Quartersawing and Pricing

[Ronnie]

I had a guy call me today who has two pin oak logs he wants quartersawn. One is 40" by 12' the other is 30" by 10'. My mill won't handle the 40" but he wants a price on quartersawing the 30". This would be my first paying customer and my first attempt at quartersawing. I have no idea how to price this any help on the sawing and pricing would be appreciated.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Ronnie, can you whittle that 40 inch log down and then quarter saw it?

Go to You tube and search quarter sawing. There's a neat video on there that shows you how.

About pricing? I have sold quarter sawn Sycamore and White and Red Oak for $2.25 a BF and up. The lumber was green.

If I quarter saw someone else's logs, I charge $50.00 and hour.

[dgdrls]

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,55404.msg800859.html#msg800859

I believe this thread is partially in line with your question.

I would advise your customer of your current skill set.
Big logs with more responsibility, If he says go,
I would charge as much or more than what other mills charge in your area.

Let us know how you make out.

Best DGDrls

[T Welsh]

Quartering will take you twice as long on the average. since its not your log but the customers,just charge an amount that you are comfortable with by the hour and have at it. Quarter sawing is custom,and custom costs ;). Tim

[customsawyer]

You can rip the bigger log in half with a chainsaw and end up with a large amount of quarter sawn lumber. This is best if you have a edger. If you go to my gallery you will be able to see several pics I have taken doing this.

[Ronnie]

The customer called back with new log measurements the big one is 36" X 10'. I can squeeze that onto the Tk2000. According to the log weight calculator it weighs about 4500 lbs. that's the max for the TK2000. They didn't have pin oak on the scale so I used red oak and that was green weight and this log is a year old so maybe a little lighter? Dimentions and weight will be maxed out for the 2000.
I would hate to charge him any hourly rate when it's probably going to take me awhile to get this quartering sawing figured out. I will be moving slow and cautious especially with a 4500 lb log! Goodness that's a chunk. So I could put a cap on my fee if I knew how long it would take a more seasoned sawyer. So my question is how long should it take to quarter saw this log and is there anything I should be aware of by maxing the weight limit of the mill. I will have to load it with the mills loader arms they have a 5000lb lifting capacity and the manual says don't put a log heavier than 4500lbs on the mill.

[WDH]

Check out this thread.  This a good way to do it on big logs.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,41033.msg591939.html#msg591939

[backwoods sawyer]

Charge your hourly rate as you will be earning it.
Splitting the log may be necessary so go prepared for that option as well and charge to split it. 

I quarter sawed a pair 11' black oak  logs that were over sized for about $250 each.

[Ronnie]

I told this customer he won't get as many board feet out of these logs if I quartersaw them compared to flat sawing. He was concerned about having enough lumber to build his pergola. Hope I told him right. When quartersawing isn't it difficult to have much dimensional lumber. Won't you end up with a lot of different widths? If he is going to use this lumber to build a pergola wouldn't it be better to turn it into a cant and give him the dimensions he needs? Also is there that much waste in quartersawing or do you just end up with a lot of different widths? Do you go for the most quartersawn material you can get regardless of width?

Thanks for your help you guys!
Ron Paul

[Brad_S.]

Wow, lots of red and yellow flags flying here!
Pin oak is a terrible choice for building an outdoor pergola. Like red oak, the open pores will soak in rain and rot in a few years.
Pin oak also doesn't look good quarter sawn and IMHO isn't worth the hassel, but you are getting paid all the same so no big deal.
Yes, there is a lot of waste when QS and nearly impossible to get dimensional lumber while doing so.
You would greatly benefit from having a loader to help you. You will need to take at least one cut on each face to fit it through the throat before QS, won't you? The TK may not be able to rotate a log that size on it's own. Also, once you make that first cut through the center, you will need to remove the upper half of the log to continue. It is a major chore to get that off the log and off the mill safely and once it is off, it will be difficult to load back on because it is no longer round.
Good luck!!

[Ronnie]

Thanks Brad

I agree pin oak for outdoor wood doesn't make since. My mill would pick and turn the log but removing the slabs halves or quarters of this beast would be tricky. I was looking forward to figuring this chore out but I think I will advise him to pick a different species for his pergola and if he wants his pin oak cut up I will flat saw it for him at my board foot rate.

Thanks for everybody's input
Ron Paul

[Magicman]

Ronnie, there is a slight alternative where you can retain all of the log and produce QS and Rift sawn lumber.  This actually is my preferred method of sawing when the customer wants as much QS as possible, will accept rift sawn lumber, and does not want a large variety of lumber widths.

Say take that 30" log and make the largest cant possible, say 24".  Now saw through the entire cant leaving 6" on the top and 6" on the bottom.  Remove these 24" wide center boards.  Now turn these two 6'X24" cants upright and do the same.  This will leave you with four 6"X6" cants which will produce Rift lumber.  You also have two stacks of 6" QS lumber and you can now process those first 24" boards into QS and a few flat grade sawed boards plus a couple of pith boards.

I realize that I was hitting the high spots, but you get the idea. 

[Ronnie]

Thanks Magicman that helps a lot!!!!!

Ron Paul ( not the one running for president )