woodmizer LT40 super

[rwepinetree]

hey wm friends I am looking at a lt 40 super and would like your opinions on the mill. I saw small to medium logs some ewp and the rest is low grade hardwood for pallet stock I will be getting the edger with it also. I would like to saw 1500 board feet a day by myself do you think it is possible

[Magicman]

I would like to saw 1500 board feet a day by myself do you think it is possible

Yes, and you will be tired at day's end.  ;D 

You can not go wrong with getting an LT40SH.   

[Brucer]

If you try running the edger by yourself, that's what you'll be doing -- running.

[Quebecnewf]

You will not saw 1500 ft a day by yourself. There will be days when you might saw 1500 ft by yourself. After that hard day you will have another day cleaning up sawdust. Moving slabs ,staging more logs. Packing up the lumber you sawed. Greasing mill.etc etc.

When that is all done you will be ready to edge. You will then be busy again doing a lot of the same steps listed above.

My wife and I have been busy filling an order of approx 3000 brd ft of 3" timbers in softwood. This is random width wood planks and in lengths of 8/10/12'. So good sawing for production not many cuts and fairly big timbers
We managed approx 1000 ft per day. We sawed the 1000 ft in the first part of the morning but then you have to stage more logs on the log deck, clean up sawdust, deliver the lumber you sawed , eat , rest etc etc.

With more support equipment we could do a little better but not much.

Single person sawing alone 1000 ft per day is a target you will not make many days.
At least not many days in a row.

But it's fun trying

Quebecnewf

[warren46]

You will not saw 1500 ft a day by yourself. There will be days when you might saw 1500 ft by yourself. After that hard day you will have another day cleaning up sawdust. Moving slabs ,staging more logs. Packing up the lumber you sawed. Greasing mill.etc etc.

When that is all done you will be ready to edge. You will then be busy again doing a lot of the same steps listed above.

My wife and I have been busy filling an order of approx 3000 brd ft of 3" timbers in softwood. This is random width wood planks and in lengths of 8/10/12'. So good sawing for production not many cuts and fairly big timbers
We managed approx 1000 ft per day. We sawed the 1000 ft in the first part of the morning but then you have to stage more logs on the log deck, clean up sawdust, deliver the lumber you sawed , eat , rest etc etc.

With more support equipment we could do a little better but not much.

Single person sawing alone 1000 ft per day is a target you will not make many days.
At least not many days in a row.

But it's fun trying

Quebecnewf

I agree!

[Dave Shepard]

I don't think one person sawing 1,500 feet a day with cleanup is unreasonable on a Super. It does depend on the type of logs you are cutting. I used to saw between 1,500 and 2,000 feet per day grade sawing cherry and tulip poplar. Sort your lumber that needs to be edged into a pile and do the edging once or twice a day. You can edge a lot of lumber in 20 minutes.

[drobertson]

It totally depends on the length of the logs and the size of cants.  1" takes longer, I have sawn over that a few years ago before back surgery, but now it most likely would not happen with 1" stock.  As stated staging logs, moving slabs and the obvious cleaning will eat away at the clock.  What ever you start out sawing will surely increase as you learn how to cut corners in material handling.

[warren46]

No doubt you can saw 1500 feet in a day.  It is another thing to saw 7500 feet in a week.  It may even be possible to saw 7500 feet in a week if you have a yard full of 12' logs that are all 20" in diameter, straight and no defects.  But what are you going to do with the 7500 feet of lumber?  You have to spend time doing the business of running the saw mil.  When do you saw stickers?  There is a lot more to making lumber that running the saw.

[petefrom bearswamp]

I approached 1500 in a day sawing alone only once.
I usually get between 800-1000 a day when alone, but I am old and slow and th elogs have to be nearly perfect

[WoodenHead]

There are many factors that affect over all output.  Material handling is a big factor as saw output increases. What happens to the lumber you produce?  Do you have to dry it?  At the very least you would have to stack, bundle and load it.  If you could be at the saw all day, I think 1500 bdft per day is do-able.  But if there are many other steps, then I agree with the others, some days you might reach 1500 and others days it will be less.

I was talking with my wife yesterday, remembering when I had an LT28.  I recalled a few days I hit 700bdft from the saw (after a full day) and I was almost dead.   :D  Now, with an LT40 (non-super) I can cut 700 bdft (of 1") in a morning and spend a couple hours in the afternoon sticker stacking and cleaning up.  Some of that has to do with a more productive saw and some of it has to do with better handling.  I make small incremental improvements to my operation as I go.

So after all that, my answer is maybe.   ;D     

[Magicman]

Happy Birthday, WoodenHead.   8)

[Quebecnewf]

I still say the answer is no. Sawing 1500 ft a day to me means 1500 ft a day . If you saw 1500 ft one day and the spend the next day doing other things like stage logs , sticker , clean up  you are not sawing 1500 ft a day.

To average 1500 ft a day means some days you must saw over that amount because there will be days when you saw under.

One person sawing ALONE with any bandmill will work very hard and be very good at what he or she does to average 1000 ft per day.

Quebecnewf

[Dave Shepard]

There are lot of factors to consider to be sure. A Super mill can really put out the lumber. With some basic material handling, and an optimized layout, it is possible to cut 1,500 feet a day, every day. I've done it with the equipment in question. This is making the assumption that the lumber will be bundled and some wholesale. There was no mention of stickering the lumber after sawing.

