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Sawmill work flow

Started by Busysawyer, June 30, 2018, 11:18:37 PM

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Busysawyer

We have added an edger to aid in our quest to dismantle as many logs as possible. I plan on adding more equipment as we go, hopefully grow as a business increasing productivity and efficiency along the way.  I don't see a change from what we have now until fall. I have a set of goals and timeline and I would like to make some major changes before winter.  I'd like to build a lean to and move the saw out of the building. Add an incline conveyor and kicker table. For now a mill, log deck ,edger and bobcat to move materials is what I'm working with. The barn we are in is 30x50 and I think I can make it work with the current equipment.  I made a terrible little drawing of how I envision the layout and work flow. I would really appreciate if you guys could take a look and maybe give me some ideas of ways to possibly improve my layout. I can't really move the mill or log deck at this point. So with leaving the mill location where it is what are things you notice where I might be able to improve. 

 
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

JB Griffin

I'm very partial to a straight line work flow, much smoother flow that way.

If you could put the edger next to the mill just out of line of it, with a roll case right behind the mill.
Drag flitch back onto the roll case, set for next cut and send the head on its way, flop the flitch over on the edger and send it through, rinse and repeat.
2000 LT40hyd remote 33hp Kubota with 6gpm hyd unit, 150 Prentice, WM bms250, Suffolk dual tooth setter

Over 3.5million bdft sawn with a Baker Dominator.

PAmizerman

Agree JB but I don't think he has the length to do it.

If it was mine i would put the edger where you have you're slab pile and slide the slabs towards the center of the building.
Bring the slabs off the mill. back on to  rollers and  pivot 90° (add another roller perpendicular to you're roller table) and slide the slabs into the rack. You can use the same rack for slabs and edgings this way.
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and a lot of back breaking work!!

PAmizerman

Horrible drawing and definitely not to scale but I think it may get some creative juices going :D


 
I would definitely be making it so that you don't have to carry a full slab. I did that for a while and wish I never had. I've got bulging discs from it.
Woodmizer lt40 super remote 42hp Kubota diesel. Accuset II
Hydraulics everywhere
Woodmizer edger 26hp cat diesel
Traverse 6035 telehandler
Case 95xt skidloader
http://byrnemillwork.com/
WM bms250 sharpener
WM bmt250 setter
and a lot of back breaking work!!

Ron Wenrich

If you're looking for production and efficiency, you need to eliminate as much grunt work as possible.  I would think mill layout and workflow would be dependent on the number of workers on the mill.  I worked circle mills, and our layouts are probably different.  Stuff coming off our mills usually go onto a green chain, which also acts as a surge deck.  From the green chain, all the other satellite operations can be done without a bunch of carrying pieces around.  

I've worked smaller mills that had rollers.  Everything was in a straight line.  Once the piece is put onto the rolls, it is pushed away from the saw area.  The edger is parallel to the rolls so that material can either be stacked at the edger, or put through the edger and put back on the rolls at the opposite end.  You can stack off of either side, and heavy stuff goes off the end.  Carrying pieces to the pile is greatly reduced.

In the mills I've worked, we would be working on several different types of orders at any given time.  We might have 6-8 different sorts.  We had different types of sorts for grade or dimension markets, low grade hearts, and some specialty markets.  We did have the luxury of having a chipper, which eliminates the need to stack slabs.  But, chances are that not all the bundles will come up at any given time.  You need to have a system that gives easy access to those bundles without having to move a bunch of stuff.  If you don't lay out your cutting scheme for stacking, you'll end up wasting a lot of production time.

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

4x4American

Here is one of my old work flows.

https://youtu.be/U4YQmWWuLtM

I've changed my setup around so many times...

Anyways, for you, where I was stacking the slabs to get run through the edger, stack your flitches there.  Stack them up until you can't reach any higher.  I used 5-6' long skookum sawhorses that could hold alot of weight.  I would stack flitches there as wide and as high as I could reach.  Could almost saw all day before having to edge.  Sometimes could get a friend to come tail the edger for a little while would make it alot easier. Where I have the ties stacked you can stack finished boards so that the finished ones coming out of the edger go there or the finished ones off the mill go there.  Makes it for a round trip.  I find it easier to have two different slab racks for the locations.  Where I had the cants stacked you could stack your cants or sawmill slabs.  I wish I had a video of my setup that was like this when I cut grade with it.  See the spruce stump there in the video next to the roller table?  I use that for a pivot to make it easier to stack the lumber to the side.  Never pick up a board at both ends.
Boy, back in my day..

