Author Topic: Portable edger (Read 662 times)

coondogof03 · « **on:** January 14, 2012, 09:43:17 pm »

I am new here and have actually been learning alot. I have been the owner, operator of a small portable sawmill business for the last six years. I just had a new baby so time and production mean alot to me. looking for information, I want to add a portable edger to my small fleet. Is it really worth it? Do they actually save you time or do they waste time? Any help in deciding would be greatly appriciated.

WDH · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2012, 09:49:22 pm »

I believe that it would be a huge improvement in saving time and productivity. I don't have one, but I only cut small volumes. Customsawyer (Jake) uses them and I have been impressed by the value they add when I have worked with him on sawing some big oak and pecan logs. If you were fully maxed out, the edger would be the best thing since sliced bread, I bet. Hopefully, Jake will chime in.

Edging on the manual mill is my most hated task.

coondogof03 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2012, 09:56:31 pm »

That's my thoughts on it. I am running a LT40 hyd and edging on it aint to bad it just feels like it takes forever if you wait till the end of the kob to do the boards, but on the other hand it really seems to take time to edge the boards between logs. I have a full time helper and always ask the customer to supply an offbearer so i have extra man power.

JFarmer · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2012, 10:04:40 pm »

I also have a LT40 hydraulic and I edged my lumber on it when I first bought it. Then about 5 yrs ago I bought a woodmizer twin blade edger and I have never regretted it. I always edge while I am sawing it keeps me busy but it sure is a lot better then tryin to do it on the mill!

Magicman · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2012, 10:13:06 pm »

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, coondogof03.

I do not have a portable edger, nor do I plan to get one. To me, edging is just a part of sawing, and I do not mind it at all. I see where productivity would be increased, but it probably would necessitate having hired help. In my operation, hired help is out of the question. Other sawyers that have edgers can give you more of the pros and cons.

Peter Drouin · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2012, 10:36:23 pm »

I have a WM edger but with more machines you need more help, at least 4 men 2 with the mill and 2 with the edger.if your alone edge on the mill

CLL · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2012, 11:02:28 pm »

I had a lt40 woodmizer, and regret not having and edger if if I sawed by myself, and with one guy its twice as fast as without one.

customsawyer · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2012, 06:04:13 am »

There is another thing to consider. If most of your work is portable than a edger only becomes beneficial if the job has more than 5000 bf. If the job is less than that it will take about as much time going to the extra trouble for the edger as it will save you. The greatest benefit of the edger is when you are sawing at the house or in some other stationary setup. The other thing to consider is unless you have things set up like I do than you will need ether another truck for moving the edger or have to make another trip with the truck you have. All of these things add up to extra cost which means you have to cut that much more before you make a profit. Most portable saw jobs in my area don't have that many board feet in them to began with.

sherpa · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2012, 07:56:25 am »

Im currently looking to add one as well and have limped along for 17 years without one. I now have someone working with me every day that I saw so productivity will increase. Edging is the worst part of sawing and most people do dislike it, however it does need to be done. I think it depends on your situation, I am stationary and saw my own stuff to kiln dry/finish to an end product. I am also sawing about 75k feet per year on average. Hope this helps.

NMFP · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2012, 08:05:48 am »

As customsawyer said, youll either need another vehicle or make multiple trips. Although an edger saves money and time, my edger sits more than its used due to logistics in transportation. I just finished a large pine job 2 hours away so if I would have taken the edger, I would have had to make multiple un necessary trips or hire someone to haul the equipment. As it turns out many times, you need to look at the advantages or disadvantages of using an edger on a job.

I am in the process of drawing out a simple edger that can be quickly attached to my LT40SH mill that can be used to edge boards, eliminating numerous trips when on custom sawing jobs. WM does make a straight line one sided edger that works very well and does fit in the back of a pickup.

NMFP · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2012, 08:09:00 am »

Sherpa. Depending on your situation, you can build a simple edger for a very low price. Your most expensive items would be a power unit (gas engine), blades and arbor. I have one almost built for when I install my circular mill. I have pockets set up for 4", 6", 8" and 10". I am using inserted tooth saws so that i do not need to remove the blades for tip sharpening or replacement. I will also always have my portable edger so if I need to edge something different or more random, I can use that as well.

