A Question for the Sawyers

[Matthew Poeller]

I am getting ready to have some trees that I dropped processed. They have been sitting for a year and now I have some extra time and money to do something with them. I have contacted a guy at my work that can cut them into boards for 200 for 1000 bf. I am not sure whether that is a good price or not???

Now that I have that our of the way the trees are 2 Cherry and 3 or 4 Oak. I think that i might be able to get them in a kiln for nothing or very very cheap. Not totally sure though. There is a guy in my classes at school that works for a saw mill and he said that he might be able to get them in the kiln for me for free provided that it is less than 1000 bf. That would be great but here comes the real question:

If I was not able to get them into the kiln how hard is it to air dry? What are the precautions that I should take and is there a book or something that would be able to point me in the right direction? I have never done anything like this before and was just looking for some advice/suggestions.

[Rob Russell]

20 cents a bf for sawing is a decent price, especially if he's not going to tack on a lot of travel and other charges.

If the logs are large, you might want to quartersaw them. The boards will be more stable and you may get lucky and get some great figure. If he will quartersaw for 20 cents a BF, that's ceahp. Quarter sawing takes more time and, as we all know, time is money.

If you have kiln drying available, especially for free, do it. That will help stabilize the wood and a professional place should dry it properly.

[thomas prevost]

$200 a 1000bd ft. is a good price in your area. We buy a lot of wood from local sawyers there. It is usually about $35-40 hr. for quarter sawn wood. Be sure he rotates the log every few cuts to get the best faces. The most important thing is to sticker them immediately and properly. Stickers every 2 feet and EXACTLY one over the other. a few inches variation here is bent useless wood. Lots of weight on top. Keep oak out of sun as it checks easily. cover with cheap blue tarp on top to keep rain and sun out but leave sides open so wind will blow moisture out. Do this even if you are going to have it kiln dried as it may not get into the kiln immediately. Where you having it kiln dried? Elicotville, Rushford? If done at Laidlaw be carefull as they often put in mixed lots and dry very quickly (not good). Sounds like some real cheap materials!! Should keep you busy for months using it up.

[Matthew Poeller]

Thomas,

I know a guy that works at a large mill in Ellicotteville. I am not sure what the name is right now but I have class with him tonight.

Thank you for your responses.

Matt

[Mark J Bachler]

I'm paying $132 per thou.bft. but I'm having over 10,000 bft of oak, & maple cut and thats up here in Wis. Lots of portable band sawmills around.

[Matthew Poeller]

Ya I think that guy at work is cutting me a pretty good deal since this is going to be a small run for him. I think that I am going to end up with about 150 bf of cherry and maybe 200 bf of oak.