Cutting for a portion of the wood

[KjBarnwood]

I have a farmer who wants me to cut for him, and pay me with wood.  I have no problem with that, but I have some questions;
Is 1/2 too much to ask? 
How do you decide which boards to take?  One for me one for you, kinda thing? 
What about this is my log and that's yours?  What if I want a different cut?

A lot of questions, but I want to avoid problems.

Thanks,
     Keith

[flip]

One for me...one for you...one for me...one for you.  Ideally he would let you keep best grade (if you have a need or market for it) to sell and recoup come of your costs.  Deals, if you want to call them that, a guy finds me a log, he wants the best portion of it for himself (even if it's not his log) and I get to keep the rotten, cracked, bowed, metal infested pieces.  :  Little does he know he gets the good with the bad also.  I have to do all the work, cutting, hauling, quartering :, edging, stacking-stripping and slab removal and he gets a nice stack 'o wood.  I don't complain about freebies, especially if it's something I need  want for project stuff.  I get to treat both of us fair ;) ;)  In short CYA. ;D

[bull]

grade the logs,  buy what you want and then charge him for sawing whats left, he will have money to pay for the sawing, and you will get logs worth having for what you need !!!

[pineywoods]

I saw some on halves. I make 2 piles of logs and he gets first choice, or he makes 2 piles and I get first choice. No making 2 piles of lumber. I get to cut mine like I want, when I want.

[davemartin88]

I typically only saw to support my woodworking habit but have cut on shares a couple of times. We made two piles of logs, then he took a pile and I took a pile. This way we could choose the dimensions from our own logs and part of the deal was to saw both piles so there wasn't an issue with labor. Worked out well, got some nice cherry in the last trade.

[Firebass]

50/50 is not a great deal for the miller,  but in today's market it may be necessary to work harder for less.

Here's what works for me when I do 50/50
Do it only for good Wood.  Inspect the logs and make sure you don't end up with a big mess.
Logs are delivered to my mill.  Moving logs to my site is not included and is considered extra.
I cut and stack two piles on my time at my pace with no help.  I take my time and cut only after work or in my spare time.   I try to make the piles as close as possible to the same.  This gives me time to grade and really think things out.  When I'm all done I give he or she a call and let them come pick the pile they want.  

I tryed doing it other ways and end up with a  bunch of stress and  a pile of crummy wood for my share.  

[Don K]

I cut a couple trees on halves one time. Beetle pine. good logs. He sawed down, bucked, and hauled to my mill. He wanted all 1x stuff random width. I said fine. I need 1X12's. That is the bulk of what I sawed. As my LT15 cuts only the finest of boards  ;D :D I didn't have to do any grading or culling. I would saw through a cant and then one for me, one for him. If I sawed 25 1X12's he got 12 and I got 13. His idea. Flat stacked his right off the end of the mill onto his trailer. We were both pleased with the results, but I would not cut a bunch of logs with this arrangement unless I needed the wood what with the cost of operating nowdays.

Don

[Tony]

     I cut on the halves once, and came to the conclusion that I did alot more work than the other fellow; bucking, sawing, edging, stacking, stickering and you get the picture. The next time it will be at least 60\40  :

                                               Tony  8) 8)

[rbarshaw]

I sawed 50/50, He cut, bucked to length and placed the logs on the mill, which I brought to his location. I cut all the boards he wanted, he off loaded and stickered on his trailor, an enclosed semitrailor, I cut all the stickers he needed. He paid 1/2 of all cost, fuel, oil, blades. When I finished his, we totaled the logs used by length and diameter, then he cut and bucked to length an equal amount of logs and brought them to the mill and loaded them on it till I cut what I needed, which I mostly loaded on my trailor myself. This is what he wanted to do and I feel it was a very fair trade.

[Bodger]

I don't do much sawing on halves, just never seemed to come out.  One issue you may want to consider in advance is blade damage...nails and such.  If you take it out in lumber and there are a few nails then the 'customer' isn't going to end up with much on his pile.  Be sure to cover that in advance.

[Don K]

Just north of Opp,... as in Alabama. ???

Don

[tcsmpsi]

I look forward to cutting on halves, wood that I'm looking for.  I've never had any trouble with stacks of wood adjustments due to cutting metal in the logs, etc.  But, I address those issues before the fact.

They bring the logs, I do the rest.  If they leave a trailer, I'll stack their wood on the trailer.  I really haven't had any trouble with 'bad wood'. 

If it's bad, it goes to the slab pile, which is mine.  I cut it for firewood. 

If a reasonable complaint arises, we'll take a look at it, but the way I go about it, doesn't really leave an opening for complaint.

I have pine, so I haven't cut any of that on halves.  It would probably be a bit more percentage on  my part to get me to cut pine on halves.

If it was enough really prime stuff, I might be more inclined.    Like, if they were all fresh, straight, 15" logs from a plantation.   :D

[Bodger]

Don, is there any other Opp?

[ely]

i will cut on the halves anytime. but they pick their logs and i pick mine. that way there is no fuss about what i did to them.

[millit]

I would cut get the money ,take it home and buy the logs you want, no 50/50

[Shamus]

     I'll cut on a 60/40 split, for good fir and cedar logs, if they are delivered to the mill (I'll deliver their lumber no charge, my customers are all within 5 miles, small island setting). I just let the customer know that if a paid job comes up, their milling on shares job gets shuffled to the end of the line. So far everyone's happy.
     Depending on the size of the job, I'll either split the logs into their pile and my pile, or else just start milling and make two equal sized stacks of lumber. They'll tell me what they need for lumber, and I do a tally sheet as I go, once their piece list has been completed, I'll mill up whatever I need.

[Daren]

I do it all the time. I sell a little lumber, I use wood too (hack woodworker) so a swap for a little labor for a little pile for me works. Only softwood I would consider is large cedar 60/40. Having said that I milled a small pile of cedar for free for a guy, 2 hours (?)...my yard is always full of more from him, if I get low he will drop more.
Cherry/walnut 50/50 you bet ya  ;). Not interested in oak most often. My mill is stationary, portable no way without covering alot of bases. But brought here, no problem. My little mill is low production, I can make more money on shares than bft/hour. Saw out 250 bft of cherry/walnut even hard maple in an hour not working too hard and chewing the fat with the customer I am ahead. I take "my share" for any metal hit too. A guy would think "Who would would give 125-150 bft of walnut for an hours labor ?"....it is weird here, farmers  :. A tree is a tree, corn and beans is all they care about. They cut a big tree down, whatever it may be and some (heaven knows I wish more, the others pile it in the wash and burn it  :'() think about having it milled for lumber. Of course they don't want to spend any money, but like the idea of going to the mill....they take their lumber home, stack it in the barn and leave me with mine. Many of the guys I have share cut for in the past have to cut another tree but "don't need anymore lumber, still have all I milled last time" so they just drop the logs off here cause they know I can probably use it.
For me cutting on shares is a good PR thing, even if the first whack does not work out. I meet people, they tell people. My mill does not feed me that is an important point. If it did I would have a different perspective most likely. So take what I said in that vein.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Last I knew, I had an Aunt and 2 Nieces living in Opp  8) 8)

  Aunt might be dust by now  : : ??? ???

[Warren]

I did a fair amount of sawing on shares when I first started sawing.  Good for word of mouth advertaising.  You should get at least 50%.  Now I only saw on shares if that particular type of wood is something I have an existing market for....