In what order to you cut them?

[francismilker]

Back when I had a mill a few years ago, I often found myself at first cutting the heart out of the watermelon and doing the "easy" logs first. It wouldn't be long before I'd find myself with a dozen or more hard, seasoned, knotty, twisted, and lots of tension in them walnuts sitting there looking me in the face before I'd finally bite the bullet and cut them one day. 

I've vowed this time to cut them as I get them and make it a point to not put the easy ones first. 

Do you ever see yourself cutting the easy ones first and leaving the hard ones for last? ???

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Not really....but I see your point. I just get a load with the Fork lift, line' em up to the mill and like they say in a barber shop....."NEXT". 

[Magicman]

I never cull and class.  I take the "hide with the hair" and saw them as I get to them.  Sometimes though the customer will drag a hidden log out at the ending of a saw job.  Many times, I will just throw it up there and saw it for free.

It is amazing how many times that will prompt a customer to give me a nice tip.   

[learner]

I just cut as I get them and adjust for what is needed to keep enough of each type drying so that I allways have some for sale.  I Have found that mixing up the load order keeps me on my toes as far as staying on top of the best ways to cut different species.  It also helps me stay flexable so that I'm allways ready when custom orders come in.
The better you know your mill and how it cuts different types of wood helps you go with the flow and turn out great cuts no matter what type of wood it is.  Being able to change blades, cutting speeds and techniques on the fly keeps the lumber moving off the mill and your customers Happy.
The easy logs are allways my favorite but they aren't allways what is needed.  Whereabouts in SE Oklahoma are you francismilker?  I was born in Stillwater and have family in Euafaula.

I never cull and class.  I take the "hide with the hair" and saw them as I get to them.  Sometimes though the customer will drag a hidden log out at the ending of a saw job.  Many times, I will just throw it up there and saw it for free.

It is amazing how many times that will prompt a customer to give me a nice tip.   

Magicman does that include sweetgum Sir?  ;D

[sgschwend]

I cutting customer softwood logs, the list a material may vary.  I found that I was more effective if I primarily cut one size part at a time.  Not always but often one size softwood log is better for heavier parts or siding.  Everything stacks better that way too.

[Magicman]

Steve makes a good point.  I do prefer that the different species be sawed together.  For example, all of the Oak, then all of the Sweetgum (for you learner), then all of the Pine.  When sawing framing lumber, I want a cut list so I can saw the larger dimensions out first and progress to the smaller dimensions.  Also if there are knotty logs, we may want to saw the flat lumber from them instead or making 2X4's or 2X6's that have knots and are weak and/or may break.

You always have to read your logs to determine what lumber they will best produce.

[Chuck White]

I saw mobile and I saw in the order that the logs are stacked.

It really keeps me on my toes too.

My last sawjob of the year, just a couple weeks ago was a prime example!

In the stack was the following:

Hard Maple
Tamarack
White Pine
Hemlock
Basswood

The stack was in no particular order, just a stack!

[Cedarman]

When sawing custom orders we always saw longest first as some of the long boards get shortened because of defects.  That way we won't end up with too many short boards.

[Bibbyman]

Since we load the deck, I try to load the longest and biggest logs first.  This produces a stack sorted by lengths so it's easier to tally.  Also, I generally have a fresh blade on to start with to use on what I figure will be the toughest sawing.

[ladylake]

I saw mobile and I saw in the order that the logs are stacked.

It really keeps me on my toes too.

My last sawjob of the year, just a couple weeks ago was a prime example!

In the stack was the following:

Hard Maple
Tamarack
White Pine
Hemlock
Basswood

The stack was in no particular order, just a stack!

Chuck  How did the tamarack saw?  I just got done with 6000 bf, the first day I used water and had to run it heavy.  The second day it was only 20 above and ran diesel, about a drop every 2 seconds kept the blade clean.   Steve

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Ill saw them any old way they come when doing production cutting as you are generally sawing fixed length logs  ;) Custom orders like others Ill start with the longs and work your way down  ;)

Butt or Top first it dont really matter  ;)

Rgards Chris

[5quarter]

I know how you feel. Aside from customers logs, I can pick and choose what I want to saw and in what order. I try to cut all the big, ugly, nasty ones first, but it doesn't always work out that way. I have to balance that with higher grade logs that I try to get sawn and put to bed ASAP. other logs I need to saw right away to preserve the color. But having said all that, I have several big, ugly nasties that I'm dreading; so at least for the moment, they're still out in the yard and not on stickers.  ;)

[francismilker]

I just cut as I get them and adjust for what is needed to keep enough of each type drying so that I allways have some for sale.  I Have found that mixing up the load order keeps me on my toes as far as staying on top of the best ways to cut different species.  It also helps me stay flexable so that I'm allways ready when custom orders come in.
The better you know your mill and how it cuts different types of wood helps you go with the flow and turn out great cuts no matter what type of wood it is.  Being able to change blades, cutting speeds and techniques on the fly keeps the lumber moving off the mill and your customers Happy.
The easy logs are allways my favorite but they aren't allways what is needed.  Whereabouts in SE Oklahoma are you francismilker?  I was born in Stillwater and have family in Euafaula.