Busysawyer

Thank you guys for all of your advice. I know the general rule is keep everything in a straight line and agree with all the advice given but I don't have the space or any of the other additional equipment yet. I'm trying to find the ideal set up for my particular situation with the space and equipment I have on hand. Also I should have mentioned to figure this as a two person operation at the moment. PA I can't put the edger where you have it pictured , that's where my door is. 
I guess the way I see this working at this point is everything is dragged back off the mill onto the drag back table.  Flitches would go right off the end and onto a wide pallet. I figure the off bearer could make maybe four separate piles of flitches on the pallet keeping them in somewhat similar sizes so less adjusting when it's time to edge.  The finished boards coming off the mill can be spun 90 degrees on the drag back table an be set on the finished lumber stacks. We have to stack 8s and under, 9 and 10, 11 and 12 , 13 through 16s on separate stacks. Once the flitch pallet is full I can use the bobcat to remove the slab wood so I can get to the flitch pile. I can pick up the flitch pile spin it 180 degrees and bring it over and line it up with the edger infeed roller table.  Keep it up off the ground and just pull the flitches right onto the rollers. The edger with roller tables is 21ft long and I need some length in front and behind the machine so I dont really see anyplace for it other than opposite the mill on that 50 foot wall.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

Busysawyer

Here is a drawing of the long term layout with the addition of a lean too for the mill and log deck. Incline conveyor , kicker table and green chain. 3 guy operation.

 
This is a copy of a mill set up I found while searching mills on YouTube. It looked to be very productive.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

Busysawyer

This is the setup I'm working towards.  Not exactly the same but very similar.  https://youtu.be/7klLZeRQTfQ
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

4x4American

Quote from: Busybeaver on July 01, 2018, 04:20:00 PM
This is the setup I'm working towards.  Not exactly the same but very similar.  https://youtu.be/7klLZeRQTfQ
That's forum member @youngstump's sawmill in PA
Boy, back in my day..

Busysawyer

Quote from: 4x4American on July 01, 2018, 05:21:18 PM
Quote from: Busybeaver on July 01, 2018, 04:20:00 PM
This is the setup I'm working towards.  Not exactly the same but very similar.  https://youtu.be/7klLZeRQTfQ
That's forum member @youngstump's sawmill in PA
I always wondered if he was a member here. Every time I see a sawmill video on YouTube I wonder if they are members here
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

longtime lurker

SO here's some thoughts for you:

The profit margin on an individual board is low, and every time you touch a piece of wood you eat into those profits. And often enough the least profitable stuff is the most handled, which is why you got to be really careful about your byproduct and waste streams.

Sawdust is a no brainer, and its also a (relatively) easy fix. Dust extraction systems are plentiful and cheap for what they do which is stop you putting manpower into the lowest value product you got. It needs to pipe directly from saws to bunker/hopper with no stops along the way. Everytime you put a bucket on a machine to handle the stuff its costing you money. Every time you pick up a broom to sweep what didnt get sucked down the pipe because you dont have enough flow it's costing you money. You got to spend the money to get that right as soon as you can, and you need enough excess capacity to be able to install more equipment in that system without it needing an upgrade every time. It's also a safety issue: its a different thing (to some extent) if you're an old guy but I'm 45, and I find myself huffing and puffing going up a hill with 40 lb of felling must haves and its not just from my pack a day habit its also because theres 15 years of build up in my lungs from sucking poor air full of fine dust all the time. Fibrosis is real, and all you got to do is buy a blower and some pipe to avoid it. You guys look at Youngstumps video vs 4x4's and see an incline conveyor and an edger and stuff.... I see a guy with a blower freeing up time to saw

