My day milling some oak

[maple flats]

I went to a job to saw some white and some red oak of nice size today. When I got there the customer told me his sad story. It seems that the guy who dropped a nice white oak 2 weeks ago sent a hired man over to cut the TOPS into firewood. The butt log was 38" on the small end and 12'5" long  and when I looked at it a week and a half ago there were 2 nice logs before it branched out into a major crotch and nothing very good above that. Well, the man sent to cut the tops by the feller cut EVERYTHING up. I still had plenty to saw but not the biggest. Needless to say, the customer was not happy. I still sawed 4 nice logs, 1 red and 3 white oak 12 and 14' long and the smallest was 29" on the small end. Had to dig some metal out of the red, but at least I found it before the blade did. I was only 4" into the log and could still see a slight bit of it on the surface but there was about a quarter of the log that was stained from it. Was a hammer in type hook with porceline in a loop. Going back tomorrow do cut more and still have a pile of ash to do asap. The customer is having me cut 5/4x4",6"&8" and after drying will get it made into mouldings, flooring and some cabinet stock for a home he is building on a lake front with a beautiful view. He wants it all to finish really thick and thus all is 5/4. These logs all came from his lot and neighbors gave him some in exchange for some firewood. (that was before the previously mentioned incident.

[Furby]

Kinda sorta had a bad day yesterday.
Went over to my parents and I saw trucks sitting out front at a neighbors. He works for a lawn care company and gets to bring the equipment home once in a while. Then I also saw a big 5th wheel trailer out back.
Got out of the truck and sure enough........I heard the chainsaw. Real nice maple and red oak..........all cut up.
I felt like crying, I don't have time right now to mill, but I can't stand to see a couple nice saw logs cut into firewood!
My Mom said to go see if he would take two of the trees she wants down out for them, and I could mill them up. I know for a fact he doesn't climb, and he didn't have a cherry picker so I told her he couldn't take them out.

[Tom]

After cutting his and not offering them to you, he didn't deserve to mess with two more anyway.

[Furby]

If we could get these down Tom, I'd have more R. Oak then I know what to do with and wouldn't miss a log or two. It would cost a fortune due to location.........everything will have to be roped away.
It's still a bit early to be messing with the R. Oaks anyways.
Word has it another neighbor may be having a REAL nice R. Oak taken out. Trying to see if I can get the first two logs this time.
Just gotta find a way to get the trailer out from behind everything.

Maple Flats,
He is having you cut 4" strips?

[maple flats]

Furby, I made all I could into 5/4 x 8 but any time I couldn't get 8" I would make 6" wide or even 4" wide if that is what was left in the log on that tier. I went back for a short day today and sawed red oak, really found some real nice looking grain in them. Still have a 10' and a 18' in red oak then I have several ash to do. About 3500 BF left to do, and I think he wants it all in 5/4" boards as much as possible. I love it.

[Furby]

Did the 4" move a lot?

[maple flats]

The only time I get any movement is when I am working towards the last little bit of log at the bottom. If it moves, the customes starts his chainsaw and makes firewood.

[maple flats]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I kept track of my yield vs scale (international on an order of logs from 12-19" small end). I got from 7% to over 19% over, with a order overall overage of 14.6%, so I loose very little. Only did it on one order of 15 logs in good condition with little or no crook and no bad sections that needed to be trimmed out. This is most likely not my yield all of the time but I thought it was good. Never compared yield to scale yet on larger logs but when I do someday it will most likely be in Doyle if they are all or mostly 20"plus. The times when I get movement at the final cuts from a log usually translates to the loss of a 1 x 4 or 1 x 6. I however get more production from the beginning of a log where many make a larger slab to square a cant. The Peterson does make more sawdust but seems to make up for it in less slab. So far I have had a shortage of sawdust in terms of people who want it vs what I have, and I like it that way. Of course this is only for what I saw at my place, for on the customers sight I just leave everything there.