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How quick to get logs to a mill

Started by TapHead, August 16, 2011, 09:09:38 PM

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TapHead

Newbie question here,

     How quickly do different species of sawlogs and pulpwood need to get to a mill after cutting before losing any value. I live in northwestern Vermont and recently acquired 180 acres with the intention of thinning for sugarwoods. There is a lot of hard/soft maple, ash, and hickory, and some oak, white and yellow birch. Thinking of doing as much as I can myself but not sure if I can do it at a pace that can get the most value from the wood.

chevytaHOE5674

In the summer it needs to happen fairly quickly with your white woods (maples, birches, ash, etc) or they will stain and be worth less.

In the winter months logs and pulpwood can sit for a while as long as they are frozen. But as soon as spring comes with the warm sun they can turn moldy quickly.

treefarmer87

as soon as you can get them bucked and on the truck!
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thecfarm

It use to take my Father and me a month to cut a load. This was only 5000bf,10 or 10 cord. I had a full time job at the time. Never heard the sawmill complain,but almost turned back one load at the paper mill. Took us quite a while to get load of pulp.
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mad murdock

Welcome to the best place on the WWW TapHead.  Most mills put out a spec sheet with their published prices, talk to the mills woodbuyer, he will 'splain  it to you.  Most mills want the logs from the stump to the mill as soon as a guy can reaasonably get them there.  Some species need extra attention to see that the don't sit too long during non-winter months, the guidlines that chevytaHOE5674 outlined are good rules to go by.
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ahlkey

If the logs are going to sit for any length of time seal the ends with something like Anchorseal.  I do that routinely no matter how long they may be stacked before sawing.  Another advantage is that once the logs are sealed it doesn't need further application when air drying.

I have sawed some hardwoods after one year and still got some decent grade boards for flooring but make sure the logs are off the ground and not in the direct sunlight. However, the best results will always be from the stump to the mill as soon as possible.

lumberjack48

We always planed the blocks out so after spring break we would be in pulpwood up to Oct., if we had some log timber, i had to call the saw mill and see if they would take it, and if they did take it, it had to be sawed with in two weeks or it would stain.

treefarmer87 is right on the money, when ever i cut wet saw timber, it was at the mill the same day i cut it. Then if it didn't get sawed with in two weeks it was their fault.

I always cut log timber Oct. 1 to March, 15
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

zopi

Heh...buy yerself a mill and saw it yourself and build the sugarshack...split and sell of the slabs and branched as firewood to help recoup the cost of the mill...

Heh...another sawdust addict coming up!
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