I had a local logger call me today. He has a few truck loads of ERC that he is trying to move. He is a part time kid who sells to a few small mills like mine. He said the logs are 8ft in length and average 8 to 10in in diam on both ends. Of course these are small logs, the ERC I usually get is alteast 12 on the small. However ERC is getting harder to find around here and I need around 1500bf to fill two orders. I have never sawed any cedar this small, anyone on here have any advice/experience with cedars this size?
Quote from: 123maxbars on April 27, 2012, 09:15:40 PM
I had a local logger call me today. He has a few truck loads of ERC that he is trying to move. He is a part time kid who sells to a few small mills like mine. He said the logs are 8ft in length and average 8 to 10in in diam on both ends. Of course these are small logs, the ERC I usually get is alteast 12 on the small. However ERC is getting harder to find around here and I need around 1500bf to fill two orders. I have never sawed any cedar this small, anyone on here have any advice/experience with cedars this size?
Wow....the small logs you described are BIG logs here where I live. And you're right, it is getting harder to find around here also.
I have a lot of experience on this size and to be honest.....saw it just like you do the other. I could get a bunch of 1x6's, 1x4's and 4x4 and 6x6 post and squeeze out some 8x8's. I'd love to have that load.
What's he asking for it in your area?
Thanks for the reply, I have never sawed ones that small and didnt really know if there was much value in them. After reading your reply I am going to get the truck load tomorrow and see how it goes.
He sales me ERC for .35 a board foot. I sale it for a dollar, and it sales fast up here!
Quote from: 123maxbars on April 27, 2012, 09:26:27 PM
Thanks for the reply, I have never sawed ones that small and didnt really know if there was much value in them. After reading your reply I am going to get the truck load tomorrow and see how it goes.
He sales me ERC for .35 a board foot. I sale it for a dollar, and it sales fast up here!
His price is not bad if the logs are solid with good heart. Down here I sell lumber from logs that size for $1.25/bf. So we're pretty much in line. I just wish I could find a truck load of nice cedar! :)
This kid does nothing but log cedar. He sales it as fence post, and takes the bad stuff to the factory down the road that makes animal bedding. If i could move it he would bring me a truck load 3 days a week. His truck loads are uslly around 500board feet doyle scale.
Hey Max....I looked at your profile and map. Are you Tenn. or Texas. Your map shows Texas????
Yes, I regularly saw ERC that small. Some will only make 1X4's, 6's, and 1X8's. Of course, I am always sawing the customer's logs so I just saw what they have.
I was into some larger stuff today. Here is today's saw job which I should finish Monday.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0884S.JPG)
The logs were tree length and were bucked to 8' 6" and moved to the sawmill with a tractor e/w a gin pole.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0886C.JPG)
This is a nice 20" little end.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0889S.JPG)
Today's whack which included six 4X12 mantel boards. With these mature trees, there is very little sap wood.
Magicman.....Will Cedar dry faster stacking it this way?? :D
OOOO.....I'm just poking a stick in your ribs....Nice productive day!
At times, it is just small ERC logs such as many of these.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/DSCN0202.JPG)
David, I am in TN, about an hour west of Ashville NC. had to update the map
Majic, thanks for the pics and insight, appreciated.
I've been sawing cedar off and on for a while now. Trying to fill a 3000 bf order of 1x5.5 privacy fence boards and it seems like 2 out of 3 logs is right at 6" small end (my minimum if I buy them). I have about 1000 bf so far, only 2000 to go. It takes a little more time with smaller logs, but they're easier to handle.
When I finish this one, my next saw job is 100+ tree length ERC logs. That will surely take a few days.
I'd jump all over the cedar at $350 bd ft on doyle, delivered also :o You will make money at that. Ricky
It is not the size of the log that makes you money. It is how many board feet that goes across your mill and the margin you get from the cost of the logs to the price you get for your lumber.
We saw down to 4". This makes a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" with bark on corners. This is put in a jig with 3 others then the 4 corners are cut off. Then the log goes through a german peeler to make a rustic round post. We do make money off of these. Not the margin of a 9" log that makes a 6x6 in 30 seconds, but we get these small logs in loads.
We buy down to 2".
I need 1500 saplings 8 to 9' long with green sprig at top. Max base 2".
There are many markets out there.
At 8' we would miss the markets for pergolas which pay upward of $2.50/bd '
In the old days most of what we bought was 8', but the margins were small.
$.35 is as cheap as I have heard and way cheap for logs that size.
Keep that logger happy, very happy.
My old partner built rustic cedar furnature,I've spent hours messing with small logs.Hydraulic backstops with fine control are a must,sacrificial boards to back up the dinky cedar are helpfull.You work by the hour and keep mumbling to yourself its worth it,its worth it. Frank C.