Slabs... yanno i dont get the fixation with making big heavy slabs that you can pick up and put in a stack, so you can pick them up again when you unstack them later to feed through a machine to try and recover more wood from them, and then you'll get to pick it up yet again and put it into a pile of boards for the edger and a pile of waste. I know its a "how its done thing" for a lot of you guys but I do not understand why??? I'm looking at 4x4's slab pile and just shaking my head... all that work created for want of a single cut extra on the headsaw. If you think theres a board above your target cant thats worth taking..... make that cut the first time. All it costs is a bit more saw wear and you either get it or you dont. What you wont get is the.... okay now i'm going to handle this and look at it and decide if its worth rehandling it time loss, or the hernia from lifting them about. I get asked all the time about slabs and the answer is nope, dont got none, because if i think i can find a 4/4 board over 4' long in there i make that cut now and see how i did later. Probably takes less time to cut that slab at whatever thickness you think you can get when its still attached to the log then it does to lift the piece of wood with it attached to the slab pile.

And how you cut too. Whats with the 180° flip thing, it seems to be  defacto portable bandmill way of doing things. (I'm looking at youngstumps video) Is it a mill limitation or can you just roll 90° and hold her on the backstops? 180 gives you a whole nother set of slabs/ raw flitches with 2 live edges, followed by turning it a further 90° to start getting edged wood. A 90° turn, followed by two cuts to clear some  sap out the way, followed by another 90 means you got less work for your edger man and with that sap gone when you do eventually put your cant face down on the deck its sitting on a flat face with a lot of the tension inducing sapwood already removed. Maybe its a species thing that doesnt apply in your woods but... the best way to increase work flow is to reduce the amount of work you got to do in the first place.

And I hate linear systems : they're okay when you got a crew but I know how long I can spend walking from one machine to the other when i'm running this place short handed like i do most the time - You need big surge decks with linear systems. As someone mentioned above set your edger where you can work it yourself beside the mill while the mill is cutting.... not half a mile away down a greenchain unless you got a guy to stand there with it all day. Efficiency is about time, and time spent walking from station A to station B isnt time spent cutting wood. Standing there watching a saw cut when you could be feeding the edger within two steps doesnt seem like time well used to me. I got a lot of issues with that last one here... stuff too spread out. Im working on it.... :D

Just some off the wall monday morning thoughts.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Busysawyer

LL. Thank you for your input. Im new to this and read your post a few times and I think I'm getting most of what you are laying down.  I already have dust collection.  I sawed for one day and quickly realized I needed one so I ordered it right away. I am grade sawing so I don't really have a target can't size most of the time. At this point my process goes like this. Log on the mill. Take slab waste cut. Slide slab waste off mill, no picking up. Take one to three say 4/4 flitches off depending on log quality and grade I'm seeing. Rotate 90. Take slab slide off on ground. Take 1 to 3 cuts again depending on grade of cuts coming off. Rotate 90 and repeat until all 4 sides have given up their highest grade jacket boards . As I'm going around taking the jacket boards off I try to make a decision on which face is giving me my best grade. Then after jackets boards are removed go to the face of the can't that's going to pay me the most.  The decision on which face to cut can mean a difference of more than 2.50 a board foot on a single board.
On a wide long cut my decision where to cut pay or lose me 20 dollars or more on 1 cut. Most of the time it isn't that drastic but there's a huge jump in pay based on what grade I get out of that log .
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

dustintheblood

 

 
This is the working drawing of what became reality here.  Please bear in mind that this is not a commercial enterprise any longer, but rather a place for me to keep busy and to keep the farm running and warm.

Will send some actual pics as soon as I have time to take them properly.
Case 75C, Case 1494, RangeRoad RR10T36, Igland 4001, Hardy 1400ST, WM LT40HD, WM Edger, ICS DH Kiln

dustintheblood

This is a newtome that arrived last week.  Kept the big International outdoor one but this makes things move easier and quicker inside.



 
Case 75C, Case 1494, RangeRoad RR10T36, Igland 4001, Hardy 1400ST, WM LT40HD, WM Edger, ICS DH Kiln

YellowHammer

Good for you!  A true forklift on good ground will increase efficiency an incredible amount.  A self dumping hopper is extremely useful, also in your picture.  Of all the tools we own, each with its own specialized tasks, including the sawmill, kiln, planer, SLR, etc, our Cat forklift is the only tool that increases the production of them all, across the spectrum.  

