A Little Cedar

[Magicman]

Road trips are exciting and always have their special rewards.  This one is 58 miles away and 100% ERC.  We are staying at the customer's cabin, eating well, and sleeping even better.

I did not take any pictures of the log whacks, and since it is hourly rate, I do not know the actual bf.  Three days of sawing yielded about 5Mbf, all 1" and random widths and lengths.


 
One of three stacks lumber.


 
Ready to move the sawmill to the next log whack. 

[CalebL]

would you mind getting a picture of your cedar slabs sometime?  I am starting to think I am the only one who gets cedar with a heavy taper. 

[Magicman]

If I remember I will.  These were mostly 8' logs and the great majority of them had a 2" difference between the small and large end.  I could just raise the small end 1" and saw.

Some had sweep which dictated the opening face. A few showed signs of stress so the cant had to be rotated 180° to maintain even boards.

[Magicman]

would you mind getting a picture of your cedar slabs sometime? 

 
Log taper never was an issue with these logs so very little went into the slab piles.  This is the beginning of another slab pile.

[WDH]

Somebody needs to have a stickering party.

[Bill Gaiche]

MM, when was the last time that you put some wax on that poor ole mill? bg

[markd]

Is that an umbrella I see hanging on the mill? Boy some people have it easy!!

[Magicman]

About ¼ of that lumber pile had been stickered by Tuesday AM when I got there. 

WAX !!!   

I seriously doubt that I could have sawed the last two day without that umbrella.  Mid to high 90's.   

[captain_crunch]

Markd
Bumbershure is mm' trademark ;D ;D

[Magicman]

Yup, I ride in the shade.   ;D

That saw job was hourly rate, but measuring the lumber stacks showed it to be about 7Mbf.  This week was concentrating on sawing 4X4, 6X6, and mantels, with side lumber.

Now the customer is in marketing.   ;D

[Cedarman]

Now the customer is in marketing.   ;D

Shouldn't marketing come before sawing?   ???

[Ga Mtn Man]

Ready to move the sawmill to the next log whack.

MM,  About how long does it take you to move the mill and be ready to saw again?

[Magicman]

Shouldn't marketing come before sawing?   ???

He has sold Cedar in the past, so I hope that he has some outlets.  He has just retired so at least he has the time now since all retired folks have this abundance of time on their hands.   :D

[Magicman]

MM,  About how long does it take you to move the mill and be ready to saw again? 

Actual take down and setup is less than 30 minutes.  Probably no more than 15 minutes.

On this saw job  LINK  I had to move the sawmill to saw each log.  If I remember correctly, I moved the sawmill 15 times on that job,  all on hourly rate.

[kgbond]

MM, on logs with a large taper, are you going to bring to level 3 sides of the log?  I know this is a beginners question but I am not sure if I am wasting  a lot of wood.

Kimball

[shelbycharger400]

kgbond

depends upon what your doin.    generally most people want a nice LONG board with one edge straight or both.

I have a bunch here i cut unedged.   that way if i need it 8" wide it can be,  or if i need a few short boards at 10 to 12 in wide... i can use the same board.

[Magicman]

If there are no defects I level the center of the log.  If there is a lot of taper, sometimes you can get some short boards on the first couple of cuts.  With Cedar, I would rather get my full length boards from the center of the log.

Other species, I may level the top of the log and finally discard the pith wedge on the 4th face opening.  Since I do not market lumber, it all depends upon what my customer wants.

[kgbond]

I looked at the pics of the job. Oh my God what a tremendous amount of work you did with no tractor. Please take some time off!

Kimball

[Magicman]

No picture of a tractor does not mean no tractor.  The customer had a 50 hp 4WD Kubota/forks and a Case skidsteer.

Actually, I did not average but 1400 bf per day.