Portable Sawing Question

[4x4American]

If you are out on a portable job, charging by the board foot, and the guy just wants 6x6's, would you still saw out some boards in the sapwood when squaring the log up, or not worry about boards and just try to get what you can to get to the 6x6s.

[red oaks lumber]

i don't like wasting any usable lumber,

[Chuck White]

I've been in that situation before, and I let the customer know ahead of time that he will be getting some "sidelumber" of a different size than those requested.

Most times, he will agree and they will go on the tally sheet at the end of the day, but once in a while he'll say no, I don't want any other sizes, so I'll say well then I just might take the sidelumber home with me each night and most times he'll agree and it's ok!

Then, if he says NO, I'll just let him know that he'll have some heavy slab and some pieces in the slab pile that are not a standard cut!

[Magicman]

I have never had that situation so I will follow along.  This could be interesting and like ROL above, I hate waste.  They are the customer's logs, so he makes the final decision.  In "non-standard" situations, I lean toward "hourly rate".

[backwoods sawyer]

I have ran into this, customer had just enough logs to get the number of 6x6 he wanted and that was the only product he wanted.
I tossed a small stack of 2x6 on the back side of the tailing pile and told him they were incidentl boards and they could go to fire wood or be used for bracing his choice.

I have had another full dimention 2x12 D-fir customer, firewood was the second product on his list. Bft by far the better pricing for me as all logs were 18"-24" all 16'.

 

[Magicman]

I agree on bf rate with those logs BS.  Most of the times when folks want 6X6's they have 6" logs.   :D

[redbeard]

Sometimes you have to saw the side lumber to get the best product for the customer.

[LeeB]

Yes, but are you doing it for free?

[Peter Drouin]

I won't do it, You get all the lumber. If you want just some 6x6 I'll sell you some. :D :D

[GAB]

I had a customer tell me he wanted only 2" material to do book matching.
I told him he was going to get some 1" also.
His logs were nice cherry.  I just could not see putting the 1" into the firewood pile.
Gerald

[OlJarhead]

I've not done a lot of milling for $$$ but all my jobs I let them know up front that there will always be some sidelumber or 'odd balls' because I can't mill less than 1" off the deck.  This means (if he wants 1" only) that I'll possibly have to take a 1/2" etc cut off the last board to give him 1x's.  Or, if they are ok with it I'll leaves some 2x stock (dimensional or not)....I had one customer that wanted all 2x6's and 4x8's but once I explained that I will always end up with 1x's and some smaller or larger 2x's he asked that I rip the 2x8's etc down to 2x6 and he'd take all the 1x's - I charge by the hour though so I'll mill whatever they want since extra cuts mean extra hours.

[Magicman]

As a general rule, all that I need to know before opening a log is exactly what the customer wants.  If he wants 2' framing lumber and no 1", that is what he gets, and with no waste.


 
Removing the side lumber flitches which will be 2X4's, and splitting the cant.


 
Sawing the three cants into 2X4's.


 
A day's sawing and not the first 1" board.


 
Another.


 
And another.


  
And many more, without any 1" lumber.

[red oaks lumber]

we can all slab to have no 1"  i'm not seeing your point ;)

[Magicman]

It was not related to the OP, but the previous couple of posts indicated that there would always be some 1" when sawing 2".  I was pointing out that "not necessarily so". 

The word "always" raises a flag for me. 

[kensfarm]

Wow.. those are some nice trailer loads of lumber MM.  Kinda makes you want to start building.   ;D

[Peter Drouin]

Just cut a 2" flinch is all :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[delvis]

I agree on bf rate with those logs BS.  Most of the times when folks want 6X6's they have 6" logs.   :D

I sawed wood for a friend and he hauled a bunch of peckah pole hemlock out of the woods hoping to have them sawn into beams.  Dad pointed at several particularly small logs and asked him what he wanted to do with them.  He said he would like to have them sawn into 2 x 4's. 

Dad said, "Those logs are not big enough to do that."

My friend said, "Okay, just saw them into 1 x 4's."

Dad said, "Luke, the '2' is not the problem, it's the 4."

People truly don't understand that it takes a bigger diameter round log than the square cant they hope to end up with.  I have learned to tell people to make sure the logs are straight, and then draw a square inside the small end of the log the size they think they want.  If you can't get all the crayon mark inside the bark on a STRAIGHT log, I can't get the dimension you want in the cant without a lot of wane. 

[OlJarhead]

Experience ;)

I suppose the key is to look at things a little differently then I have.  very interesting point on the 2x's -- Guess I need a lot more time on the mill lol but then MM has over a million BF to my less than 10k ;)

[drobertson]

I try to make it easy on myself.  If a beam is all that is wanted then that's what they get. But, I won't break my back with a 300lb slab either.  If the outside lumber is quality there should be no issue with the customer.  Unless, now they are just running the bottom line with now wiggle room. In this case a you might have some stock, but still charge for beams.  I've done it, and once the boards were stacked they paid for them.  Tricky one there for sure.

[4x4American]

Experience ;)

I suppose the key is to look at things a little differently then I have.  very interesting point on the 2x's -- Guess I need a lot more time on the mill lol but then MM has over a million BF to my less than 10k ;)

Are you counting from the top down or the bottom up?

If the lowest cut you can make is 1" and you're going for 2" stuff, plan ahead and make it so that your last cut is at 2" above the deck.

[OlJarhead]

Experience ;)

I suppose the key is to look at things a little differently then I have.  very interesting point on the 2x's -- Guess I need a lot more time on the mill lol but then MM has over a million BF to my less than 10k ;)

Are you counting from the top down or the bottom up?

If the lowest cut you can make is 1" and you're going for 2" stuff, plan ahead and make it so that your last cut is at 2" above the deck.

I have much to learn yet.

What I normally do is work to a cant first.  So I'll get the log where I want it, check my center height and take 1-1 1/2" off in my first pass then work down to where I think will be a good place to finish to create the CANT I'm shooting for.  Then I rotate and do it again until I have a CANT, then I mill it to whatever is wanted.  However, I mill a lot of smaller logs (say 8 to 15" diameters) and find that, for example, if I make an 8x8 CANT and the customer wants 2x6's I'll either have to take the top 2" off, then rotate and take 2" off again (leaving a 6x6 CANT and one 2x6 plus a 2x2, or I have to leave a 2x8 (if the customer wants).

Meanwhile if after those original slabs are removed I manage to get a 9x9 CANT then I either have to make bigger slabs (seems a waste) or mill off 1" from two sides (thereby making a 1x9 and a 1x8).  I suppose it's all in the original cuts but how does one make a 9x9 CANT produce only 2x's?

That's a trick I'm not yet familiar with  :D ;D

And yes, I realize that a better sawyer may be able to make his first cuts to produce a 10" CANT or an 8" CANT but I see the larger slabs as wasted lumber and the smaller slabs might leave bark on some lumber.

[backwoods sawyer]

how does one make a 9x9 CANT produce only 2x's?

That's a trick I'm not yet familiar with  :D ;D

Mill them 1 5/8" ;)

[OlJarhead]

but then the customer wouldn't have rough sawn 2"