I personally am not a big fan of long, stretched out linear systems.  I want to take the least amount of foot steps as possible, with the least amount of board touches possible.  However, every site is different and folks have to do what works for them.

I am more a fan of an optimized work triangle approach, otherwise known as the "kitchen triangle".
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

longtime lurker

whatcha gotta do (uh oh I been thinking again) is stop thinking horizontally, and start thinking in a 3D space. 

See the thing is we all think horizontal, and when we do that we limit how our material flows very dramatically. And any time I've been in a mill with good material flow - they move it vertically as well. Move your material vertically and it allows us to cross it over or under other material lines, or put 20 foot of greenchain in a 15 foot space.

So if you asked me to design a layout for a bandmill with an edger it might end up something like this:



 

I've got the material coming off the dragback and down to a short deck, then flowing up under the infeed chains, back up to working height across the gar end of the mill then back beside the mill so that it can enter the edger which is... oh bout 2' from the mill control panel. So while the mill is cutting forward I can be edging.  Waste from the mill and edger both flow out under the edger outfeed to one space and sawn timber flows ahead where it can start to be sent various ways. It wouldnt be hard to put a crossfeed in to bypass the edgings line and come out on the edger outfeed at all.

Or you could fit a drag forward... which isnt that hard it means that the board before the current flitch is being pushed along ahead of the saw right? That would give you dragback for finished articles right past you... and forward directly onto that edger infeed line again for what needs edging. Actually if you could do that it would be a real simple and elegant solution but you'd lose some surge capacity. For like the whole two steps it took you to run the edger.

Think all this is complex? Well it is... but after saving an edgermans wage for 18 months you'd be in front.




The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

moodnacreek

A lot of good information here. Thought I should mention that I almost always saw all the same lengths together.

Peter Drouin

Quote from: moodnacreek on July 05, 2018, 02:58:25 PM
A lot of good information here. Thought I should mention that I almost always saw all the same lengths together.


I do the same thing, Like 2by,4by,6by,8by x 8' 
But when I cut 16'+ I take the side boards nothing shorter than 8'.
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Ron Wenrich

We always separated by length and species at saw time.  Much easier for stacking and keeping the bundles organized.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

4x4American

I took a video of my current work flow today:

https://youtu.be/DhBviWVR2Qg


It's not perfect but it works well with 3 ppl. 
I'll have more to add later.
Boy, back in my day..

Busysawyer

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to post great advice. Yes 4x4 your hair looks great,  thank you for sharing.  I haven't paid for a cut in about 20 years. My hair don't grow so good up top so I do the clean shave thing. It's really the only option for male pattern baldness as far as I'm concerned. I bought a couple of gravity roller conveyors for cheap on the Craigs list, once I get set up I'll post a video for you guys to critique.  Thanks again everyone
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile

PA_Walnut

Quote from: YellowHammer on July 02, 2018, 12:14:16 AMI personally am not a big fan of long, stretched out linear systems.  I want to take the least amount of foot steps as possible, with the least amount of board touches possible.  However, every site is different and folks have to do what works for them. I am more a fan of an optimized work triangle approach, otherwise known as the "kitchen triangle".


I am tuned-in. We handle our material WAY too much...A lot of it is speciality material, like quartersawn, slabs, high-grade small runs, but need to get better methods. Was so stupid hot here this week, moved the mill and cleaned-up the site, so redoing the layout a bit. It sits outside, so put under some shady pines.

By Fall, want to have under roof and go to electric. Anyone go from gas/diesel to electric? Any comments?
I own my own small piece of the world on an 8 acre plot on the side of a mountain with walnut, hickory, ash and spruce.
LT40HD Wide 35HP Diesel
Peterson Dedicated Wide Slabber
Kubota M62 Tractor/Backhoe
WoodMizer KD250 Kiln
Northland 800 Kiln

YellowHammer

I mill mostly by myself and have a triangle setup where I can run the mill controls, drag back the boards onto the pallet without moving, start the next cut, take one step back to fine tune arrange the board I just dropped onto the pallet full of boards, and get back to the auto feed controls as the band exits the cut and repeat.  When I saw off the opening face slab, I drag it back onto a roller table, take two steps, press down on one end to lever one end in the air, then a rotate it onto anothe roller table and take three or four steps pushing it into a rack where my loader is already positioned with forks underneath.  

