BF sawn per day for portable sawyers

[Dan_Shade]

As a portable sawyer, you have good days where production is great, the help is great, the layout is great, and you can make good time.  There are also the other days, where everythign is bad (but we don't talk about that)!

Yesterday I sawed 2350 international scaled bf of pine into 2x6s for a customer, and we were all whipped!  That's the most I've sawn in a day, I averaged around 270bf/hour with my LT40HDG25G (that's a hydraulic model with a 25hp gas engine for the non-woodmizer guys), which is pretty good, I believe.

I'm wondering what other mills can do out there in the real world.  Granted this is a max number, I think Tom's 1300bf/day target is a pretty good one, people are wearing out by then when working by hand.

[zopi]

you bored, Dan?  <G>


I haven't worried about it...since I am sawing for myself, and usually alone, I cut 'til i get tired of it and
go do something else...touch of ADD maybe....

[bseago]

Had some nicepine logs the other day sawed 9,400 bf of 1 inch in 14 hours .
We have a lt40 42hp and an edger.

[Fla._Deadheader]

I'm gonna be sawing 8 X 8's X 20' next 2 days. BD/Ft per hour OUGHT to be good. Depends on how well the loader is available.  : :

[Dan_Shade]

this is definately an "it depends" type of thing.  I see crazy numbers in the manufacturers literature, and then for real crazy numbers at SAWLEX.  I want to get down to see that sometime, get some pointers on speed.

I did get slowed down yesterday, when I got interupted and then tried to saw a bolt on my backstop off.  I only made it halfway through.

[John Bartley]

Yup ... this is an "it depends" for sure...

I have a manual mill, so I do a lot of handling, but if I were to actually saw for 6 hours out of an 8 hour work day (to compare a cutting work day to a work day for a "normally employed" person), I could cut about 1200 to 1500bdft. This is assuming a band change every 200-300bdft and no real handling problems.

NOTE :: I am a very new sawyer, so I'm still waayyy down on the learning curve, but this is my limited experience so far.

MILL : 25hp Kohler - 162" bands - 0,042" x 7/8" Timberwolf

cheers eh?

[Dan_Shade]

I did a little tabulating from last years records:

I averaged 1050 BF/sawing job last year, I'm trying to keep track of the hours on the job this year so that I can get a better idea of what's really going on, since I had several 2-5 log jobs last year for woodworkers.

I'm coming to the conclusion that regardless of how much I want a faster mill, this one does a dandy job of working the help into the ground!

[StorminN]

No dimensional mills in the poll?

-N.

[Cedarman]

When sawing, the most important thing is not the number of feet per day.  Although it can be a yardstick to compare amount of wood moving across the mill.  The most important thing is the number of dollars left over at the end of the day after expenses. Or at the end of the week, month or year.  If you saw every day, then a daily record  can be used.  If you saw only a few days per month, then a monthy record.

By using dollars rather than wood as the measuring stick, it becomes more apparent how good business is.

I may only saw 1000 feet per day, my margin may be 60 cents per foot.  My planer may add another 17 cents per foot, my dryer may add another 25 cents per foot, my moulder may add another 50 cents per foot and so on.  These are some of the things I can do to add value beyond just making lumber.

If we take just sawing.

If I saw 1000 feet per day sawing cedar and my margin is 60 cents per foot, and expenses are 35 cents per foot when you figure overhead, labor, blade costs, loader costs, depreciation, energy, etc.  I have netted $250 profit for the day.

Now if I saw 2000 feet per day custom sawing poplar and my margin is 30 cents per foot and my expenses are 19 cents per foot, 16 cents less because of less labor costs per board foot, less depreciation per board foot, but more energy costs, blade costs etc. I have netted $220 profit.

Different species, different markets,  same location, can make a big difference.

Don't get me wrong, producing the maximum amount of footage per day should be the goal.  But the comparison should be to your own daily production, not to the production of another operation unless they are doing exactly what you are doing.

