Brand New To Milling

[flattail]

 ??? O.K. guys here go's I ve cut firewood for many years but have never cut one board.I have my mill ordered but won't get it till June.I'm starting with cedar since that's what I have the most of. I'm trying to learn all of the
"lingo"on the forum so if I ask a stupid question I'll pull the redneck card.
This is only starting out as a hobby but I hope it progresses,I don't want to work in a factory forever.
I hope to ask all of you a lot of "dumb questions in the future'

[drobertson]

Only lingo needed is whats biting and on what color down there,  that is if you fish ;D  hard to believe that you don't coming from that area.

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

And there are no "stupid" questions, so have no fear. 

Hope you have been reading some of the posts and threads already in the archives.

Tell us more about your interests and decision to get a mill.

[dgdrls]

Welcome flattail,
lots to learn and no shortage of great "teachers"
here.

Best
Dan

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, flattail.

[flattail]

drobertson,your right I live on the White River,so its either trout on the river or any other fish on the lake.
Thanks guys for the welcome.I do have a couple of ? I've printed the Doyle board foot scale but don't understand large quantites of logs total board feet.
I've read about a mill being hammered,no clue what that means.
Will my wood dry quicker here in the south due to high temps in the summer months?

[beenthere]

A mill circular saw blade is what is being hammered. But sounds like your mill will be a band mill.

[customsawyer]

Welcome to the forum. What kind of mill are you getting?

[flattail]

I've invested in a Mister Sawmill,20hp Honda engine. We have a lot of sawmills around here bot most are circular mills that do big business hardwood.
Like I said I work in a factory and as soon as I mentioned I was getting a portable mill,everyone has a couple of logs to be sawn,another reason to know how much do you charge to saw.
The wife is buying the mill for US so she gets first dibs on all that's cut.

[Cedarman]

For cedar Doyle works for 17" and up.
Most people use cedar scale for ERC
x 8' lengths.
4"   4'
5"   7'
6"   11'
7"   14' some use 15'
8"   19'
9"   24'
10"  30'
11"   36'
12"   43'
13"   50'
14"   58'
15"   67'
16"    76'
Usually measure with tape measure inside bark to inside bark.
This doesn't mean the log will saw this footage, just that is an agreed on footage to be paid for in each size log. 

[Seavee]

Welcome

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

[Deese]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum 

[Sixacresand]

Welcome to the Forum. Flattail

[flattail]

I hear folks talking about ties,is that railroad ties and if so how big and who buys them? I can't wait to get my mill and start cutting.You guys know I'll ask a million questions before the end of June.
Do you mill for someone else by the board foot or agreed upon fee? ???

[beenthere]

Yes to railroad ties.. search for a buyer in your area and get sizes and grade requirements from those buyers. Some might require a truck load, or so many ties at a time.

Saw by the bdft or by the hour... Then you get paid for what you do.. production or your time.

It will help keep your questions and on topic if the admins put this with your other thread, as long as the subject is along the same line.

[samandothers]

Welcome Flattail!

[flattail]

Thanks for all the welcomes.I seen the pics of what are you cutting and was wondering how long of boards are most guys cutting?I seen one pic of cedar that looked 20 feet long.Is anyone cutting boards that long?

[Cedarman]

Longest ERC we have cut were 4x8x 34'.  Have made about 15 of them over the last few years.  10" x 34' straight logs are a little hard to come by.

[Magicman]

ERC normally has more taper than some species, so sawing long is generally an inefficient use of ERC logs.  The normal length that I saw is ~8'.  In Cedarman's example above, the customer pays.   ;D

[sandsawmill14]

i cant saw over 20' with my mills but on the long stuff i saw the taper into 4/4 lumber down to about 6' long and run it through the edger that way you dont lose any lumber in sawing long timbers

[Cedarman]

We take an outside slab and then slice lumber.  We cut the slabs and lumber to usable lengths. Nothing is wasted.  Best log was one we got 2 out of.  $800 not bad for a couple of boards and 45 minutes work for 3 people.  We can only cut 22' feet at a time.  We use a pallet jack and pallets on one end to help keep height right and move log back and forth.

[never finished]

 Flattail welcome to the forum. My first suggestion is to find a few band mills to visit and maybe help a little while you learn. You'd be more than welcome here. There's a few on here a lot closer to you. Maybe they will catch this post and give you an invite. And read, read, read on this forum. And ask all the questions you want.     

