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How fast do you usually mill?

Started by Nate Surveyor, April 12, 2007, 02:08:39 PM

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Nate Surveyor

I really wanted the Mobile Dimensions Mill, or similar, when I got my Peterson. But, a good used one was pretty high.

I am a solo miller, and basicly am cutting myself a house. So the Peterson is really about right. but, as another miller said, "buy a barn first, to hide the mill, because as soon as the neighbors find out you have a mill.... well you will be busy milling for others...

Well, the neighbor has been bringing me logs, for me to cut on the halves. And, I really don't want to compete with the comercial mills with a Peterson, and solo. He says he has many truckloads to cut, and can keep me busy until next year. I believe him!

Anyway, just curious, about how much production you get solo out of various mills.

Somehow, I think if I had a big mill, I'd have a business. Not that I want it right now. But, I live in the middle of timber country. I can see I'd need a good Tractor/Forklift/Bobcat,  and some drying sheds.

I have my mill set at the bottom of a small hill, and use a cant hook to load it now.

Thanks for your response.

Nate
I know less than I used to.

WDH

I can give you some data on my little (but sweet) Woodmizer LT 15.  By myself (which is usually the case), if the logs are laid up and ready to saw, I can produce about 500 - 600 bd-ft (4/4 boards) in 8 hours.  That includes loading the logs and stacking all the boards (you can't just saw boards, you have to handle and stack them too ;D).  I know that is really slow.  With a partner who is willing to work hard, I can double that to 1200 bd-ft in 8 hours.

By the way, the 500 - 600 bd-ft by myself is a busting-your-butt kind of day.  I use a 45 hp tractor to skid the logs.  Load and turn manually with a cant hook.   
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Bibbyman

One man with a hydraulic mill can produce more in a day than one man with a manual mill.  But I feel the return starts to diminish when you go to even larger hydraulic mills with more features.  That's because you still have to do a lot of non-sawing activates like getting the log to the mill and lumber, sawdust, slabs away from the mill. That is,  you may double your speed processing a log to lumber but still not be any faster feeding and disposing of the ins and outs of the process. Now you may be handling 1600 to 2000 bf a day and end up a whipped puppy. 

So in addition to a more productive mill you'll need more people and or more automation -  Dust blowers, loaders, log decks, edgers, outfeed decks, etc.  Each will up your production a fraction and take some of the labor off.

I've talked to a number of full time mills in the small to medium size and looked at their bf/employee ratio.  I don't think I've found one to be over 1,000bf/man/day.

To answer you question.

A few years back we had a manual LT40 with 20hp engine and an edger.  Mary would often knock out 800-1000bf a day by herself depending on what she was sawing.  With me helping,  a 1000bf/ a day was a lot easier and we'd sometimes get as much as 1500bf on a good day.

We moved up to an LT40 Super hydraulic and added a dust blower and have a better loader and better setup for stacking and moving lumber.  Now we can saw 1000bf before noon and take off the rest of the day or pace ourselves and get out more like 1500 bf.  If we're really hitting it and have a lot to get done,  we can do more than 2000bf a day.  One day we did saw about 3500 bf of 8/8 cherry in about 5 hours with our son helping.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

SAW MILLER

I have a manual LT 40 with  the add on hydraulic loader.I saw 6 hours a day and average 850 a day.Some days I saw 1200 in 6 hours and some days I may only get 650 depending on the logs and how good I feel.I average 3000 a week.
LT 40 woodmizer..Massey ferg.240 walker gyp and a canthook

oakiemac

My best day, really busting butt was 2800bf of 4/4 but I had my son tailing and another guy loading logs as soon as we were finished. By myself cutting 4/4 600-800bf per day much more if cutting larger dimensions such as 8/4 or 4x4's.
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