[pasbuild]

I had a tour of a mill last week that cuts 150,000 bf per 8 hour shift but thats probably not what yer lookin fer ;D

[Ron Wenrich]

Cedarman

I believe they're talking about portable custom sawing.  Since pay is based on volume, then volume is very important. 

Yours is a valid point when it comes to running your own mill or sawing your own logs.  But, as volume goes down, your sawing costs generally go up.  That can decrease your margin.  As said, all depends on your product.

[Cedarman]

Ron I take your points.
When your volume goes down, your margin goes down so price must go up to maintain the profit.  Each mill and operation has their own optimal volume per day for what they are sawing.  It is important to keep records of what is sawn and volume obtained to be able to compare day to day or whatever time scale is appropriate.  One point I am making that the most important comparison is first to your own output and second to others output.
From this analysis a price list can be figured based on what is being sawn and the product to be sawn.  I think this is why some people price by the hour rather than by the foot.

I have always liked sawing by the foot to give me that incentive to get with it.  Also, I never felt guilty about smelling the roses.

[Dan_Shade]

you have some good points, Cedarman.  I agree on the BF count.  I've gotten away from "actual" sawn to scaled volume, just to make life easier.  counting up 6 different stacks of 10 different lenth and width boards is a pain at the end of the day....

I guess i'm curious to how those of us portable guys line up with each other, but this stuff really is like bench racing instead of doing it for real!

sometimes, crunching all the numbers makes things look bleak as a business perspective, but other times, they look great!

[Tom Sawyer]

4550 bft in 9.5 hours a couple of weeks ago.  That was 18' 2x12s, 2x6s, and 2x4s, and a bit of 1x4, (hickory, maple, ash, and white oak) plus I had 2 guys pulling stuff off the mill.  If I am cutting 12' 4/4 hardwood for grade by myself stickering as I go, I usually drop at about 1500bft. ;D

Tom

[cantcutter]

I have been averaging 780 BF a day (6 hours), alone. That  is me loading the mill, runnig it, turning the logs, off loading, stacked and stickering.
That is with a Timberking 1600.

[Dan_Shade]

What kind of setup are you running, Tom?

[Tom Sawyer]

Dan, if you meant me, and not some other Tom, I have a WMLT40HD Super, with the 51hp Cat Diesel.  The 9.5 hours were spread over 2 days, and I think the two guys pulling those 18' 2x12s were pretty tired!  I prefer logs less than 12' when I am cutting myself ;D

Tom

[Part_Timer]

With no hydrolics I perfer those logs in the 20"-24" range.  They are just right to roll on the bunks by myself

If I'm lucky the customer has 48" log 12' long and we don't have to roll logs at all.


Best I've ever done was cutting 2x6's out of a 48"x 6.5' oak in 45 minutes and that included mill tear down and a 5 minute drive home.  I had 2 good tail men that day.

[snowman]

Some of you guys are making me feel stupid :D. I think I average about 800 feet a day with my little pushmill with a 13hp honda.I do however sharpen blades as part of my work day,clean air filter, fuel stuff up, check oil, grease etc. I also wash my logs as I need them, then theres the lumber to stack, slabs to move. It sometimes seems milling wood is the least of my day after I add all the other stuff in.

[beav39]

i can average around 1200 to 2000 in an 8 to 10 hr day depends on the wood and how the day is going .ive done 3200bdft with a helper once,the wood was big pine i cut all 1by12",14"16"18"and 20 inch wide boards

[oldsaw]

How about 0-500 with a CSM?  Not in it for the money, in it for the wood.  That's a workout.

Mark

[Dan_Shade]

500 bf with a chainsaw mill is impressive!

[Warren]

LT40 Super 42 HP Diesel, working by myself:  Best ever single day was a little over 1,500 bf of 4x4 blocking.  Typically average 800-1,000 bf in hardwoods, 500-700 bf in cedar.

Average a little over 5 hours actual run time on the saw per day.  Another 3 to 5 hours of moving logs, loading logs, bundling slabs, moving slabs, bundling lumber. moving lumber, talking to customers, visiting customer sites, prospecting for new business, unloading customer logs, loading customer lumber, selling bundles of slabs for firewood, unloading and scaling gate wood....