I can mill about 6 decent grade logs this way, maybe 600 to 1000 bdft, before the slab rack fills up and my log deck (a couple sloped crossties) is out of logs.  I hop on the loader that is pre positioned, lift up on the hydros and unload the slab rack, dump it and get more logs, set the forks back in the empty slab rack, and repeat the whole process again.  

My total radius of movement is maybe 10 to 15 feet if all goes well.  Some guys know that I played a little too much ball when I was younger and have an artificial hip and a bad knee, so I take significant effort to reduce my steps.  Since I'm the sawyer, I have to keep sawing to keep my business humming, but I have to reduce the pain and the load.
I don't saw for speed, but I do saw for efficiency, and can generate two 800 bdft packs pretty easy by lunchtime, when I quit sawing for the day and switch to kiln work, SLR edging, jointing, planing, racking lumber, etc.  So 1600 bdft give or take a day, 5 days a week, starts to add up pretty fast and sometimes I have to throttle back to keep from oversawing, choking my air drying yard, or the kilns.  My only goal is sawing is to produce enough wood to keep the 3 kilns fed and wood on the rack in the showroom.  

I'm always tweaking things, and looking for a better way, as reducing pain is a good motivator.  For examaple, in 2014, when recovering from my hip replacement at age 52, I calculated that we (mostly me) cut and moved 1,140,000 pounds of wood that year alone, and that was unacceptable to long term health and survival.  So we changed our business plan, and since then we have made a concerted effort to reduce effort by sawing smaller quantities of higher grade wood, simplifying things, tightening things up, invested in new and better machines, forklift, etc.  In many ways, simplification is the key to efficiency.  
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

4x4American

Ok Longtime Lurker, get the dust outta yer eyeballs and open your ears!!

1.  Yea I know it's a pita to shovel sawdust, I've shoveled alot.  Don't like doing it.  Wasn't sure what way to go, blower vs conveyor and how it would affect my future setup in the next stage and been spending alot of $ on logs and insurance.

2.  The slabs through the edger thing lasted maybe a week for me.  I tried it because everyone else was doing it and I wanted to see for myself how it worked.  I didn't have any other video to post of the way that I was setup, as my phone had kicked the bucket and I lost alot of photos/videos.  That's all I had.  I can see many benefits from doing it that way, but, the way I was setup at the time it really sucked.  It would have worked much better if I was setup more like a scragg mill.

3. I flip 180 almost always.  It's easier to square the cant, it makes less boards to be edged, reducing work load on your edgerman, and when your edgerman is like mine (half blind) I want him to do as little lumber ruining edging as possible.  I also think that it balances stress better but that's just me.  Flipping 90 has pros and cons as well, but, I prefer flipping 180, it works better for me.  I flip 90 when I can't clamp/clear the log with a 180 flip.  

4.  Having the edger where I have it right now is great with help.  If you would just buy me a few conveyors I'll have it just how I want it.  The way it was setup at Boonville.  Everything goes in a big circle.  Slab comes off the mill and onto the green chain where the kicker kicks it off onto a shaker conveyor feeding a chipper/grinder/hog/whatever.  Flitch comes off, goes onto greenchain, rides to end, falls into conveyor that carries up to another green chain that carries board right to edger that is 3' away from the sawyer's booth.  Edger sends board and edging strips onto the #1 greenchain and they all fall into the conveyor and come back to the #2 greenchain to be stacked.  Cants and ties same thing.  That's where I wanna be.  Need a much bigger building and a couple conveyors and another green chain.  I think it'd be a great system.  And if I wanted to I could have my pallet resaw and chopsaw on the other side of greenchain #1 and have a guy pulling cants and making cutstock.  Also a log deck to feed the mill.  It just doesn't happen overnight.

Now lets see a video of your setup and how you cut wood, please.
Boy, back in my day..

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