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post and pole questions

Started by mahonda, July 03, 2010, 12:55:39 PM

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mahonda

I need to come up with prices for six inch lodge pole posts and ten inch posts, twelve and eighteen foot. And I have a guy that needs six twelve foot posts with a natural looking Y in the top. I think its going to be impossible to find six that will work. Any suggestions/ideas. thanks!
"If your lucky enough to be a logger your lucky enough!"
Burly aka Dad

Jim_Rogers

Recently, I had to come up with a price for some short log posts. I converted the size to board feet and in my area we use International scale. Then I converted that to dollars and that was the price. You should get more than what you'd get taking them to the mill, and maybe a little less then if they were milled out to timbers. I charged them the same price as if they were milled, and they (the customers) were fine with that price

If you have to cut down taller trees to get the fork at the top to the right size or length then maybe add something for all that extra wood, unless you can sell that off as sawlogs.

I always charge more for any timber of 16' as it is a special order item to get that log from my logger.

Hope that helps some.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

mahonda

Thanks a bunch, any way that you know of to make a fork without a lot of time and labor or waste of wood? just so hard to find a good natural one and it has to be lodgepole. I'm thinking the guy who drew the plans hasn't had to build anything like this himself.
"If your lucky enough to be a logger your lucky enough!"
Burly aka Dad

Jim_Rogers

You'll probably never find them all exactly like he wants them. Find what you can even if one side is bigger then the other. Even if it truly isn't a great shaped fork.
Then tell them that each one is unique and that they will have to work with them as they are.
If they want them to be truly forks then they'll have to pay more and wait longer until you can find them and get them exactly like he wants them.

Charge for your time searching the wood/forest for what they want, by the hour and tell them up front that you'll have to do this or accept what you find and work with it.

Tell them how rare a request this is and how hard it's truly going to be to find them exactly like he wants them. And how long it's going to take to get them.

Be upfront with them and tell them. This will make them more understanding when you bring them something that isn't totally what they want, and hopefully they will accept them and use them.

Other than that, they'll have to learn how to scribe fit a round branch to a round pole to make it look like a fork. Ask them if they can do that now. If they can get them some poles and some smaller branches or poles and let them do it.

Good luck with your search and project.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Jim_Rogers

A timber framer emailed me another solution. He suggested cutting the end of the pole and then soaking the end to make it pliable and bent each half out to create a fork.

In the round barn at the shaker village near Pittsfield MA they did that with the rafters. Near the center of the building the rafters are 4x10's or something like that. And then about half way out to the outer wall they are sawn down the middle to make two 2x10's or so. I don't have a good picture of this but if I get a chance next time I'm out there this September, I'll see if I can get one.

Jim Rogers

Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

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