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Do any of you offer Kiln Service

Started by vfauto, September 27, 2017, 02:09:00 PM

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vfauto

My Solar kiln is nearing completion and I am looking to recoup the investment that was way more than I anticipated.Do any of you dry other people's lumber or rent out your kiln? If so how do you charge and what is your involvement?
The definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over and expect a different result!

oakiemac

I custom kiln dry for other people. They bring the lumber here and I sticker it then let it air dry for about 3 months then put in kiln for roughly 2 weeks. Right now I charge $.35/bf but I'll be changing that to about .45 here soon.
I never dry anything green, too long in kiln and too much risk of screwing it up
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

BLink

I am considering building a kiln and have a lot of questions.

I hadn't thought of air drying it first. Maybe it is not too early to advertise since I can sticker it and get it air drying now.

Does anyone bring you lumber that is already stickered?
There are a lot of Old Loggers.
There are a lot of Bold Loggers.
But there ain't a lot of Old, Bold Loggers!

Stihl 034, Stihl 009, Husquvarna 3120, 540 Allis Chalmers Loader, International T1340 Crawler Drott 4in1 Loader, JCB 1400B, Cat IT14F

Stuart Caruk

There's a place in Portland B&B lumber... that will dry your lumber in a steam kiln. They can do up to 60,000 BF at a shot, but..... you have to send it to them already stickered/ Turns out that they can't hire help to sticker the boards as it's too much work, and they can barely keep up with their own products.

I'd love to have a kiln service closer to me.
Stuart Caruk
Wood-Mizer LX450 Diesel w/ debarker and home brewed extension, live log deck and outfeed rolls. Woodmizer twin blade edger, Barko 450 log loader, Clark 666 Grapple Skidder w/ 200' of mainline. Bobcats and forklifts.

scsmith42

We provide drying services to others. I would never "rent out" one of my kilns though.

Price depends on species, thickness and mc%. If we air dry first, that is still factored into the price since their lumber is taking up room in my drying barn.

Prices may be as low as .20 per bd ft for 3day finish off and sterilization run on reclaimed 4/4 (2k bd ft min), to $3.50 bd ft for 12/4 green oak slabs. We now charge $1.00 bd ft for green 4/4 and 5/4 oak with a 150 bd ft min.

Fast drying species such as pine and poplar are cheaper, but still over .50 bd ft. We encourage the customer to sticker but will do this task for an extra charge.

We are not going to try to compete on price with a large conventional kiln. We will make sure though that the Lumber is properly dried and sterilized.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

customsawyer

If you look at the hardwood market report there is on average about a $0.55 price increase from green lumber to kiln dried. I have no illusions that I can dry cheaper than the big mills.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

If we have 1000 bf of green, good grade, $700 per 1000 bf, hardwood lumber, in order to dry it, we need to sort it to eliminate low grade lumber and then stack it ($30 per 1000), air dry it first and then kiln dry it ($150 per 1000 bf), then unstick it, grade it and measure the dry footage ($30).  Shrinkage is likely to be 60 bf (6%) with about 7% grade loss due to drying degrade (last two are at least $90).  So, this means drying cost  is $300 per 1000 bf not considering profit ($100 minimum).  So, if we run a complete drying operation, we need to make sure we get at least $0.40 per bf extra for kiln dried lumber compared to green.  This is also the price minimum we would like to see in the Hardwood Market Report.  Obviously, this number will increase with more valuable lumber, with slower drying species, and with thicker lumber.

We would not charge this amount, if drying lumber for someone else, as we can have the owner of the lumber do certain things.  We could have the lumber owner stack the wood and unstack it.  Others reduce cost by having the lumber owner do the air drying, or make sure that the kiln dryers are not responsible for air drying defects.  Plus, as a custom dryer, you do not have to pay for shrinkage.  So, custom drying could be $0.25 per bf.  Smaller quantities might require more work, so prices could go up, as well as slower drying and thicker species.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

WLC

I finally talked to one of the local sawmills for a second time about drying lumber for me.  First time I asked they acted like they didn't want to fool with it.  This time I asked and was told, sure, $1.00 a Bdft. I kindly thanked them and decided I'll build my own at those prices.  I'd pretty much only have to buy the plywood and the DH unit from WM.  have the lumber and insulation already.  I figure that by the second or third load it'll have paid for itself vs having them do it for me.
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

Brad_bb

Scott, are there any tricks to drying your QS oak?  Do you air dry first?  I just want to plan when I get my first QS oak sawn.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

DR_Buck

My kiln is a dehumidifier kiln.   I do not do any pre-airdrying.  Just load the kiln and set starting temp and RH, then dry to schedule.  Most hardwoods take 3 to 5 weeks depending on starting moisture content.    I've charged 60 cents bf for the last 10 years.  Kiln stays busy.   
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

scsmith42

Quote from: Brad_bb on February 15, 2018, 02:13:28 PM
Scott, are there any tricks to drying your QS oak?  Do you air dry first?  I just want to plan when I get my first QS oak sawn.

Brad, we typically either air dry for a few months or go right into a solar kiln.  When the MC% is below 15% or so we transfer to a Nyle for finishing off and sterilizing.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

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