some production numbers

[woodmills1]

I am cutting some pine from a customers logs. Have cut 7 so far with the smallest having about 90 bd ft and the biggest a little over 200.  I kept a carefull watch on the actual time I spent decking and loading the logs, programing for pattern cuts, sawing, edging and then stickering the lumber. here are the results of the cutting yesterday in between the rain drops and other tasks I accomplished, like putting the rollers on the edger.

actual time 4 hours 9 minutes
total bd ft 880
average 212 bd ft per hr
customer charge at $60/hr  $249
average  $.28/bd ft

I did lose a little time when I pushed a 3 sided cant off the mill while turning and also lost 33 bd ft from a pallet quality log when the frst pass to release 5 2x4's made some nice long 2 by taper wedges(forgot to lower taper roller on previous face).  I also took the time while edging to produce some 1x1.5 so the customer can properly sticker the lumber.  Some of the lumber is really nice 15 inch wide clears.

At this rate it looks like my production is 85% over some of the best days I had with the LT40 and about 150% of the average production.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday Woodmills

Looks like things are going better than expected with the new Toy/Mill thats good to hear Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)
I read the other post about the edger incident glad your safe Mate  ;) ;D  dont worry It happens to us all sometimes  ;) :D :D :D :D :D ;D

Reguards Chris

[woodmills1]

Yes, the production is better than expected, with out trying to run myself ragged.  I quickly gave up trying to run both machines at the same time by myself.  I pull off the flitches and stack them on a table that Bob bought from woodmizer(pics later).  Then when the cant is sawn I start the edger and take care of the flitches.  By not letting un edged flitches pile up around the saw it is much easier to keep the work space clear.  I am playing with the board drag back fingers to keep them straight as they seem to want to pull toward the mill head side.

[bandmiller2]

Jim, we all forget that taper roller sometimes wonder if it would be worthwile for woodmizer to put a little LED light near the taper levers to worn when their up?It always seems to happen on the best logs or when your just going to have enough to finish an order.Frank C.

[moonhill]

There is always that last little thing, the roller left up or the shim doesn't fall out when it is rolled the last time, or the dull band takes a dive, you run out of fuel with one cut left and the client is standing there, I once put a band on with it turned inside out and proceeded to try and cut with the old timer standing right there.  Just that little distraction, it is nice when every thing just flows. 

woodmills1, I am assuming in your $60 / hour rate you have calculated in band cost, sharpening, mill maintenance, fuel...... the next biggie is profit?  Do you use a percentage number of total cost and add that on?  I find, finding the profit number the most challenging, I believe it is what the market will stand, it is a wide variable. 

Tim

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Whats Profit Moonhill  can you explain thada to me Mate ;) :D ;D I thought We just went Flatout and if we had sumthing to show for it at the end of the year we are happy in this game  ;) :D :D :D ;D Just pulling your chain mate  ;) ;D I aim for anywhere from 10% to 50% after tax it depends what im sawing

Reguards Chris

[Chico]

Most  mills have a taper light all you have to do to make one is to get an led the rt voltage conn it to the fire wire on the taper and there you go But beleive me even with a spotlight shing at you sometimes you just forget
Chico

[DanG]

Woodmills, I predict that your production figures will go up significantly as you get used to running that LT70.  I've been watching Customsawyer's operation grow since he upgraded from the LT40 to the 70 a few years ago.  It was a while before he started noticing a major difference in production.  As time went on, he kept tweaking the rest of his operation to keep up with the mill's capabilities, and he is posting some staggering numbers now.

[woodmills1]

I am pretty happy with 880 in 4 hrs, since It was all I could do to put 1000 on stickers in a day before.  I have had many days in the 600 to 800 range.

[DanG]

Stackin' and stickin' is the bane of the solo sawyer, for sure!  Customsawyer has a really good crew of folks behind him to take care of all that.  Few people would ever post his kind of numbers with a portable bandsaw, primarily because of his unique business arrangement.  However, most folks could learn a lot by just watching the operation for a little while.  Efficiency is the keyword around there, and he is always looking for a way to smooth out a little wrinkle.

I can see you facing the same dilemma that I did, back when I thought I wanted to grow my sawing business.  That ol' Mobile Dimension could cut a lot more lumber than I could deal with by myself.  I didn't want to hire help because I didn't want to be tied down to employees.  I could list some more things that I wasn't willing to do, but that ain't what this is about.  I'll just be interested to watch how you deal with this new-found power that you have, and the challenges that come along with it. ;)

[Bibbyman]

No matter how fast your saw will saw,  there is only so much a body can do in a day. 

Mary and I have often sawn 2,000 to 2,500 bf in a day with our LT40 Super, rollers, edger, dust collector, live infeed deck, tricked out hydraulics, good weather, no problems or interruptions, good logs, making ties or beams and 4/4 off the sides.  We've even topped 3,500 bf in 5 hours with son helping and super good logs.  But man, those are killer days! 

Even when we have two people offbearing and edging and I'm heads down sawing,  I'm often in some pause mode waiting for the offbearier.  Maybe only a couple of seconds but when you figure it happens hundreds of times a day,  that really adds up to lost potential production.

