Bdft/hour claims...

[woodmills1]

First, to make money you have to sell product, so yes maximize everything

second, the min and the max with my first bob's LT40
min 36 bd ft per hr at 3 bucks quartersawing for ron the cooper
max 4200 bd ft one day log truck 2 dumps for slabs, 3 workers beside me and 2 by oak all day stacked close.  no fun back and forth back and forth change the blade

third, the second bob's LT70  OMG
fast fast fast   $360 trailer deck 2 hrs
quartering for ron the cooper goes to 114 per hr at 3 bucks
white cedar flies of the mill lovely wife says these boards are light :D

and did I say I wish every one needed horse fence


get customers sell product



MERRY CHRISTMAS

[zopi]

..It can be an adventure..Finished up around 400 bdft for the day, but the afternoon was spent loading logs on the deck and quartersawing some oak,
and grade sawing some apple and hickory for turning stock...got some pretty Q-sawn, but it's pretty low grade...the tree had been standing dead for some time..heart ws good, but the first couple inches of the log was ratty...got a little spalted side wood out of it though...

The last log i loaded did me in..back and knees were done...I WILL have hydraulics. Soon, I hope.

[ARKANSAWYER]

Rush order today for 90 ea. 3/4 x 8 x 9' and 45 3/4 x 4 x 9' to side a barn out of SYP.   Loaded the logs on the deck and was done in less then an hour.  The trailer was parked at the end of the green chain and they loaded as I sawed.  Kinda wished I had not sent all the hands home for the year now.  :

  On the LT40HD25G and one helper we average 250 bdft an hour.
  On the LT70E25 and 3 helpers can average 800 to 1,000 bdft an hour.
   Both mills have orange edgers behind them.

[WDH]

On the manual mills, edging on the mill really kills productivity and requires about twice the energy as sawing regular 4-square boards. 

An orange edger would be real nice  ;D.

[zopi]

no lie...did 100 bd ft of flitches I had been avoiding this morning...got some nice boards out of it but jeez...

[Bibbyman]

We've met the advertized production rate pretty often when we have good logs and things run right.  We've even exceeded it a couple of times with exceptional logs.

When sawing oak ties and 4/4 lumber, we have often hit 500 bf/hr average for the whole day.  But we have a live deck, edger, dust blower, rollers to roll the ties out on, etc.  And a lot of experience in organizing our work.  And we both saw so one can load the deck with logs or take away slabs while the mill is still going.

[Dan_Shade]

to reduce edging, I started flipping cants 180 degrees after cutting the opening face.  I find it really speeds things up.

[ladylake]

to reduce edging, I started flipping cants 180 degrees after cutting the opening face.  I find it really speeds things up.

  That's the only way I saw now, unless the log is huge and ugly. Steve

[Coalsmoke]

Some are telling their cutting rates without posting their equipment, which makes it a little hard to compare.

I'm running a late model Norwood LM2000 with the 20HP engine. The mill is consistently cutting 200 - 250 bd/ft per hour in Douglas Fir 2x4 and 2x6 at a comfortable rate. Larger beams and timbers are of course higher numbers, but I find I like using 2x6 as a fair comparison (At least one of the major mill manufactures uses 2x6 as their method of rating bd/ft rates and after reading about it I sort of stuck with the idea).

My cutting speed in 6" D. Fir averages out at 60 feet per minute. On a sharp band its higher, but this is an average. One note about production though, my current site is very tight on space, being only 30' wide and 175' long. I spend more time playing with the logs than I should, and the sharpening shed is a little ways from the mill. Taking everything into consideration, I find most days I am in the 100-120 bd ft per hour range looking at production in terms of a daily average. That includes everything relating to sawing except lunch.

When edging flitches, I save up a bunch and do 6-10 at a time. I am willing to loose a bit of material in waste in exchange for the time saved by edging them this way.

[Dodgy Loner]

to reduce edging, I started flipping cants 180 degrees after cutting the opening face.  I find it really speeds things up.