I am going to be sawing out a pergola today. 14 foot by 20 foot. Everything is 10 foot lengths except for 20 2x6 14 foot long. I will use 7 inch logs for the 4x4's and 8 inch logs for the 4x6's. Easy job and good money!
I take them down to around 8" but rarely mess with them south of that. You are blessed to have such nice logs. And MM, how did they get that log to grow so round? Around here the red cedars are typically octopus-shaped in cross-section.
The Lord grows um, and I saws um. ;D
I got the call today from the logger and he brought me a truck load (dump truck) of 8ft ERC. They ranged from 8 to 12in on the small end. Around 26 logs total all of them are not in the picture. They scaled out to around 620bf. I got a good deal on them I think, I paid him $200 for all of them. I sawed one up this evening, it was 8in, and I was very happy with the results.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25380/IMG_0012.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25380/IMG_0011.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/25380/IMG_0010.JPG)
You did well and should turn a profit. I hate those deeply fluted butts like the two on the bottom.
Quote from: Magicman on April 28, 2012, 11:29:39 PM
You did well and should turn a profit. I hate those deeply fluted butts like the two on the bottom.
Quote from: Okrafarmer on April 28, 2012, 11:34:43 AM
And MM, how did they get that log to grow so round? Around here the red cedars are typically octopus-shaped in cross-section.
Looks like what I see all the time, sometimes I get ones worse than that. makes it tricky figuring out the bfage.
Figuring bf should be simple because them flutes ain't log. :D :D
Quote from: Okrafarmer on April 28, 2012, 11:33:15 PM
Quote from: Magicman on April 28, 2012, 11:29:39 PM
You did well and should turn a profit. I hate those deeply fluted butts like the two on the bottom.
Quote from: Okrafarmer on April 28, 2012, 11:34:43 AM
And MM, how did they get that log to grow so round? Around here the red cedars are typically octopus-shaped in cross-section.
Looks like what I see all the time, sometimes I get ones worse than that. makes it tricky figuring out the bfage.
They make great clock blanks.
Quote from: Magicman on April 29, 2012, 08:46:35 AM
Figuring bf should be simple because them flutes ain't log. :D :D
They can be, sometimes. At least, they can be boards. Flitches. Camp lumber.
If I was buying they would not be. I would measure inside the flutes, but then I'm not buying.
Then again, we usually measure the bfage from the top end, which *might* not be too octopied. My main question would be whether the wood from them would be prone to excessive warping, splitting, etc.
OK, I guess that the little end would be smaller that the "inside the flute" measurement.
I used to cut cedar fencing only, 1x6. I loved 8 and 10 inch logs just square and saw boards. Logs was 12-4 long and made two 1x6x6, bought logs for 25-35 a foot and sold it for 85. Loved it
Cedar is not prone to warping, bowing, twisting, shrinking, swelling etc. It normally just lays there. Every once in a while you get a log whose boards can do tricks, but rare.
Ingrown tends to disappear in the first foot. It is kind of like a knot in FAS lumber. Depends on where it is and how much.
If you deduct much on cedar logs, the logger heads to the competitor's mill.
Today's delivery.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/cedar.jpg)
Seven logs, sized from 7" to 15" and 271 bf on the cedar scale (they had one off before I got the camera). You think your Tennessee logger will bring me a load? They grow cheaper over your way. :o
A little cedar story. I saved edge trimmings from making blanks for T&G last winter. Sold some for kindling, but gave away most. One of my friends came back yesterday and requested more. He does landscaping and figured out how to make the scraps into a rose trellis. He got a good response and says he can make money. But now he is getting picky and wants the scraps all sawed 1/4" by 1 1/2" without too many knots. Wonder how much I should charge per/bf for this job? :D
Nice logs, Larry. I wish they grew that big on a regular basis around here.
Listen closely to Cedarman. He knows ERC. I am always looking for those "flutes" which contain some wild grain patterns. I carve a signifigant volume of plaques and signs and the grain swirls add to them. I also crank out cedar trellises(m0stly 4 feet by 4 feet) which is really a "value added" deal as I utilize narrow stuff. I also have turned out 1,800 Christmas ornaments which are a labor of love. I couldn't afford them if I paid myself 25 cents an hour. Say your prayers. MM may hate sweet gum. but I loves ERC...........
I'm always in favor of wild grain patterns.
I will be back in the "pink" tomorrow. :)
If you have a loader big enough, have the logger put 2 log chains in the bed of the truck cross ways. Go in with forks under a top log and lift the whole load up and have logger drive out from under the lifted load.
A few logs can be unloaded first if total load is too big.
Keeps from having a pile of pickup sticks when hand unloaded.
We can carry a big load to the log pile and then pull the chains out with the loader.
Remember to leave a good gap in the chains as they will severly tighten when you set the load down.