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sawing by the foot prices

Started by beav39, February 14, 2008, 06:23:25 AM

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John Bartley

Quote from: cantcutter on June 14, 2008, 08:46:03 AM
How much are you paying for diesel? I am paying 3.99 a gallon for gas and using three five gallon tanks a day when I run all day. I actually started to idle the mill down and turn it off when off loading because the cost is getting crazy. I am running a 25 hp kohler on a timberking 1600. I think it would do better on fuel if it had two seperate power units for the hydraulics and the band, but for now it does not.

Cantcutter,

I am posting this as a reference for you so that you can compare fuel consumption figures (hopefully for your benefit). I also have a 25hp Kohler on my mill. Admittedly my mill does not have any hydraulics, so I am able to idle down between cutting passes, and I also shut it off completely when I load, or if the log rolling/setup will be more than a minute or so. I have an hourmeter on my mill, and it seems as if I am burning far less than 1/2 gallon per hour even on hard days. Thursdays cutting for example was quite easy - billed 5.5 hours - put 4 hours on the mill hour meter - burned a bit over one Canadian gallon. (The wood wasn't great wood, so we only produced about 600 board feet, but the farmer I was cutting for knew what he was doing and was quite happy to get his scrap logs cleaned up).

Last winter, cutting BIG and frozen white pine, and producing a steady 200 bdft/hr, we were burning an average 1/4 gallon per hour in temperatures ranging from 0'F to 35'F. I know this sounds extremely low, but it's a pretty accurate assessment of my fuel consumption.

cheers

John
Kioti DK35HSE w/loader & forks
Champion 25hp band mill, 20' bed
Stihl MS361
Stihl 026

Tom Sawyer

Quote from: cantcutter on June 14, 2008, 08:46:03 AM
How much are you paying for diesel? I am paying 3.99 a gallon for gas and using three five gallon tanks a day when I run all day.

Yesterday I filled up my truck for $1.419/litre.  I usually put about 18 litres in the mill and can usually run all day on that.

Tom

WH_Conley

I will echo the Kohler fuel comsumption, I am hard pressed to run five gallons a day through mine. 97 LT40HD.
Bill

Ironwood

We have a few guys locally charging the VERY low rates as well. I don't think they calculate the math as others have stated. I am very high compared to them, $75 an hour. I too charge well for hauling logs to me, and don't have any interest in travelling to cut on their sites (slow manual mill anyhow). I have the mill mostly for my use anyhow, if others "want" me to custom mill they gotta pay, I usually just refer other sawyers for the work. I have done some resawing work for reclaimed material.


               Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Dave Shepard

I've done some rough figuring in my head, and it would have to be a large on going job with proper setup to take the mill on the road. With all the wasted setup time, lack of proper material handling, and no roof,  ;)  it would be cheaper to truck the logs to the mill.


Dave
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Dodgy Loner

Anyone care for an opinion from a customer, not a sawyer?  I'm happy to share my experiences from paying to have lumber sawn.  I've had two different guys do it for me, and the difference was like night and day. 

Sawyer #1 told me up front how much he charges: $60/hour, $25 for damaged blades.  I brought the logs to him.  Whether he was unloading logs, milling, or changing blades, he charged the same thing.  It works out great.  Sometimes I bring unusual wood, like crotches or spalted logs that I want sawn very carefully, despite the fact that they contain very little lumber.  It wouldn't be fair for me to pay him by the board foot, but he doesn't mind being meticulous when he's charging by the hour.  That's exactly what I want.  I always off-bear for him, to speed things along, and of course he doesn't mind that, either.  We both pay attention to the log as it's being sawn, so we can decide when to flip it, when to stop cutting 1xs and starting cutting some 2xs, or when to take a thick slab that I can use for bowl blanks.  I have something specific in mind for each log, and he knows that, so he always asks for input, which slows things down, but puts more $$$ in his pocket.  We're both happy :)

Sawyer #2 (who I used only once) sawed four walnut logs for me, and did not specify beforehand the rate that he charged.  (Actually, it is a bit unfair to demean the skilled people on this website by calling him a sawyer, he was really just a guy who happened to own a barely-functioning sawmill)  He didn't even ask what kind of lumber I wanted from the logs before he started sawing.  4/4, 5/4, 8/4?  Random width or specific widths?  Nope, just started cutting, and acted like he didn't really care when I yelled out instructions to him over the noise of the engine.  He ended up charging me about $0.25 a board foot, which is about 5 to 10 cents cheaper than sawyer #1 usually ends up, but I was not pleased with the way he handled the job, so I haven't used him since. 

Bottom line: Explaining your charging procedures thoroughly beforehand and taking the time to understand your customer's needs will go a long way in preventing arguments over the bill.  You'll be able to charge more and your customers will be happier.  My personal opinion?  As someone who pays to have logs sawn for furniture, I prefer to pay by the hour rather than the board foot.  Maybe it would be different if I were paying for construction lumber, but to be honest I'd rather buy lumber from Home Depot than pay a custom sawyer to mill construction lumber.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Ironwood

Dodgy,

Makes sense to me. I had guys coming here, or me going there for years, to mill my logs, I finally decide for convience to just my own manual mill here. Automated mills always just tore my logs up. I would just cringe at there turners and dogs beating up my sapwood ::) :(. I hear what your saying though, my one guy that ended up being my main sawyer just got undependable ( didn't even have a drivers liscense to get the mill to my place by the end of our dealings). Nice enough and good worker, I just needed to do it "in house". It was a good education w/ all the mills and techniques I saw over the years, I still network w/ alot of the guys as we are all looking for differing things, and we even yield to each other when we know the other guy really wants/ needs something. Nice arrangement actually.

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

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