Larry

Grade sawing 4/4 short and small walnut I consistently run 75 bf/hr.  Grade sawing bigger oak logs I'll hit 100 bf/hr.  Sawing 8/4 to 16/4 basswood and production goes up nother couple of notches.  Hardly ever saw a full 8 hours.  3 or 4 hours in the morning and maybe couple of hours after lunch.  I'm sure every sawyer has had days where they doubled or even tripled there average but those days are quite rare.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

customsawyer

I used to push real hard to get to a certain production each day. I don't see much point in that any more as that big mill keeps putting more and more logs in front of me so I don't see no end in sight. Now days I go to the mill and we get done what we get done. This makes for alot less stress and pressure. I don't know if I can say that I do it this way because I have gotten wiser or it might be that I ain't as young as I was last year. ;D
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

Tom

You're just growing up, Jake.  :D :D

SAW MILLER

I agree Jake.I too have a never ending supply of logs.I saw for a mill too but you know,some days I feel real good..( I am 55) and I have good logs and get in a rythum and before noon I got my two bundles cut and I say to myself..self,if you keep hustling you can get another bundle cut before you have to leave.I try to average 160 feet/hr. that makes me 40 bucks an hour and if I hit 200 an hour I feel like I got a bonus that day 8) 8)I am a one man operation and most days a steady pace is goodnuf fer me.
LT 40 woodmizer..Massey ferg.240 walker gyp and a canthook

DanG

I can't give you an average daily figure, because I never have average days.  Sometimes I only saw one log, then move on to some other activity.  Other times I'll saw several in a morning, or maybe none at all.  The production rates vary wildly with the situations different jobs present.  If a customer drops off some nice straight logs that fit into the cut list well, and leaves his trailer so I can offbear straight onto it, 300bf/hr isn't unrealistic.  That doesn't happen often.  If I have to dig logs from my own pile, scan and prep, then move the lumber to the shed and stack/sticker, it obviously drops dramatically.

As far as the capabilities of the Mobile Dimension, I once timed myself cutting 2x6 pine from a 16' log, and averaged 1 per minute, working alone.  That was just through the sweet part of the log, after it was squared up and the slabs were out of the way, but included stacking and stickering beside the mill.

I think the MD and others like it are the ideal mill for someone who works alone, especially for cutting dimension lumber.  Like the swingers, the edging is done while the board is made, so no additional equipment is necessary, and you don't have to turn the log or cant.  The board return gives the edge to the MD when working alone.

Sometimes a customer or other observer will mention those large bottom slabs I usually leave.  I got one of them to watch while I squeezed that last 1x4 out of it.  He said, "Forget it!  It just ain't worth it!" ;D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

tcsmpsi

I run a small, manual bandmill with tractor/FEL assistance, as a one man band.  Occassionally, one of the teenagers and/or the wife will bear assistance with slabs and stacking.  But, keeping a place up takes many different strokes, and they all have their own chores, too.  

Relating to a designated day of milling, ultimately, I pitch 'til I win.  End of the 'day' (which is sometimes into the night) production varies.  It ultimately varies on what logs I am milling (diameter, length, type).  If I'm running 16', 14"-16", relatively straight pine, I'm at the peak of production for my setup, and I can make a lot of lumber.  
I've only sold/bartered specialty cuts/types, so I'm afraid I don't much keep up with how many bf.

Much of my milling time is spent in determining what the next log I'm going to cut is going to be, what it will best make, etc.   One of the things I, personally, like about my manual mill.  I tend to think better while moving/working.

Primarily, I work toward making every move as right as I can, then the rest takes care of itself, and is what it turns out to be.  With that, I'm never disappointed in a day's production.  
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

Part_Timer

one lemon aid an hour during the summer months.
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

RMay

We will average 2000 BF a day in 4/4 . Thats with my brother in law Sam off bearing. The BF.goes way up with long beams &2 bys. We had a customer two week-ins ago that thought we was pulling his leg when Sam introduce his self . Sam last name is Walton ;D
RMay in Okolona Arkansas  Sawing since 2001 with a 2012 Wood-Miser LT40HDSD35-RA  with Command Control and Accuset .

Nate Surveyor

I know less than I used to.

RMay

RMay in Okolona Arkansas  Sawing since 2001 with a 2012 Wood-Miser LT40HDSD35-RA  with Command Control and Accuset .