Chuck White · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2012, 08:57:00 am »

If you add more equipment, you need to add more manpower!

With more manpower, there is more cash outflow! $:-\$

My saw jobs average 2,500 - 7,500 board feet, with the majority being less than 5,000.

My average annual sawing tally is around 55,000 bf!

Edging is not actually my favorite part of the job, it's merely part of it!

red · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2012, 06:21:33 pm »

do you think the portable edgers edge better than the bandsaw blade

beenthere · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2012, 06:50:14 pm »

red
What do you mean by "better" ?

red · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2012, 06:53:13 pm »

ok . . the quality of the lumber like a straight line rip saw . .edge

rbhunter · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2012, 06:57:32 pm »

I don't know much about the edgers but woodmizer has a single blade edger that can be broken down and hauled in the back of the truck.

beenthere · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2012, 07:21:32 pm »

Quote from: rbhunter on January 15, 2012, 06:57:32 pm

I don't know much about the edgers but woodmizer has a single blade edger that can be broken down and hauled in the back of the truck.

Should be able to get a reasonably straight edge on both. But keeping in mind that edging green the straight edge may change when drying stresses cause crook in the board.

coondogof03 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 15, 2012, 09:02:02 pm »

thanks for the input guys. all your opinions have been really helpful. we are still weighing our options since alot of the work we have to do are 5000+ board foot jobs this year so far. Thanks again

customsawyer · « **Reply #18 on:** January 15, 2012, 09:22:20 pm »

This is the reason I bought the Morgan little champ edger. I can place it sideways on the front of my goose neck trailer put the tractor on the trailer and hook the mill to the back of the trailer. Everything can go in one trip. The amount of time spent doing setup and break down of the extra equipment has to be factored in. This is why I say on the smaller jobs it is not worth the trouble.

LorenB · « **Reply #19 on:** January 21, 2012, 01:27:54 am »

Coondogof03,

I started my first big job without an edger and bought one about halfway through the job. We sawed about 20,000 board feet on that job. The edger almost paid for itself on that one job.

That job involved cutting many really big logs, over 24" at the small end and some as long as 21'. Mostly yellow poplar, but also some oak, sweet gum, and others. My helpers varied from day to day, but generally were the two Amish guys I was cutting for, occasionally another guy they hired, and sometimes my son-in-law.

It didn’t take long to show everyone how to run the edger, but only my son-in-law and I ran the sawmill.

Edging everything on the sawmill was very time consuming and required a lot of coordination between helpers and the sawyer. To avoid wasting a lot of lumber, we often edged just one or two boards at a time.

The edger I bought is a small one, too small for that job especially, but it’s what I could afford at the time. It would produce a board as wide as 12" and accept a flitch as wide as 20". We would often have to edge the larger boards on the sawmill, even after I got the edger.

In spite of its limitations, adding the edger almost doubled production. With just one or two people working I would expect the increase to be less dramatic.

I charge by the hour, and after I got the edger, my rates went up. The increased production, however, meant that the customer didn’t pay any more for the lumber than he was paying earlier with the sawmill alone.

My opinion is that an edger will pay for itself in a hurry if you have enough people to really keep it busy. This is probably even more true if you get a bigger edger that will accept larger flitches.

Good luck,
– Loren

Kansas · « **Reply #20 on:** January 21, 2012, 03:48:54 am »

In answer to the question of can you do a better job edging with an edger, I think it depends on the edger and who is doing the edging. It can do every bit as good or better than the mill unless you are spending a lot of time doing one board at a time. I like the edgers that have the rubber mats that grip the board for grade type edging. We have had a Timberking Talon edger and a Morgan over the years. They are very similar. I think either one would fit in a full sized pickup. If you watch carefully, my guess is you could pick up one for about half price of new.

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Author Topic: Portable edger (Read 662 times)