Who's good at estimating the BDFT in a whack of logs?

[Jim_Rogers]

I got this email from a new customer. Some 60 miles away.

He said he had 100 16' white pine logs and he wanted them sawn up.

I was basically in his area yesterday, so I stopped by for a look.

This is what I found:



  

Moving to the left and looking at the end of the pile I see this:



 

Moving to the left even more, I see this:
 

 

Looking at the three piles from on top of a huge rock on the other end I see this:



  

Looking towards the street/barn yard I see this:



  

Standing down on the ground again, I see this:



 

I'm not sure if you can tell by this angle but all three of the log piles are down hill from the truck. Not the best position for these logs.

I was told he wanted 1x12's and 1 1/2 x 6 x 16 fence rails.

Can anyone give me an estimate of how many bdft are in these three piles?

I don't think I can.

Jim Rogers

[woodyone.john]

I'd say plenty :
)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Well if you could only get a picture from up under them, I could give you a better estimate.  :D

I'll bet there is 7000 at least.  say_what

[TimGA]

A lot, looks like a day or two of cutting, on second thought might better bring camper.  Ha.

[Jim_Rogers]

He had a friend who was a logger from Maine come down and help him take them down and cut them to length and stack them up.
I asked him if his friend from Maine had an idea about how many bdft he had in the pile.
The guy from Maine didn't give him an estimate.

I don't know if I'll get the job or not.

Jim Rogers

And yes, there are plenty of bdft there.

[Jim_Rogers]

I sold my camper to my mechanic. But I showed him the pictures of these piles yesterday and he offered to "rent" it back to me.

Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

If he says 100 logs, and you did not indicate the average small end diameter, but saying 14", that would be ~10Mbf.

I rough counted more than 100 logs, and the diameter is elusive without a tape.

[isawlogs]

It looks more like 150 logs to me, one pile alone has over 50 logs, you will be much closer to 20 thousand bf of sawed boards if not more.
then again  this is guestimating at best.

[beenthere]

Jim
Do you plan to winch them onto the mill?  Will the "uphill" pose a problem doing it that way? 

How many "camping" nights do you expect to spend there?

[drobertson]

Hard to tell from the photo,  6500 to 11500 bd/ft,  I would take the job, uphill or not, they are bucked and stacked up pretty nice in my opinion.   A job is a job,  lots of room needed, or fast removal of the lumber. 

[Chuck White]

I'd guess that you have well over 100 logs there, I counted the logs in the first pile and one time I counted 47 and the next time I counted 51.

That figures up an average of somewhere between 141 and 153 logs all together.

I'd have him arrange to move the logs onto the flat!  :

I would guess 8-10,000 board feet.

Nice whack of logs though!

[Gary_C]

I'd give a rough guess of 4,000-4500 bdft.

That's based on a guess of 6ft high by 8 ft wide piles that are triangular in shape and 16 ft long x 3. So that's 6/2 x 8 x16 x 3 or 1152 cu ft of logs or 9 cords. Then at 500 bd ft per cord that gives you 4500 bd ft.

Sawing those at 16 ft will give you less because of wane on the crooked ones but you could get more if you are sawing nominal dimension pine into 2 by 6's. It's not much fun sawing 16' pecker poles.

[Dewey]

My first thought was 10,000 Looks like fun !!!

[Jim_Rogers]

I don't know if I'll get the job or not.

I just emailed him the bdft milling price and we'll see if he thinks I'm too high or what.

The problem with staying over down there, some 60 miles south of me, is that after a couple of days, I'll be out of sharp blades and will need to come back here and sharpen all of them.

He said he had a machine I could use to move things. And I did see a small kabota there, with one of those quick hitch things on the loader arms. There was a set of forks there, a bucket and another set of forks with a top thing, I don't know what you call it. I must be getting old and can't remember any more.
Well anyway the thing that comes down and holds the log in or on the forks.
But I think this machine is too small for a lot of those big logs.

I would set up near the pile and drag each one out and position it on some bunks I'll make with the first few "junk" logs in front.
After the bunks were made, I could load them up with a bunch of logs and it would be all set up so that the mill is down hill from the bunks and the piles.
I don't know if he'll provide help or not.
We'll see what he says after he has a chance to think things over.

Jim Rogers

[backwoods sawyer]

I would guess 3-4000 per deck for 9-12,000.
Hope you get the job, 60 mile I would be home for dinner every day of the week ;D
16' mill fast. How many do you mill in a day on average?

[Red Clay Hound]

I sawed a job two weeks ago, that totaled 12,000 bf.  That pile of logs looks bigger than mine did when I started.  I'm guessing 10 to 15k.

[scully]

3000 per pile my best guess..maybe 2500 per. ......

[beenthere]

Jim
You are brave, quoting a price per bd ft and not knowing how you are going to move logs and lumber with what he has available, and possibly with no help.

[Peter Drouin]

Jim there,s 12 to 16,ooo bf there. A job where the customer and logger have no idea what they,re doing. And your right , You have to have a big tractor to move the logs to a flat spot, Like the other side of the road  :
Good luck

[bandmiller2]

I would measure a number of the butts, say ten and get an average then count all. Add some to have some breathing room. Frank C.

[Jim_Rogers]

I have at least two or three 12x16' garden sheds to saw out as soon as I get back from my trip to Nebraska which starts tomorrow.
I told him I was going so I don't know if he'll contact me again till after I get back.

I have two saw three more timbers to finish the last shed for the last customer, as well. Those are for his 12'x16' garden shed.

About a week or so ago, my logger took me over to the next town over and showed me a pile of 100 10' long logs that I guy he used to work with at a factory job he had many years ago. I thought that was a big pile, but this one is a lot larger than that one.
I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of that pile.
They cut down all these trees to clear a house lot on a dead end street so they could stump the site.
They asked my logger advice as to what to do with all these logs as they intend to build a house.
He told them to cut them 8' 6", 10' 6", 12' 6", 14' 6" and 16' 6" so that you could get the most out of the tree, by cutting where the bends were.
They cut the entire lot of trees 10' 6".
I didn't get out of the truck to walk the pile, but I bet there are some in there with some bends in them.
I left off my customer information package of documents in this customer's mailbox. With a note to "call me".
I haven't heard from him yet.
Who knows if I'll even get this job. But it's a lot closer to home. My map program says it's 7 miles from my yard.
Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice.

The customer emailed me and said he was looking to spend 1/3 of what my milling fee is by the bdft. So he's looking elsewhere.

I thanked him for letting me know. and I wished him good luck.

Jim Rogers

You win some and you loose some.
(old saying)

[Dave Shepard]

At least he was quick about it. There is only one commercial mill around here that will custom cut, and they charge $.35/ft in truckload quantities at their mill location. I wonder just how cheap he thought he was going to get it done.  :

[Magicman]

I doubt that you "lost" on that one.  If you can not make the $$$ then there is no sawing.

[jwilly3879]

 would estimate 9-11mbf.

Who wins the prize?