[GAB]

I agree with what has been said so far on the subject.
If you saw 24" x 24" x 20' pieces I think you could do it.
However, you had better have some monster equipment to move the pieces off of the mill.
Gerald

[Dave Shepard]

I actually think that number is conservative with a Super and an edger. I've done well over 2,000 in a day by myself grade sawing at 1-3/16" thick. Most of what I grade sawed was short, 10' or less, cherry in the 10" to 16" range. And cherry is not known around here for it's straight growing habit. Now, some of you mention just sawing large, ideal logs. I've been over 400 feet per hour cutting timbers, but that requires a 24' bed extension, a large forklift and some nice logs. ;) That's boards cut to length and edged.

[rwepinetree]

thank you for all the comments they were helpful . my goal is 5000 per week that was giving me some time in there for clean up. I will be putting a blower on for the sawdust and sawing for a few hours then edging and packaging the lumber I will be cutting 1x4 and 1x6 ewp with some 2.5 x4 and 2.5 x6 . the logs are from 8" to 30" in size 8 10 and 12 foot there will be double 4 " and 6" cants being cut on the mill so there will be 2 of each coming off at the same time that is what I am doing with my woodland vertical band with built in edger I am doing around 3000 feet now but I am busting my but doing it any more comments will be great thank you again guys and happy sawing

[Magicman]

I wish you the best with your business decision.   

[zopi]

Oh come on...I can saw 1500 bf a day on my lt-15. 


Provided I am cutting 10 inch box heart timbers....😆

[Quebecnewf]

Let's ask the question . What support equipment is factored into this 5000 ft per week production. 2.5x6 timbers will give good production. 1x4 mixed into this will take production away

Quebecnewf

[Brucer]

When you're planning production for business purposes, you're best off to ignore the maximum possible rate. Look at an average production over at least a month.

The best I was able to achieve was on a four month long project.
- 11,000 BF per month.
- me full time at 40 hours / week.
- a really good helper putting in 15 hours per week.
- I had control over the layout and production.
- 28 HP lt40 hydraulic, twin-blade edger, front-end loader with forks, chop saw.
- offloading tables, slab racks, storage and lay-down areas.

During the last month we were hampered by snow and me developing a hernia :(.

But that doesn't tell the whole story.

- I was sawing a lot of 30' - 34' timbers that involved a lot of extra handling.
- I was charging a premium price for the long timbers.

In other words, I could have cut a lot more wood if the lengths were in the 10'-12' range, but I would have earned a lot less per BF.

What really matters is Throughput (Income from Sales - Cost of the Logs).

[customsawyer]

I think it can be done. Lots will depend on what you have for support equipment. 

[Quebecnewf]

When you're planning production for business purposes, you're best off to ignore the maximum possible rate. Look at an average production over at least a month.

The best I was able to achieve was on a four month long project.
- 11,000 BF per month.
- me full time at 40 hours / week.
- a really good helper putting in 15 hours per week.
- I had control over the layout and production.
- 28 HP lt40 hydraulic, twin-blade edger, front-end loader with forks, chop saw.
- offloading tables, slab racks, storage and lay-down areas.

During the last month we were hampered by snow and me developing a hernia :(.

But that doesn't tell the whole story.

- I was sawing a lot of 30' - 34' timbers that involved a lot of extra handling.
- I was charging a premium price for the long timbers.

In other words, I could have cut a lot more wood if the lengths were in the 10'-12' range, but I would have earned a lot less per BF.

What really matters is Throughput (Income from Sales - Cost of the Logs).

Very good info. You were working 40 hr a week
You had a good helper.
Good support equipment.
You got around approx 2700 ft per week.

If you took away the helper ,had no snow issues or health issues, no long logs
Would you have doubled your output per week?

I would think not. Taking away the helper , a good one at 15 hours would probably cancel out the better size log issue or the  snow issue at least .

Quebecnewf.

If anyone is making 5000 brd ft a week on a REGULAR basis WORKING ALONE please jump in with your details.

[Tom L]

this all sounds like the more interesting, fun, things I have ever tried to do in business
trying to get the max amount of work completed with the fewest employees, great chance to automate, and figure out faster ways of doing things without the added personnel
stepping back and looking at work flow, automating things like sawdust removal, roller tables with power
getting the most production with the least effort, making a small change here and there and seeing the results right away.
probably the only fun you can have in a manufacturing shop.

[Brucer]

... If you took away the helper ,had no snow issues or health issues, no long logs
Would you have doubled your output per week? ...

I could not have done it without my helper. She was a hard worker and a smart worker. If she was caught up with her work, she would immediately figure out what she needed to do to speed up my work. Never had to be told.

The snow in the last month really set us back.

The hernia slowed me down some but it didn't affect production that much. I swapped off some of my heavy work onto my helper.

As for log size, remember, the goal was not to saw as many BF in a month as possible. It was to earn as much money in a month as possible. Really big logs = fewer board feet but more dollars.

I originally hired my helper for this project to help run the edger and trim the side lumber. I quickly figured out that two of us on the edger could process the boards in 1/3 the time it took me working alone.

[Quebecnewf]

I always saw with my helper ( wife) . She has been sawing and logging with me for 25 years now. We both learned as we went along. We both got better at all parts of this process. Cutting  bucking, hauling, rafting , sawing  and all the other steps that go into lumber.

If my mill were bigger and twice as fast , like say a super 40  I would run into other bottlenecks.  Need Better support equipment to move logs and slabs. 

Need to get rid of old helper and get new younger better helper ( might be problem there).

Need lawyer to deal with old disgruntled helper ( might be a problem there)


I still say 1500 ft a day or 5000 ft a week . BY YOURSELF'!!!!  Is going to be a hard target to hit on a day by day and week in week out basis.

After some thought I,m sticking with my old mill and helper for the time being . I kinda like both of them.

Quebecnewf

Me and my old helper