Starting a new sawmill

[Meadows Miller]

Pete your on the rite track getting 4000 with Sawyer,Edgerman and Stacker Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8)

Ill also add if you are the owner operating the mill and you are expeirenced you are going to get more production and recovery than some one on wages just rocking up to work We tend to push abit harder and just drag the whole crew along with Us  ;) ;D ;D :D thats going to be the trick as if you can find The Rite Sawyer for your operation he will push to get As much as he can out of your logs and as higher production rates as he can with whatever gear he has  ;)

Regards Chris

[Meadows Miller]

Meadows Miller,   Tell me more about the sawmill ships.  I had no clue sawing is being done on the high seas.    This boggles my mind.
  Just when I think I'm starting to know a little, I learn how little I know.    The more knowledge I gain,  the more I see my own ignorance.  Does that make any sense ?
   Pete.    mastermason167@yahoo.com

Pete Bandit Might be the best one to talk to as I have only been told about them from other people in the Industry over the years As he knows someone that acctually worked on them  ;)

I agree that it would be interesting Sawing on the High Seas (and the picture comes to mind of being abit like a Pirate raiding other peoples log stocks then onto the next port  ;) :D :D :D) But the mills they use on those ships a deadly productive and setup alot differently from your average mill 25000 ton in 3 to 4 weeks is alot of timber  ;)

[Solomon]

I have no desire to saw on the ships.  It really caught my intrest because I have been working in the maritime industry as a Longshoreman for twenty-three years.  I handle shipping containers in a marine terminal here in Norfolk, Virginia.
  I have a lot of merchant seaman friends from many cultures from all over the world whose assigned ships call on my terminal and I have never heard any of them speak of a saw mill ship.  Theese are guys who I see for a couple of days every six to ten weeks for the last twenty years.   I suppose the maritime industry. has it's different crafts as does land based businesses.    All the seamen I know work aboard container ships.  I work in a container terminal.  I guess it makes sense that I would likely never hear anything about a sawmill ship at my terminal.

[Ron Wenrich]

Logs coming off the east coast are more apt to be veneer logs.  I haven't heard of softwood logs being exported from the South, but I'm sure they do.  Softwood logs for construction lumber come off the West Coast of Canada, US, and South America. 

I'm assuming that they haven't come up with making plywood on board these ships.  The sawmill ships would run 24/7, so their production numbers would be pretty good.  How do they handle things in rough seas?  Or is it more of a seasonal thing, going when the seas are fairly calm and not going through the cyclone areas?

Solomon

4 Mbf per day won't be enough production for this project.  Its decent production for a small band, but the labor costs would eat you up if you were trying to cut softwoods for the commercial markets.

Chris

The twin cut that you were thought were sponsors had 2 fixed blades.  Very similar to a Mahoe but uses a frame setup and a stationary bed.

[Okrafarmer]

To add to what Ron is saying about production numbers, this enterprise you have in mind is for high-volume, single consistency product. In order to succeed at this type of endeavor, among other things, you need two things: A large quantity of uniform logs available, and a high degree of output and cost efficiency. To get that high degree of cost efficiency as well as the output capacity, you need a sawmill setup that can get a high number of board feet cut per day with a minimal sized crew. Around here, you could staff 3-4 men for $100,000 a year, including hidden costs. Labor is cheap, we have high unemployment, and you can get and keep good labor for $10 / hr. if you treat them right. Workman's comp is the killer here, but there are work-arounds.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Miller

I dont know if the mill ships sail in the Atlantic at all. I know they do go through the Panama Canal and load hard woods in Caracas and also transfer logs off barges in the Amazon delta.

I am not aware of any runs to the African continent at this point but there is a proposal being worked on to do just that. So far the Asian market has been the most lucrative and also is the future for companies like MacBlo and Weyerhaeuser etc. there millions of acres of pristine timber over there and these mill ships are the very best of the best as far as milling quantity, quality, recovery and efficiency at every level. IMHO it is the big boys "lost leader" that is designed to get them the onshore timber licensees in Asia that they so dearly covet.

Asia doesn't need our lumber. They need the 200years of logging/processing experience and the technology we have developed as a result those 200 + years of logging and processing in the diverse conditions we have on this continent that have taught us how to harvest and process all their timber by learning on ours.

I do know that the ships Larry works on are in dry dock right now for ship maintenance and mill upgrades and re tooling. Depending on the year they run the "summer of the seas" months and they leave harbour with 28 to 34 thousand tons on board. Larry said they have been dry decking timber on the landings on a windy ridge as close to port as possible to get the moisture down to what is referred to as seasoned timber which means it was logged in last years logging season so that moisture is some where in that 30 to 40 range or lower instead of dead green. They quite often have to park in international waters for a day or 2 to finish milling before they head in to port to off load.

I asked if would send me some pictures and he is going to check and see what he "can" send me. It is a very "pirate like" environment in that the companies protect their "trade secrets" like Captain Barbossa protects his "secret chest".     

Ron on the ply wood plant ship Larry is not aware of one in operation but says there are a few proposals "floating around" and he expects that one will get built in the not so distant future. He says the liability factor because of the adhesives and other chemicals seems to be the hurdle to get over for that to be come reality even as a prototype.