[codyleviere]

??? O.K. guys here go's I ve cut firewood for many years but have never cut one board.I have my mill ordered but won't get it till June.I'm starting with cedar since that's what I have the most of. I'm trying to learn all of the
"lingo"on the forum so if I ask a stupid question I'll pull the redneck card.
This is only starting out as a hobby but I hope it progresses,I don't want to work in a factory forever.
I hope to ask all of you a lot of "dumb questions in the future'

Welcome! Don't worry about "stupid questions". I just joined recently too and these guys give nothing but support!! I have experience in the industry but for going on my own, this forum is GREAT!!!

[Magicman]

The only dumb questions are unasked questions.   

[jpm717]

I am looking at an MSG Industries Model MM250 to purchase. Does anyone have info on this mill. I called MSG and the phones are disconnected

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum
Add your location to your profile and will help with answers.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, jpm717.  Disconnected phones may not be a good sign if you ever need support.   :-\

[flattail]

Just wondering does anyone plane their lumber before selling?

[flattail]

when sawing cedar does anyone shorten the length to cut wider boards.I know cedar can get smaller pretty fast as it goes up. ???

[pineywoods]

when sawing cedar does anyone shorten the length to cut wider boards.I know cedar can get smaller pretty fast as it goes up. ???

I seldom saw any cedar longer than 8 ft. Got 50+ cedar logs in my yard, some make 1X12...

[never finished]

 I plane some erc when selling. Mostly V grove 4 or 6 inch.

[never finished]

 I've got some of those too pineywoods. Problem is they will all have some rot in them. Not having much luck lately getting any clear erc of any size.

[Cedarman]

Some cedar trees have lots of taper, some not so much.  We buy most of our cedar tree length with about a 4" top.  Lots of 30 to 40 foot poles, some as long as 45'.  We can buck to the lengths our orders call for.  Lots of 10 to 16'.  Some 18', Some 20'.  We make container loads from 8' to 18' in 1' increments.  Gotta saw what customer wants and is happy to pay.

[flattail]

I still don't have my mill yet but what degree bands do you recommend? I will be cutting mostly cedar but some other hardwoods such as hickory and the oaks.

[Magicman]

10° on the Cedar and 4° on Hickory and White Oak.  I successfully saw Red Oak with 10° blades, but the 4° should be OK.  I have recently gotten some 7° turbo's but my use has been limited to Pine.

My advice is to not burden yourself with a huge variety of blades.  I sawed over 10 years with nothing but 10° blades.  (I have limited opportunities to saw Hickory and White Oak.)

[flattail]

The wife and I were looking at tractors today and learned they're not cheap.I'm not exactly sure how much h.p. I need or how much a log weighs like I said most will be 8 foot cedar but I will be cutting hardwood that I know weighs more.Any suggestions? I don't want too small and have to upgrade soon but I don't need to lift my house either.Thanks

[thecfarm]

Many on here do alot with a 30hp tractor. The wife's tractor is a 30hp. I have a 40hp,much better for the tasks I do. It's not really the hp,it's the size/weight of the tractors that matters. But I can get the wife's tractor through the woods easier than my tractor. Hers is smaller,not as wide or as long. With my tractor,I can pick up a 12 foot hemlock log more than a foot and a half across and carry it to the sawmill and not have to worry about tipping the tractor over.

[outpost22]

Welcome to the forum. There are lots of new guys here (me included). Everyone seems to learn something new everyday, including the veterans from what I can tell. So, ask these guys-they know the answers.
As to tractors, there are a lot of considerations. What kind of ground are you working. Do you need a track loader? Is a rubber tired rig o.k.?  How large a log are you moving?
Is the mill manual or automated? How will you turn large logs? How much of a tractor can you afford? How large of a tractor is too large? Skid Steer loaders work well and there are a lot of used ones around.
"thecfarm" is right. A larger tractor may be too large to get where you need to get to. I had to compromise with this issue. Any larger tractor than my L3800 won't get through many of my groves of trees and a smaller tractor would be too small to move what's needed. If space is not an issue and you have a large yard to work in, bigger usually moves more and is more stable.
Are you an experienced operator? Always keep the weight (log) as low as possible while driving. If you're working hills, keep the tractor/loads as perpendicular to the slope as possible. If you are going up a steep slope, then back up it. If you get stuck going up, you can drive forward out of it. Make sure you have a counter weight or implement on the back of the tractor so you don't do the "front end hand stand".
Here is my Kubota L3800 with a cedar log that it handles quite easily. You might gauge what you're going to be sawing to size your tractor:

[DDW_OR]

flattail, tractor

I have a Mahindra 5520 4x4, 51 HP, pallet forks with 2 additional forks to make a tractor pitch fork
on the 3-point i have a Farmi skidder winch rated for 11,000#, makes a good counter weight for moving logs.
additional 3-point attachments i can recommend: trailer hitch, grader blade, rake