Lumber Milling

[Jim Baker]

Last week, we finally got our downed trees from a May storm milled. For those of you who have never had the opportunity, it was definitely worth it for us. It's really neat to watch them work.

Between my uncle and me, we got around 750 bf of really nice lumber. I have around 200 bf of excellent cherry, 120 feet of nice white oak, and 130 feet of good red oak. My uncle ended up with 288 feet, around 2/3 beautiful walnut and 1/3 fair red oak.

Not bad for not much effort other than cutting the logs to length and dragging them in with the tractor.

My uncle is air drying his. Mine is in the kiln. I'm really anxious to get it back. The red oak will probably be gone within a week or two of getting it home. I'm needing to make several more raised panel cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Hopefully I can do as well as Terry Hatfield's doors in another post. They are beautiful.

[Tom Sweeney]

I'm starting to aquire a real interest in learning how to take wood from raw logs to finished product.

Did you have a woodmizer mill the logs or did you just take them to a local mill that did it for you?

[Jim Becker]

I'm starting to aquire a real interest in learning how to take wood from raw logs to finished product.

Did you have a woodmizer mill the logs or did you just take them to a local mill that did it for you?

I have a pictorial on my site that you might find interesting...milling on-site here a few years ago (http://sawsndust.com/a-milling.htm). Man, that fellow could work! I and my friend, Wendell, were huffing and puffing all day long (10.5 hours) and the sawyer was bearly breaking a sweat. That's what I get for picking a Saturday on a steamy July weekend... :cool:

[Mike Schwing]

Jim, that was a GREAT pictoral! Looked like fun from this side, though I'm sure it was WORK from yours. Thanks!

[Jim Becker]

Jim, that was a GREAT pictoral! Looked like fun from this side, though I'm sure it was WORK from yours. Thanks!

Yea...work with a capital WORK! But the satisfaction from using the lumber off your property that otherwise would have been wasted is a good thing.

[Tom Sweeney]

Cool pictorial Jim! Looks like the hydraulic version of the woodmizer & your Kubota probably helped quite a bit.

I'm trying to work a deal to get a whole bunch of downed trees from the local goverment - so far it's not looking good - if it happens I can tell I'm in for a ton of work. Some of them are about 3' diameter by 20' long.

My back's hurting just from looking at your pics ;)

[Jim Becker]

My back's hurting just from looking at your pics ;)

It's worth every bottle of Tylenol you need! :D

[Tom Sweeney]

My boss is away today & I've spent most of the morning perusing your web site & links to other turners websites, from yours.

I'm taking off from tomorrow till next Tuesday & my mind is already on vacation mode so I'm not getting any work done at all!

Thanks a Bunch! ;)

[Jim Baker]

I'm starting to aquire a real interest in learning how to take wood from raw logs to finished product.

Did you have a woodmizer mill the logs or did you just take them to a local mill that did it for you?


He brought his Woodmizer to my place. I could have saved $.05/bf by taking it to him, but I didn't want to have to borrow someone's loader and trailer just to save 750 nickels.

[Jim Becker]

He brought his Woodmizer to my place. I could have saved $.05/bf by taking it to him, but I didn't want to have to borrow someone's loader and trailer just to save 750 nickels.

Interesting. Gene Hamilton, who did my sawing, worked by the hour. $50 per with a $25 per blade penalty if it hit metal...which it did on the very last log of the day! Sheesh... :rolleyes:

I think my bf cost was under 20 cents given I estimate I had about 3000 bf stacked when I was done.