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Days Sawed

Started by wscott, July 14, 2003, 07:07:37 PM

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wscott

Ok all of you custom sawer that ONLY do mobile sawing. How many days out of the year (365 days) do you saw? Also so, do you saw at least 1mbf per day or more on the days that you do saw? I am looking into custom sawing only. No sawing at by home(do not have the room, the bride will not let me add a room to the house to put the sawmill in) all the sawing will have to be at the customer site.
 
Thanks to all
 wscott
You should always marry a ugly girl, when she leaves you, you want feel so bad.

Tobacco Plug

I don't saw full time, never planned to.  I guess I saw 30 to 40 days a year.  Much depends on the weather, of course.  While I am backed up about two weeks right now, that is not always the case.  Last year I went a long time without working, and this backlog of work is partially due to the wet weather.  It seems that for every job I get where I can cut 3000 feet a day I get one where I struggle to get 1000 feet.  People try to get boards from what should go to the chipper mill.  Some people think that just because a timber buyer will take logs to a four inch top that you should saw their logs like that.  When you have gone a long time without a sawing job you are sometimes tempted to take anything that comes along and you end up paying. ;) Lewis
How's everybody doing out in cyberspace?

BBTom

Lewis,  I do a majority of my sawing at the customers location. Sawjob size has varied from 300 bdft to over 25mbdft.  At this point, I take all jobs that I can do.  You just never know if this 400 bdft job will convince a neighbor to hire you for a 5000 bdft job.  I am doing more and more sawing at home, customers I have cut for have started to bring logs to me and drop them off. I call the customer after sawing and they pick up the lumber. It helps keep me busy when I am not at a customer location. I have a saw shed so I can also work on those jobs during bad weather. Last year was my first year, and I sawed just over 50 mbdft for almost 30 different customers.  This year is looking better.
I hope that answers your questions, but keep in mind that everyone and everyplace is different.  I charge $.30 a bdft here, many places good sawyers can only get $.20. Last but not least, you HAVE to WORK.  Sawing is not an easy profession, even with the best of mills.
2001 LT40HDD42RA with lubemizer, debarker, laser, accuset. Retired, but building a new shop and home in Missouri.

Kevin_H.

I do most of my sawing at the customers site, when I saw at home it is for myself or pallet material.

I typically saw one or two days a week, a little more in the spring as everyone waits for good weather to call. in the  winter when the custom stuff slows I saw about 1000' of pallet material a month to make the equip pmt.

most of the pallet stuff is sawed from free logs that I have aquired during the year.

I also do not do this full time and as of late the EMS business has keep me working about 70 to 80 hrs a week!
Got my WM lt40g24, Setworks and debarker in oct. '97, been sawing part time ever since, Moving logs with a bobcat.

RMay

I do most of my sawing with in 50 miles of home at the customers location . I saw two days a week. I have one forbearer and We average 2000 bf per day and a day can be 8 to 12 hours. We have been going every weekend sense March. I also work a 40 + hour job, ::) you got to like sawing it is a lot of work.  RMay 8)
RMay in Okolona Arkansas  Sawing since 2001 with a 2012 Wood-Miser LT40HDSD35-RA  with Command Control and Accuset .

Minnesota_boy

Wscott,
Are you an hourly worker or a salaried employee.  Does it matter whether you make a certain amount per hour, 40 hours a week, or do you only care how much you make per year?  Can you stand to have a free day or two, lose money on a small job, give a little extra care for the job that demands it, knowing you can make up for it on the next?

I don't know how many days I've worked this year, nor do I really care.   I only saw at the customers site, no matter how tempting it would be to have them bring those one or 2 logs to me.  That way the customer has the lumber at his site, and the slabs, and the sawdust and the mess, while I have a check and am on my way.

My days range from 500 bd-ft to over 3000, depending on where I am, what wood I have to cut and what I cut it into.  The smallest job I will (have) accept is one log.  The biggest so far has been around 100,000 bd-ft.  I expect to saw around 200,000 bd-ft this year and I try to work by myself.

If the customer has hardwoods and wants only 1 inch boards, I can average 1500 bd-ft a day or a bit more it the logs are good and the weather cooperates.   Sawing softwood into dimension material will yield 2000-2500 per day.  I sometimes do some specialty cuts on a per-hour basis, without scaling if the customer will allow it.

You will be hard pressed to saw more than me in a day.  I push my body and my mill pretty hard, so I can afford to take days off for other things, like some farm work and a vacation trip or two.  I haven't advertised since the first year as word-of-mouth seems to keep me pretty busy.  I'm accepting bookins now for September, but I have acouple of jobs that may not turn out scheduled for August, and if these jobs don't turn out (I suspect a cash flow problem), I can move jobs up to fill the time.

Wow, what a windy guy I am.   Hope that helps you out a bit.
I eat a high-fiber diet.  Lots of sawdust!

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