Tom

The quarter scale is used by sawmillers to account for boards that are greater in thickness than the finished size, but intended to be that way such that the finished size can be produced.  Like Board feet, Quarter measurements are a Rough lumber tool.

4/4 (1") up to, but not including 5/4 (1 1/4") is figured and sold as one inch.

The purpose is to account for sawing defects and drying defects to allow the end user to produce his finished board, which may be from 3/4" up to, but less than, 1".   1" is generally considered to be the dressed size of 5/4 and the board presented to the end user will be 5/4 (1 1/4") up to but not including 6/4 (1 1/2").

When someone speaks of "nominal measure", they are talking about rough cut wood.

Tom Sawyer

Yesterday I cut 1600 bft of 4/4 ash, cutting for grade, in 7 hours using an older (92?) LT40 hydraulic, not my new Super.  I had one physically capable helper off-bearing.  He needed to be told what to do though, so that added some extra time.  With a really good off-bearer we would have been closer to 2000.

WH_Conley

Cut 24 cross ties Thursday in 1 1/2 hours. Experienced helper, perfect size logs, low grade lumber not worth saving, 4 cuts and done. The exception not the rule, sure wish I could do this all the time.
Bill

solodan

I am with DanG, I don't have average days, but if I am set up next to the logs or over the big logs, I can usually cut about 1500 bf by myself. A helper is nice, but unless they know what they are doing I may have to walk around to the other end to adjust the end frames. I have cut 700bf in an hour with good helpers. A 30" to 40"  log is the best production for me. :)

wwsjr

Like DanG and solodan, I don't have average days. Some days I may only saw for a few hours. I sawed almost 200,000 bf in 2006, averaging about 300 bf per engine hour for the entire year. This was a mix of SYP, red oak, white oak, cherry and cedar. When I traded up from the regular hyd to the Super with remote console, I increased output by about 25%. The speed of the sawhead returning and the board return gave me this increase. At 62, I don't walk backwards as fast as I once could. I sawed alone about 75% of the time. My 25 yr old nephew helps me part time on his days off from his job. Since engine hours do not match clock hours because of other things like moving logs, stacking, taking breaks, lunch, and etc, about 1500 bf of 4/4 or 2000 bf of 6/4 is a good day for me. I load 5 to 6 logs on I-beam ramp with tractor FEL, then cant onto the loading arms, stack lumber adjacent to mill with sticks, then move with FEL. I have sawdust blower attached to mill to move dust. As everyone knows the log size and quality is a big factor. Ideally, I like 12 to 24 inch logs. My nephew and I sawed 3,125 in 6/4 from good 16' SYP logs in 8 hours. Best we have done in one day.
Retired US Army, Full Time Sawyer since 2001. 2013 LT40HD Super with 25HP 3 Phase, Command Control with Accuset2. ED26 WM Edger, Ford 3930 w/FEL, Prentice Log Loader. Stihl 311, 170 & Logrite Canthooks. WM Million BF Club Member.

Tom

When I was sawing with my LT40, I was pretty much stuck on a 1300 board foot day.    Sometimes I'd make 1500 feet and on rare occasions, 2000 feet.   That was with help.  I seldom sawed alone.  The help was different every day because they belonged to someone else.   

I made up my mind that I was going to be happy with any day that went over 1000 feet.  Because of the vast difference in material a sizes sawed, this kept me very happy.  It had to be a bad day to saw less than 1000 board feet.

I also found that my customers, usually doing the off-bearing, were a lot more amenable to a 1300 foot work day.  While a mill like the LT40 can cut more than that, it's easy to bury an off-bearer in product and have him not be back.  What the mill was capable of sawing, I found, wasn't nearly as important as what me and the off-bearer's were capable of producing.  Because of this, I still have customers who are friends, a goal I tried to reach each day.

J_T

Yep I like Tom 's Style  8) If you doing it just for money and numbers it will become a JOB  ::) Man up the road saws 200 tyes a day got a flock of helpers they are hard to keep wonder why  ???Got a debarker an end loader chipper ect running full tilt . Why he ant got time to scratch a sketter bite  :D :D
Jim Holloway

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