Selling price for ERC?

[francismilker]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum.  I used to own a homemade portable bandmill back in the nineties and have recently purchased a WM LT-10.  I don't have any intentions of sawing for the public unless it's on a very limited basis.  By the time I milk the cows I'm not left with much time!

Anyway, I used to sell ERC for $1.00 per bd.ft. about 15 years ago. (depending on board width)

What does ERC fresh off the mill sell for now?  I've already been questioned by a hobby woodworker or two for a few boards for crafting and don't know what to charge.

Thanks.

[thecfarm]

francismilker,welcome to the forum.   Like that LT10? :D How many cows you milking? Besides too many.  ;D

[francismilker]

Glad to be here!  Milking anywhere between 75-125 depending on how many I have fresh. And yes, 1 is too many!!!

As far as the LT-10 goes, I don't know if I like it or not.  I just sent them the money last week, got my "paid" invoice via email, and received my new packet with bumper sticker in the mail.  It was supposed to be shipped last Thursday but I'm told now it will be at least Oct 1st before it ships.  The bandmill I used to own was shopbuilt by an old fellow from Georgia that had been in the woods all his life.  He had relocated to OK after his spouse died and put up shop building custom mills.  I really liked the product he sold and he was awesome with technical advice as well as sawing advice.  The mill was a 4-post head on a 4x6 tubing carriage that had tandem axles and powered by a 22hp V-twin B&S.  It would saw 20' X35" logs and I never had any probs exept some excessive blade guide bearing wear and tear. I added a hydraulic power pack on the front end and made some log loading and turning forks as well as added a hydraulic log leveling cylinder.


I sold the mill after two years because someone up and offered my more than I thought it was worth. I've kicked myself for it ever since.  When I got the itch to get another mill a few months back I went to the old fellows house to find out he's been dead for 10 years.  R.I.P.

Anyway, I decided on the WM based on the name and warranty.  I know I bought the hobby version but hope to start off with it by putting it on a rectangular tubing skid and leveling system so I can move it onto my trailer easier.  I have an abundance of ERC on my place and surrounding neighbors that is easy logging.

A few years ago, I hired a dozer to come out and clear some timber and told him to leave all ERC's over 10" in diameter.  The guy just shook his head and said, "That's a first for me. I've never left a Cedar."
I told him they were worth enough in sawed lumber to pay his dozing wages and he just chuckled in disbelief.  A year or two later, who would you guess showed up at my place to buy some cedar boards for building a chest.  I drug out my clipboard from under the milling shed and showed him receipts for sales of double his dozing expense.  After that, when he gets a call to clear some good ground with lots of ERC, he calls me and tells me to come cut all I want before he gets there.  It's a win-win!

[Cedarman]

I have an extensive price list on my website www.cedarusa.com for ERC here in Indiana.  I also use the list to price lumber we ship all over the US.  Notice orders under 50' I add 50 cents a foot and orders less than 100' I add 25 cents a foot.
Doesn't mean I have cedar priced right, they are just my prices.
We sell from Aaron's mill in Stillwater fot those prices too.
Prices are usually determined by what is normal pricing in your area from any other mills that may be sawing.
You should do well sawing and selling cedar in SE Ok.
Log costs shoujld be "reasonable". ;D ;D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Cedarman, I appreciate you posting your pricing guidelines. This will help me dealing with customers and having something to show them of how Cedar is priced in others parts of the country.

[Cedarman]

Poston, you are welcome.
Richard

[francismilker]

Thanks a million cedarman!

[Delawhere Jack]

A retail yard nearby in PA is asking $3/bf for 4/4, ungraded. They don't specify, but I think it is KD.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum,    francismilker.   

[francismilker]

In the late 90's I was pricing ERC as follows:

$1.00 per bd. ft for 1X4 and under

For every inch wider it got the price went up. 

1x12 sold for $1.50   

I sold outer slab boards for a flat $1.00 each no matter how wide, long, or thick they were.

[Okrafarmer]

I sell green ERC for $2 / bf, and kd for $3. I haven't dealt with it yet, but if I have anything over 10" wide, it will be a little more. I have a few big logs I will be milling soon, over 12", and will have some stuff that will be more expensive. Around here, the big mills pay pallet price or low-grade hardwood price for cedar, around $175- 200 / kbf. Little guys have to pay around $300-400 kbf. Or go find it themselves.

[francismilker]

Okra,
Help me with the acronym "kbf".  I'm not sure on some of this new logging lingo I'm seeing.  It will take me a while!

[beenthere]

I believe he means mbf, (thousand board feet)  ;)

[shelbycharger400]

The neighborhood of $2 to $3/ bd foot, at One inch thick seemed to move fairly well this year. I do hobby milling.  Most of what I did have was 6 in to 14 in wide.
Heavy brown rot boards I sold for $1 to $ 1.50/ bd foot

[Cedarman]

Just sold 4  4 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 34 for $360    each.
We dry for $.25 per board foot.  But we can dry 9000 feet at a time in one week and use and outdoor woodburner for heat source. 

[Magicman]

Help me with the acronym "kbf".

beenthere answered your question, but I wanted to spell it out because it is a bit confusing.  For some reason lumber is measured using the Roman numeral M for 1,000 instead of k for kilo (1,000). 

[shelbycharger400]

cedarman,  was that 34 inches or 34 feet?

[okmulch]

He meant 34 feet.  Here they are.

[Okrafarmer]

Help me with the acronym "kbf".

beenthere answered your question, but I wanted to spell it out because it is a bit confusing.  For some reason lumber is measured using the Roman numeral M for 1,000 instead of k for kilo (1,000). 

Sorry, I grew up in Maine where everything was per board foot, so instead of saying 350 per thousand, we'd say 35 cents per board foot. So I never heard about anyone saying "per thousand" or see it written in any way until I got down south. Having grown up in Maine, up there at least, and maybe elsewhere, I got used to people talking about how many miles were on a car, by saying, like, "my Subaru has a hundred and twenty k on it." A grand was a thousand dollars, a k was a thousand miles, (to be more confusing, a k was also a kilometer in some instances), and a head was a single cow (  : ) . I didn't know how to abbreviate 1,000 bf, but fell back on how we always did miles.  :-\

[beenthere]

I didn't know how to abbreviate 1,000 bf, but fell back on how we always did miles. 

Not to worry Okra.

We picked you up.  ;D

[francismilker]

OKmulch,
Those are some dandy looking cedars.  I've got a few like that down in the river bottom that I intend on getting to once I have a path sawed out that I can get my tractor through to skid them out.  Did the beams go to someone doing some timber-frame construction? 

I was cruising timber the other day in the bottom and found two that will go 30" in diameter by 40' or so in length.  (don't think the Lt-10 with the one bed extension is going to handle the that well but shouldn't be a problem because I intend on slabbing them into 8' boards that are 1" thick.  Problem is, most of the ERC's I sawed that big in the past are piffy in the center.)

[Tree Feller]

I can buy kiln-dried 4/4 ERC for $1.85.

Yeah, those large Cedars are often hollow or rotten in the center.

[Okrafarmer]

I can buy kiln-dried 4/4 ERC for $1.85.

Me too, or less. But I sell it for $3 / bf.

[WDH]

I sell it green for $2.  That is low volume. 

[Cedarman]

Those were sound cedars except for 1.  The 34 footers were 11" at small end and except for 1, straight as an arrow.
The 4x8's are used for ridge beams in some nice cabins.
It is a pain to saw 34' on a 22' mill.  We made a platform at the overhang end and used a pallet jack to raise, lower and help slide logs.