I never cull and class.  I take the "hide with the hair" and saw them as I get to them.  Sometimes though the customer will drag a hidden log out at the ending of a saw job.  Many times, I will just throw it up there and saw it for free.

It is amazing how many times that will prompt a customer to give me a nice tip.   

Magicman does that include sweetgum Sir?  ;D

I live about 10 miles NE of Ada, OK Learner. 

Being stationary and with a small mill, I don't have a stockpile of lumber for sale.  I just don't have the places to store and dry it properly, (yet).  I don't have an abundance of lumber laying around so I'm primarily sawing logs people bring me to custom cut.  It's sure hard for me though to cut an ugly seasoned walnut when there's a pile of prime ERC's there that's like cutting hot butter!  So far, it hasn't been an issue for me but I know at one point I'll have to man up and bite the bullet.

[Chuck White]

Chuck  How did the tamarack saw?  I just got done with 6000 bf, the first day I used water and had to run it heavy.  The second day it was only 20 above and ran diesel, about a drop every 2 seconds kept the blade clean.   Steve

I didn't have a lot of Tamarack, maybe 500 bf, and as usual it is quite pitchy!

I ran lots of water (about ½ cup of soap added to 5 gal), pretty-much a steady stream, not a drip, but not wide open either!

Just kept it to where there was no build-up on the blade, or very little!

Sawed out 5/4 x 8 & 5/4 x 6, all 16 foot stuff for the customer to use to redeck some of his hay wagons with!

Except for the pitch, I really like sawing Tamarack.

[tcsmpsi]

It depends on what the sawing day is supposed to produce.  If others are going to pick up their lumber within a day I saw, I don't bother with stickering, so theirs will generally go the way of 'most difficult to least difficult'.  This, also, is a general rule I apply.  However, if I am going to be using/saving the lumber, I do longest first, so as I stack/sticker, the longer boards on the bottom and work the way up to shorter boards on top.  When it is viable, I incorporate the blade circumstance to the overall production.  New blade, wider tougher logs, working down diameters as blade dulls.

[drobertson]

Man, this is a tricky question, whether it is just a production cut from bought logs, or a custom cut from customers logs, and then what is the material list looking like.  Cutting 2X's I always pick the clear butts and pick the best for their purpose.  On siding it depends on what is asked for, knots or clear, bats need to be pretty clear or they will break around the knots.  Long stuff, if it is going to be loaded by hand, I will cut it last so it goes on the trailor first,  if the load will be loaded by the lift then I will cut the long stuff first.  And then there are days I just feel like sopping up the gravy, and I just sop up the gravy,  other days I have an attitude for the pesky logs and just go for it. And the funny thing about these junkers, when I know I am cutting them without rushing, they always surprise on what they actually produce.  If in a hurry on junkers, not much to say on this, everyone that has sawed knows what I am talking about here,  wack and hack and get if off the mill.

[YellowHammer]

If I'm sawing for a customer with a limited number of their logs and a cut sheet I always start trying to get the biggest and longest boards out of the best logs so I don't run out of logs before I run out of cut sheet.  So I saw from hardest boards to easiest boards, best logs to worst.

When I'm sawing to fill the kilns, I cherry pick the best logs and saw them first so what goes in my kiln stacks are as high a grade lumber as I can get.  I hopefully don't run out of high grade logs before I fill the kilns.  I don't like wasting electricity or kiln time on poor grade boards.

Then, when all I have left is low grade logs in a pile, I try to mow through them pretty fast.  Sometimes, I just leave the culls for next time....but by then the customer's orders have been processed and the kilns are full so I can sometimes just turn the key off and go watch some football.
YH

[dboyt]

My biggest tendency is less with the logs than with edging.  When I first got my band sawmill, I cut around 1500 board feet before the pile of unedged boards got so big I finally had to take care of them.  Now I edge as I go.  Now, it's moving the slab pile that I put off.

Since I charge by the hour, I like to cut the best stuff first, and let the customer know how much per board foot he is paying.  As I get to the lower grade stuff, the quality goes down and the price per board foot goes up.  When we get to where it isn't worth it, the rest goes for firewood.  Switching species is a bit of a pain, since I like to use a 7 deg hook angle on the harder stuff, so it is nice to have them grouped together.  Going from sycamore to hedge is a bit of a shock.

[Magicman]

I found logs at my sawmill that had to be moved this morning.  Some had been randomly unloaded and were blocking access to logs that needed to be sawed.  Then they all had to be moved back so I can saw them tomorrow.  The old Oliver backhoe and end tongs got a workout for sure.

Makes me enjoy my "portable sawing" status when I do not have to be concerned with logs, slabs, and sawdust.