As Cedarman said, the true proof of the pudding (for a business) is how much jingle is left in your pocket at the end of the day...

Warren

[oldsaw]

500 bf with a chainsaw mill is impressive!

It's called one long day split into two.  Two mornings, but deadstacked the lumber from the first day, so all had to be stacked and stickered after the second.

Mark

[ErikC]

  I voted 2000-2500 with a swingmill. A few times we have done more, once sawing a lot of timbers 5000, but that isn't regular.

Erik

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

It's those details that make such a difference.  I have cut 1700 or so of big Southern Yellow Pine
in a day, BUT...

How the logs are feeding to the saw; whether you have two off-bearers or not on big cuts;
how clean the logs are and whether you find all the metal (if applicable)... all these and more
can affect efficiency. A typical day with my swingblade is more along the 1200 - 1300 range.

I know one thing for  sure:   I would rather saw wood and stack it on someone's trailer SOLD,
than anything else.

Phil L.

[DR Buck]

My record day with the LT40 Hyd 25 hp Gas , was just over 2500 bf, mostly oak and poplar wide boards for a barn.  I know the 3 off bearers were whipped at the end of the day and one of them didn't come back the following day.  ;D


I average around 12-1300 bf in 8 hr when custom sawing.   Mostly limited by the customers help and crappy logs.  ;D

[dboyt]

For the guy who commented about SAWLEX, the logs were all cleaned up, checked for metal and loaded on the decks before the clock started.  Most band mills used seperate edgers (swing blade mills didn't seem to need them).  Comparing sawlex to a full day of production is like comparing a sprint to a marathon.  To me, the question is "what percent of the time do you spend making sawdust?".  Typical cutting jobs involve a lot of time in log & lumber handling.  My old 24 hp TimberHarvester and I can put out a little over 1,000 bd ft oak, if the logs are good and everything is working right.

[Firebass]

I Savor every moment around the mill.  I voted 500 to 1000 per day solo.  But I like to load a log, cut a stack of boards then sit on the bench made from the half-log I just cut and just take in smell of newly cut sawdust with fresh air.  That's about the time the dogs come over to bury something in the sawdust pile and plea with me to play they're game.   I guess I could cut with a helper 2000 plus but that wouldn't be near as much fun.

Firebass

[Lenny_M]

 I average around 1000 bf per day give or take depending on log size,dirt,and sizes of lumber being sawn. Thats plenty with a lt40g25 with manual deck.
                                                                 Lenny

[OneWithWood]

I am slow. . .

I average about 600bf/day for an 8 hour day if all goes smoothly.  Cutting 1x out of logs, stacking on kiln carts, edging on the mill, off-loading slabs and waste into the back of a truck, sweeping the dust off of each layer on the kiln carts, stickering, rolling logs onto the loading forks, trimming logs if customer is a lousy bucker, arguing with my two helpers, me and myself

WM Lt40 with hydraulics and a 25hp Kohler gas engine.

[schmism]

Yesterday I sawed 2350 international scaled bf of pine into 2x6s for a customer, and we were all whipped! 

i curious... do you slab off as quick as possible to get to a 6x_ cant and just start sliceing off 2x6 and leave all the other slabs/flitches to a ripper?

[Dan_Shade]

I saw down pulling flitches until I get a 6" wide cant, then saw through and through.  after I saw through and through, I edge the flitches.

[willowrunlmbr]

hello all,
Is this edged or unedged.  On a good 9 hr day in nice grade logs we can saw 3000-3500 4/4 and 3.5's.  Small walnut (8-10") 1500-2000.  One week last spring we ran 20,400 bf in 43 hours (4.5 days, they quit early on fridays  :, RO 3/4 and 8/4, and 3.5"s. One man sawing, one tailing, one on loader.  Coulda had more but we hit about 10 blades worth of hardware.  Haven't come close since.