you is how many bf/hour can your mill process, and what's the cost of getting it to/from there? :dunno:

Here's a small chart for quick and dirty estimating bf from a tree. http://www.clemson.edu/extfor/pest_management/forlf15.htm or figure for 2' diameter, every foot of length is about 25bf (which is what I was told too).

I hope this helps,
 
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Around here sawyers with portables are charging from 175 to 200 per 1000 board ft.

If it's a production mill I'd say they could crank it out fairly quickly. If I knew they could cut a minimum 1000 bd/ft an hour and I didn't have to hall them a long way I'd go with the circle mill. At 200 an hour I'd probable look for someone who would charge by the thousand. To me it's a known quantity. I know exactly what it would cost.

The last I had cut including my expenses (gas, diesel, new bar for saw:eek:) I had between 20 and 25 cents a board foot in it. I ended up with close to 2000 bd/ft.
 
My local sawyer gets $90 an hour plus cost of blades damaged by metal, not normal wear. That is for logs delivered to his site. He doesn't travel. His band mill will do 36" dia X 24 ft. long :eek:, though he says he's never had one that big......yet.
 
The mills here charge by the board foot. The band mill guys charge by the day. Both charge for damaged blades from rocks/metal in your logs.
I have yet to have any one give me a per hour rate for this type of work.
 
The local circle milss(we have two of them) charge the same thing. I have had both of them sam logs and they can easly handle 1000 bf per hour. The large the og the more bf perr hour. The last batch we had sawn was a batch of larch. He was able to mill 2300 bf in two hours.
 
al, always wanted to ask someone who works with larch if you'd think it would be a good choice for outdoor furniture. Its half the price of white oak, and 1/4 the price of redwood or red cedar.
 
I found out about another mill today. I am going to give him a call. He is an old guy that tells you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. He is a pretty crusty old guy I guess, so him and I will get along great. Usually the crustier they are the better I get along.

Thanks for all the answers folks. It at least gives me a place to start with my expectations. Now to get the rest of the logs pulled off the mountain so I can get them on the trailer.
 
Allen, around here up to the mid 70s it as used alot in out door furniture. We use alot in place of regulare pine. It has great color and doesnot rot. Bugs hate it.
 
al, always wanted to ask someone who works with larch if you'd think it would be a good choice for outdoor furniture. Its half the price of white oak, and 1/4 the price of redwood or red cedar.


I have some tamarack which I understand is also called larch. It's a hard pine. From what I read when I bought it it is often used in outdoor furniture. I found a companies website in eastern Canada that makes furniture with it. I'll see if i can find it for you.
Personally, I don't like working with it. I found the wood splintered very easy and it was difficult to get smooth edges when routing or jointing. I used it for the cubby dividers in my daughters secretary desk. Pretty grain but tough to finish.
I'd be happy to give you some if you want to play with it.
 
Found some interesting stuff about Tamarack, which seems to be one kind of Larch:

"The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are also preferred for creating knees in wooden boats. Tamarack poles were used in corduroy roads because of their resistance to rot. Currently, the wood is used principally for pulpwood, but also for posts, poles, rough lumber, and fuelwood. Wildlife use the tree for food and nesting.

Guitar luthier Mark Blanchard has named one of his models the tamarack.

It is also grown as an ornamental tree in gardens in cold regions, and is a favorite tree for bonsai. Tamarack Trees were used before 1917 in Alberta to mark the North East Corner of Sections surveyed within Townships. They were used by the surveyors because at that time the very rot resistant wood was readily available in the bush and was light to carry."

Evidently, Tamarack is the Algonquin name for the tree. It occurs in several of Robert Frost's poems, notably Goodbye and Keep Cold.

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bob is right. It's pretty common up here in western Canada. It's not supposed to be that easy to work with, but yes, Allen, it's supposed to be great for outdoor uses--it's water repellant, durable, and insect resistant. I know people who think it's the best firewood--that it burns really hot and slow.

Sorry to hijack your thread, Mark. :threadjacked:
 
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