At what DBH does pine become viable to saw?

[TheSaint68]

My wife and I bought a small old farm in Southern CT 2 years ago and have been slowly cleaning the place up. The farm has a section of large mature pine that was most likely a christmas tree planting at some point in the past. Hurricane Sandy brought some down and there are a few standing dead all of various sizes. I do not have a mill but I can use some lumber for a few basic out buildings in the near future. At what size would it be worthwhile to look at milling into something usable, they are predominantly douglas fir?

Thank you in advance for any insight.

[terrifictimbersllc]

9" diameter logs, if straight and outside not punky, will give a 6x6 or six 1" boards.   Probably worth it.   Smaller, a 4x4 or some narrower boards.  Worth it is your call.  The problem with overgrown Christmas trees is that they have knots everywhere.  OK for shorter posts or utility 1" boards maybe, not good for 2x framing lumber. 

[drobertson]

I hate it when I go to reply and someone has just posted :D  because I may say the same thing, but whatever, not sure what the ideal size is but 16" is a good number a little smaller or bigger, I  have sawed below 10" and yielded some very useful lumber.

[sandsawmill14]

x2  but on the lower value stuff such as pine i try to stay 12" dbh or about 9-10 small end dia

[sandsawmill14]

drobertson i know what you mean you just did it to me >:(  :D :D :D

[drobertson]

drobertson i know what you mean you just did it to me >:(  :D :D :D

Ha Ha, yea,, I hate going back, then back again to post, maybe someone can tell me how to prevent this?

[pine]

My wife and I bought a small old farm in Southern CT 2 years ago and have been slowly cleaning the place up. The farm has a section of large mature pine that was most likely a christmas tree planting at some point in the past. Hurricane Sandy brought some down and there are a few standing dead all of various sizes. I do not have a mill but I can use some lumber for a few basic out buildings in the near future. At what size would it be worthwhile to look at milling into something usable, they are predominantly douglas fir?

Thank you in advance for any insight.

Not that it matters to the answer that much but are they large mature pine or are they predominantly Douglas-fir? 

You can get lumber out of most anything but the workload goes up the smaller the dbh and thus what you get for the cost of having them milled may not be worth it.  Most sawyers will bill hourly on small diameter logs not BF rates.  If you buy a mill then it is just your time.  Agree with the knot statement.  If they were not "pruned up" then your boards will have lots of knots.

[jtflynn]

10" on the small end is the smallest I'll mill....the rest goes in the wood boiler

[sawmilljoe]

What I say is if you need 1+4 or 4+4 the a 6 inch log will work will be a struggle to get much sawed . If you have lots above 9 inches then burn the small stuff

[Chuck White]

One thing that I always have my customers do is limit the small end of the logs to 8 inches or larger!

Seems to work well for me!

[roghair]

drobertson i know what you mean you just did it to me >:(  :D :D :D

Ha Ha, yea,, I hate going back, then back again to post, maybe someone can tell me how to prevent this?

drobertson
Have you checked this:
go to Profile - Account Settings - Modify Profile - Look & Layout - UNcheck the box  "Don't warn on new replies made while posting." Would that solve the issue?

[azmtnman]

they are predominantly douglas fir?

I believe Doug fir is a western mountain tree. I cut a lot of it but have to go above 8000' to find it.

[Ron Wenrich]

Doug fir used as a Christmas tree here in the East.  The smallest tree that I would scale for timber is 12" dbh.  A one log tree would give you a little over 9" inside bark at the end of a 16' log. 

[TheSaint68]

I measure a group of what I want to possible mill they range from 10" to 19" DBH so it looks like I have a viable project. The stand was planted I believe for christmas trees and hence relatively dense so interior trees self-pruned up to a height where they will be pretty clear of any big knots.



 

[drobertson]

Whatever they were planted for makes no mind now,, they look great to me,, these should make some very nice lumber, siding with the knottier stuff and 2x's and beams with the better more clear,,  Nice and straight they appear to be.

[Ianab]

Yeah, trees in that pic look "useful".  Because of the close planting you can get a decent ~10" log that's straight, no large knots etc and it will make useful boards.  Sawing a pile of smaller, but decent quality logs isn't so bad. Much better than a 10" open grown tree that's heavily tapered and full of huge knots.

Also the stand will be starting to stagnate, and probably needs to be removed anyway. The trees wont get much bigger, and thinning is probably going to result in the rest of the trees coming down in the next storm.

So I vote "Cut them down and start sawing" too.

[azmtnman]

Doug fir used as a Christmas tree here in the East.

You learn something new every day!

Your Doug fir even have that telltale swoop at the stump. It's great wood! The knots usually don't go very deep. I generally saw boards out of the entire tree with the bottom being nearly clear. The rest of it makes for good firewood too.

[Cedarman]

I saw some SPF in a box store less than 2" x 2" and had bark on all 4 corners.  Looked like a 2 1/2" log was used.  Looks like the lower limit in log size that can be sawed.

[pineywoods]

I saw a good bit of 5 and 6 inch pine poles and cut them into 4 ft blocking. I go through lots of 4X4 dunage for spacers on lumber stacks. Every stack of lumber leaving my mill sits on two 4X4 on customers trailer so I can load with fork lift. 

[Sixacresand]

I confess.  I mill small logs, especially if customer wants them milled.  If somebody who went to the trouble to load and haul small logs, I certainly am not going to insult him by saying his logs are crap. But I prefer that he is present when I mill them, so he can see the yield.   

[yukon cornelius]

As said before, useful to you doesn't mean useful for another. A huge majority of what I mill is 6 and a bit under. They get used and very little goes to waste. Actually none is really waste as we find a use for all even if it is chipped for mulch. Learning to mill little logs can be as challenging as learning to mill big logs. Creativity comes in to clamp a 3 or 4 inch log without sawing into a clamp. There ate a few discussions about a home for every log

[GAB]

My brother had a pine tree that the wind broke the top off.
He harvested a small 8 or 10' long log from the remainder and I sawed it, because it was a tree that my dad had planted years ago.  Pine trees planted in very sandy soil do not grow very fast.
Gerald

[bkaimwood]

I carried a log over to the mill the other day to mill for a customer... Over my shoulder.... With one hand...and it was 8 foot long....the other hand had 20 bucks in it...what can I say?

[Percy]

I carried a log over to the mill the other day to mill for a customer... Over my shoulder.... With one hand...and it was 8 foot long....the other hand had 20 bucks in it...what can I say?

:D :D :D Well balanced maybe....

[isawlogs]

 I will saw what ever they put on the pile as long as its 6" or better. At least there is a 4x4 in the log or anything else of similar dimenssion(inside said log). I do saw by the hour and at the end of the day there is a pile of lumber that the customer can use for what ever reason he chooses. So when cutting your trees down, don't cut yourself short of a good log because of its size, a smaller log can be cut to a usefull outcome if you so choose to have something to do with it.  Best plan is to have some kind of cut list before attacking the tree removal, this way you can see what you have and have an idea of what you can get out of your trees/logs.
  No sense cutting 12 foot logs if you are going to be using 8 foot lumber..... Just saying, a cutlist goes a long way in helping you decide what lenght you will be cutting logs.  ;)

  Have fun !