what would you charge

[Sawyerfortyish]

I have a lumber yard that wants me to run a T&G with a center bead on 4500Lf of Garapa wood. I have the knives  I just don't know what to charge for gang ripping and setup and to run it through the moulder. They tell me it's hard wood. What should I charge them to do it?  I think I can do it in a couple hours.

[fstedy]

Number one how abrasive is this wood? If you can run it in a few hours (Setup time X Hourly rate + any incidentals like abrasive wood ). Also how good a customer is this yard and how busy are you? If you're running it on that new moulder which is more efficient factor that in also. I would think in your area a shop rate would be about $80 per hour.

[woodmills1]

I would try to figure their profit margin, that is what are they paying for the stock and what will they get for it, since you will be making them money you should have a share.

[ellmoe]

   On real hard wood, like hickory, I've found that I must have very sharp knives and run it at least twice, prefering three times. This is with a Weinig. If you haven't run anything as hard as what this wood is ,you need to protect yourself in case it requires multiple passes.

Mark

[Sawyerfortyish]

I have a new 5 head Weinig and I'm running carbide cutters. The first floor through was hickory floor . I hit and missed it through my planner first tho. Weinig says I should charge around 200.00 for setup and then 1.00-1.25 per LF to run. If I need any cutters double whatever there cost is to the customer. I dont want to over charge or under sell myself. I was just trying to get idea what to charge from others doing the same thing.

[ronwood]

I am currently having a company close to Bibbyman who will process kiln dried white oak lumber into variable width flooring for $1.00 a sq ft.

Ron

[Sawyerfortyish]

I mis spoke on my last post I dont know what I was thinking of when I said 1.00-1.25. I was told .50-1.00 per bd ft

[ellmoe]

   If you can get $.50 a bf or more you should be doing well. We charge a $50 set-up fee and have the customers pay for special knives. If the knife pattern is something I'll use again I'll usually eat most of the cost.

Mark

[Justin L]

I can usually run 1300LF per hour through my moulder(after setup) plus whatever wrapping/packaging you do. If you band it on a pallet you will still have downtime for switching pallets. We usually wrap stacks of 6-10 pcs with stretch wrap so little bundles can be moved into a house easily, then we band those on skids.

You also have the handling of the lumber in & out of the shop, and sharpening the knives at the end. And the ripping.

The smart comment I read was find out what it's worth to them It's usually more than we planned to charge anyway!

Is the lumber rough or do you have to skip plane it? if you need to plane it, rip, setup & mill, then load- I think that would be a couple days. And a day to rest the back...

It also(ok, I'm rambling now) seems like milling a customers lumber takes 2x as long since the thickness varies, defects need cut, ends squared before moulding etc.

I break things down into each step and figure each price. Planing, ripping, moulding, etc...

But I'm still just a millerthirtyish....