Today I worked alone and made 5 12' beams and 4/4 lumber off the sides.  I worked at a steady but not breakneck speed.   The work was tedious and detailed and it paid to not make mistakes.  I quit early in the afternoon – about 3:00 – with a little over 500 bf sawn.  It was a good production day as far as I'm concerned. 

I once had a long conversation with a guy considering buying an LT70.  He wanted to go into the sawmill business.  Since he was going to work alone,  I advised him to go with an LT40 hydraulic or an LT40 Super Hydraulic AND an edger.   My reasoning was that one person can't take advantage of an LT70's potential production.  While one person can saw with an LT40 HD and keep up edging.  Anyone that can really run and LT40 Super and keep up edging on an edger, is one tough dude.

Oh yea,  I think it was CustomSawyer that got a hydraulic power pack like we've installed on our LT40 Super.  Right?  I don't know if he hooked it to the LT70 or the Super.  DanG, do you know?

[woodmills1]

It's been raining on and off for three days here so no break neck for me slippin and slidin.  the drive is near finished but I am set up on greasy topsoil out of the way.  I am completly impressed with my numbers and not sore at all.

first a picture of the customers 1100 bd ft stack with another 1.5 hrs work added in between rain drops this morning







and now the extra table   does this baby have a name?

[DanG]

Bibby, he has the remote hydraulic supply hooked up to the 70.  I don't think he had it before making the switch, but I'm not sure.  I know he said it made a big difference in production, though.  Keep in mind that his is an all-out, balls-to-the-wall production operation.  It is like one big portable job that lasts forever and has a production oriented customer.

I sure don't want to seem to be criticizing Millsey's decision to upgrade.  He has aquired a couple of outstanding pieces of equipment, and it will enhance his business.  Whether he chooses to utilize the potential to make more money, or simply to gain an extra hour of recliner time, is strictly up to him. ;)

[woodmills1]

James Millzy is glad someone is callen him millzy since dad is gone :D >:( >:( >:( :(


said that I never wooda till the ofer, and now itsa here  so isa da ting and itsa sucha ting i kanna night kidda believe itsa kindaa ting.

also BTW  its james not jimmy or jimbo hadda ex who made sure I needed the extra of James as in too many fat jimmy skinny jimmy or just jimbo.   



me I wouldn't care as in ifin yopu upers bea talkin to me I a bein anserin

[woodmills1]

soa talka I donate     




justa jokin not from michgan herea thena

[Bibbyman]

'Nother something to think about when using the edger..   

Back while sawing the log... When I get a log that's got a lot of butt flair or is rough with knots and bumps,  I will tend to take all four slabs off before I start taking off flitches.   This reduces the irregular size of the flitches quite a bit.   

If the log is really rough,  I will what we call barrel saw it.  That is,  turn the log only 45 and make eight faces – thus taking a lot of the flair off the butt.  On the "odd" four faces I just take off some of the flair and any protrusions. This will make the flitches much easier to handle and go through the edger without problems.

[woodmills1]

I remember when you posted the pictures of quarter sawing that I wondered why you made those "barrel cuts"

[woodmills1]

I don't know what happened but I tried to correct the spelling in the last picture post and now the pictures are gone and I can't get them back on the post

[beenthere]

It's been raining on and off for three days here so no break neck for me slippin and slidin.  the drive is near finished but I am set up on greasy topsoil out of the way.  I am completly impressed with my numbers and not sore at all.

first a picture of the customers 1100 bd ft stack with another 1.5 hrs work added in between rain drops this morning







and now the extra table   does this baby have a name?

You dropped a    g]    off the image line on the first pic.  If you do a "quote" of your message, you will see what is missing from the line of code.

[woodmills1]

anyone know what the other table is called?



and man wait till tommorows pics I gotta customer logs alla ova da place

[Bibbyman]

What other table?  I just know of the one above in your picture. 

[woodmills1]

sorry I somehow lost the picture on my post but, been there's repost has it


woodmizer red table with rollers that has no obvious hook up


need help but am using it

[ellmoe]

  A roller table?

[woodmills1]

ok will try to post the roller table pics again





any idea what this is called and what it connects to?

[Brucer]

any idea what this is called and what it connects to?

It's a "Board Outfeed Table". It doesn't connect to anything in particular. I've seen it set up at demo's with an LT40 Super or LT70 between the front end of the saw and an edger.

[woodmills1]

That is how I am using it, put the flitches on it while using the mill.  I tried to run the mill and the edger at the same time, but that makes me run around lika mad man.

[woodmills1]

I have three cut customer logs jobe lined up.  I did the pick up for one on saturday, and a first pickup for another on friday.  Here are 2 shots of the cutomer logs


this first one has logs on the ground and on the trailer with 1100 bd ft cut on temp stikers behind







this second is a fat load of pine and oak from a customer who usually has a few short small oaks to cut

[woodmills1]

the customer with the fat pines said make me all 1by 6 and 1 by 8


I was like dude from a huge cut like that you are getting some 5/4 22 inch boards and from the little ones you get 1 by 6


BTW cut at the rate of 245 bd ft/hr today working alone
the LT70 is a thing of beauty