That's the only way I saw now, unless the log is huge and ugly. Steve

I actually have the exact opposite theory on the best way to edge. Whenever possible, I flip the logs 90^o at a time, which means I end up with more boards to edge, but most of them already have one edge that is straight. This makes them easier to arrange for edging, and I only have to edge one side on most of them.

[york]

DL,you are on target,plus you get much better lumber,bert

[Dan_Shade]

that is true, DL.  I kind of cheat.  I will just "snug" the clamp, then I can go get the flitch lined up so the cut "lines up the heart" with the deck.

It works for me.  And besides, edging boards really slows you down when you have to do it on the mill.

[Magicman]

Since I do all of my edging on the mill and are generally also cutting stickers, I use the 90^o flip also.

[Dan_Shade]

i typically use flitches for the stickers.  But it kills me to saw up all of that clear lumber into little sticks  :(

[zopi]

If I'm making stickers, I'll take a few small low grade logs and make them all at once...then i don't have to think about it...same thing with bunks..

[Bibbyman]

We still edge long and heavy stuff on the mill.  

We'll drop in the flitches and edge them when we get the cant down to say 6" thick.  Often we can slide a flitch right off the cant and clamp and edge it next rather than slide it off and then back on.  Any any case, we don't take it off the mill but just push the flitches to be edged off on the loading arms.

I use the 90 degree method some 90% of the time.  The only time I don't use it is when the log is bent real bad and won't clamp right turning 90%.  Mary uses the 90% most of the time but flips 180% more than I do.  

P.S.  Jeff asked us mill owners years ago to put what equipment we're running in our profile.  You may note may of us old timers have this list of equipment at the bottom of our posts.

[Chuck White]

I usually flip logs 90°, cut, flip another 90°, cut to the dimension I'm looking for, then flip another 90°, then another 90° and saw down to the bunk.
That is unless I am quarter sawing!

On small stuff, I use the 180° method!
Flatten two opposite sides, then flip it 90° and start making boards.
When I get about half way through the cant, I'll flip it another 180° and saw to the bunk!

[Larry]

How I flip depends on species and what my final product is for.  I flip cedar 90 degrees only...with smaller logs and wasting a little sapwood I only end up with a few flitches from each log.  They only need edging on one side.  I'm sawing a lot of large oak now, with most of it going to board and bats.  Its also flipped 90 degrees.

When sawing hardwood for cabinet use, either for myself or a customer I most always flip 180 degrees.  The reason is the grain pattern is centered and symmetrical plus I get more wide boards.  Customers really like the idea.  You can do it by flipping 90 but most don't....they saw too deep on one face than when they flip the log the next board will be flat sawn on one side and rift sawn on the other side.  Put that board into a raised panel and it will be most ugly.

[Magicman]

P.S.  Jeff asked us mill owners years ago to put what equipment we're running in our profile.

It certainly does help when a question is asked.  It keeps you from answering a CSM question with a WM LT40 answer...... :-[

[zopi]

...Hydraulic CSM...

My average dropped today...changed the oil and air filter on the mill...sawed one big pine out,
and shut it down for a break, now the little bugger won't start...prolly flooded it or something...

[Magicman]

Zopi, you are a bad man.  Hydraulic "coal and switches" for you...... smiley_christmas...... :D

[woodmills1]

just remember on smaller oaks....flip, flip. flip, and flip again or they will curl right up on ya

[zopi]

Lt-15 will take a 29" log...ya..keep thinking that while I'm chopping...

Loaded it with the hydraulics though... ;D

[DanG]

I'd like to make a meaningful contribution to this thread, but I'm not sure if the hourly sawing rate takes my 45 minute break into account or not. ???  I ain't sure I ever sawed for a whole hour at one time. :

[WDH]

I hate edging so much that I flip 90 degrees to get more boards with at least one straight edge.  If it were not for the bugs, I would just leave the other edge alone, but here in the South, bark on hardwood lumber is a sure bug magnet.