iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

The season for milling??

Started by bikedude73, September 23, 2009, 03:40:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

bikedude73

Just getting into this and was not sure if the info I got about "the season" for milling was fall and winter.  Any insight would be helpful for my business planning..... :P  Thanks to everyone on here for all your help

tyb525

For me, it's year round. I prefer cooler weather but not below freezing, that way I don't have to take the water jug in every time I'm not sawing!
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

Banjo picker

The bark stays on the logs better in the winter...not as messy around the mill ...when the sap starts to come up in the spring it makes the bark turn loose esaier on some species...Tim
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

Dave Shepard

I like sawing in colder weather better. I can be lazier about dealing with dead-piled lumber. I also don't like to be out in the hot sun. I must say that below 20 F becomes a exercise in decreasing returns on investment of energy. I saw a lot of eastern white pine, and it will stain and mold pretty quick in the warmer months. I do saw year round, with each season bringing it's own challenges. Years ago a lot of farmers were loggers, sawyers and mill hands in the winter. Made sense, and some extra money.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Tom

Milling in cold weather is supposed to keep you from having to deal with so much runny sap, stain, insect damage and makes it easier to move logs if you have snow and ice (I only heard that), so it's easier for logging too.  I guess frozen ground gets you into swamps that you normally couldn't reach and frozen roads will carry more weight with less damage.

It doesn't get cold enough down here in Florida to make that kind of difference.  What it does is keeps us from having to deal with 100 degree temperatures and mosquitoes.  We also get a break on the insect damage and blue stain isn't quite so quick.

We saw year round and just adjust our efforts to match the temperature.   In the winter, we run in and get by the fire and in the summer, we go get in the shade or the air-conditioner.  It makes production pretty much even itself out.  :D

You will probably find, unless you are buying logs from loggers who control your accesss, that the best time to mill is as soon as you can get to the logs.  You just learn to live with the aggravations of the seasons.  :)

OneWithWood

If you are aiming to be a portable custom sawyer type the best time to mill logs is when the customer wants it done.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Chuck White

All of my milling is mobile!
So, I have to be able to access the customers logs and in winter's deep snow, that isn't always possible.
Besides that, if it's below freezing at mid-day, I'm not sawing!
I usually start sawing around mid-April and quit around early-November with an average production of around 60,000 board feet!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

red oaks lumber

we saw year round, winter time  the customer plows snow before we get there. the only time  i can't saw is colder than minus 10 f the board freezes right back to the log, but that is still better than 90 deg.
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

Papa1stuff

No freezing is better than 90deg! ;D ;D
1987 PB Grader with forks added to bucket
2--2008 455 Rancher Husky
WM CBN Sharpener & Setter

ARKANSAWYER


  I saw year round and like 90 to 100 best.  It thins out the whimps real quick and the boards dry faster.   It is hard for me to move with "layers" of clothes on and you know us hillbillies we hardly wear shoes.   Winter's bad weather means I have to keep more logs in stock which means I have more logs then normal that will not fill the orders I am sawing.
ARKANSAWYER

Papa1stuff

1987 PB Grader with forks added to bucket
2--2008 455 Rancher Husky
WM CBN Sharpener & Setter

red oaks lumber

up north here,  men are men and the women are too!
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

Papa1stuff

I used to live up north and from what I ved seen a lot of the men have moved here where it is warm smiley_clapping and Women too! ;D
1987 PB Grader with forks added to bucket
2--2008 455 Rancher Husky
WM CBN Sharpener & Setter

bandmiller2

I would rather the snow-en than the blow-en but geography aside winter is the time for milling pine no blue stain.The only pine we cut in the summer is for barn board or fence.Of course me and old tom are spoiled rotten lt70 electric ,radiant floor heat,mercury vapor lighting and enough room to keep several days cutting under cover.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Magicman

Fall and Spring seasons are my busiest times.  When it is below freezing, I start a little later in the morning, and when it is over 100 degrees, I start by 6:00 AM and knock off at around 1:00 PM..... :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Frickman

I saw year round. The markets for high quality hardwood grade lumber are usually better in the winter months because of stain issues, and my markets for barn and utility lumber are usually better in the summer during construction season, so everything seems to even itself out.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

Coleman

Most sawyers here in Canada prefer winter/early spring and fall sawing - esp when sawing Pine.  Pine Beetles and moulds are difficult in the warm summer months.

If you do cut pine in the summer a constant water sprinkling over the pine will keep the bugs and moulds off.  Then right after cutting, soak the cut lumber in a fungicide and let it dry...  Otherwise you'll hear the Pine Beetle larvae croaking from the logs and the blue moulds flourishing.

Fla._Deadheader


I'm with Arky.  8) 8) 8)  Never gets below 65° or over 90°.  Helpers start dragging, just because they think they can control the sawing rate.

  This old man don't play that game.  ::) ::)  I put Reina on 'em, and she gets the gravy runnin.  It's an insult for a little woman to out work these strong young guys.  8) 8) 8) ;D ;D ;D

  When y'all get too cold, just drop on down. I always have some sawin to do, and NO snow ???  8) 8)
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Brucer

Spring is nice, but I don't get many orders then.

Summer is too DanG hot, but that's when the orders start coming in.'

Fall is crazy. As soon as the kids are back in school, people suddenly remember that project they meant to do. I'll be going flat out, with a 4 week backlog.

Winter's a pain. Heavy, wet snow sticks to the bed rails and has to be scraped off each time you turn a cant. And Tom, when a frozen snow-covered log comes off the loader onto those stainless rails, that's when things get real exciting. Having to spend an hour digging out the mill for every hour of sawing isn't a picnic, either.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

T Red

Quote from: Brucer on October 10, 2009, 01:42:09 AM

Summer is too DanG hot, but that's when the orders start coming in.


Just wondering what temperature too DanG hot is in BC?


Tim

Papa1stuff

1987 PB Grader with forks added to bucket
2--2008 455 Rancher Husky
WM CBN Sharpener & Setter

Brucer

Quote from: T Red on October 10, 2009, 10:24:35 AM

Just wondering what temperature too DanG hot is in BC?


Over 30 degrees is too DanG hot. It never gets that hot unless the sun is beating down on you.

(Oh, yeah -- that'll be 86 degrees in 'American' ;D)
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Fil-Dill

When sawing for furniture lumber, is it any different for drying, whether there is sap flowing or more dormant for winter.
EZ boardwalk 40

tyb525

I've *heard* it's better to fell trees and saw logs in the winter when the sap is down, not exactly sure why, I suppose it's because of the lower sap level.

Someone will have to confirm or debunk that ;D
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

WDH

Sap up and sap down is a myth.  The moisture content of the wood in a tree is generally constant throughout the year.  If the sap is up, the tree is alive.  If the sap is down, the tree is dead  :).
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

tyb525

I believe you, but why do trees such as Maples produce more sap from wounds in the spring then any other time of the year? Just curious.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

weisyboy

the season for sawing if whenever the customer wants the timber.

here in the spring logs bark easy, if it rains tehy will bark right threw till mid summer (like this year there just gettin hard to bark now) ironbarks coming to the mill need to be barked and anything for split or round posts.

but it dont matter how hot or cold it gets if timber needs cuttin ill be there.

i dont like it when it gets so cold my hands stick to the push rail of the mill.
god bless america god save the queen god defend new zealand and thank christ for Australia
www.weisssawmilling.com.au
http://www.youtube.com/user/weisyboy?feature=mhee
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000696669814&sk=photos

ARKANSAWYER

 In the fall and winter you will have less stain, bugs and checking if you saw at that time.  The sap or moisture has nothing to do with it. 
ARKANSAWYER

Bibbyman

We saw all year round.  I don't like to buy many logs ahead in the late spring and summer.  They tend to dry too fast in the heat and crack.  The sap also stains quickly in the summer.  Winter cut logs tend to stay fresh until late spring.  





Dealing with frozen logs is the real problem in the winter.  When it first turns cold, the exposed ends and sides of the logs on the top of the stacks will freeze.  The insides and or one side may not be froze.  Then it'll get real cold for a couple of weeks and the logs will totaly freeze through and through.  Then later they'll start to thaw in the spring.  You'll go thorugh weeks of having logs thawed on the ends and the sides exosed to the sun but frozen in the middle and on the down side.  Those on the bottom may still be frozen solid.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Kansas

We saw year around, but the winter definitely presents challenges. As Bibby said, logs freeze, half freeze, etc. 

Guess if you have a customer that wants lumber, you can get the blade through wood, and make a profit then its the season.

WDH

Quote from: tyb525 on January 30, 2011, 12:14:04 AM
I believe you, but why do trees such as Maples produce more sap from wounds in the spring then any other time of the year? Just curious.

It is a good question.  I am not sure that I can answer it.  I suspect that the tree is gearing up the growth engine to grow another year and it is sending stored sugar in the form of sap to the roots to wake them up and get them cracking so more of it is available in the inner bark than in other times of the year.  

The tree begins to pump water up from the roots in greater quantity so that it can send down the reserves of sugar to the roots to get the engine running. 
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

bandmiller2

Best time to cut is when someone comes around with a fist full of dollars and wants something.As ole Shep said earlier up here in the northeast winter was always mill time couldn't work the farm.I do believe the only reason the old timers boiled down sap was their was little else to do and they were stircrazy and wanted to get out and do something.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Thank You Sponsors!