Bdft/hour claims...

[Magicman]

Pine bark too.  I am very careful that there is no bark on stickers.

I don't mind edging though.  It goes with the territory.  Really, I guess that I "act" like I don't mind it...... ;D

[zopi]

Gotta 23"x18"x66" red oak cant  (can't) left on the mill...got wore out turning the big bugger...I'll stand it up with the tractor tomorrow and cut the quarters..Dentist over across the river wants some Q-sawn..outer boards in this one were spalted...pretty nice too...got through all my pine this morning, and
hopefully will finish these two big oaks tomorrow...I'm not cutting anymore big logs until santa mizer comes sometime next year, too bloody hard on my body..

[zopi]

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. :

if ya saw fast enough..it doesn't matter...I can relate to the long breaks..I tend to putter if I don't concentrate...

[Dan_Shade]

you can use a handyman or a high lift jack to flip over the monsters.

Also, when I had a manual mill, I rigged up a "boom" with a boat winch for turning bigguns.  it worked great for loading and for flipping.

[zopi]

you can use a handyman or a high lift jack to flip over the monsters.

Also, when I had a manual mill, I rigged up a "boom" with a boat winch for turning bigguns.  it worked great for loading and for flipping.

I've been procrastinating on the winch boom..I keep hoping Hydroclaus will show up I guess...Been using the tractor boom to move pretty much everything too heavy to move by hand...

[Brucer]

Here's how I figured the board feet per hour my first full year in business (no helpers) ...

Annual output = 84,000 BF.
Working days = 180.
Average daily output = 467  BF/day.

That covers everything -- maintenance, unexpected repairs, short days, clearing snow to get at the mill, talking to customers, etc. Oh, yeah ... and sawing ;D.

[Coalsmoke]

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.

Good idea, I will comply.

[customsawyer]

I think that the bf/hour claims is a guide line. There is to many things that figure in that can change the rate of production.

[woodsteach]

I don't know but all this talk about flipping and flopping wore me out :D :D :D.

woodsteach (with a swingmill)

[ErikC]

  I was starting to thing the same thing, don't know how any lumber gets sawn with all that work involved :D (also swingmill)
  Actually I think I would safely claim I cut 200-250 per hour counting the time spent loading logs and moving stuff around etc. Pretty much seems the going production for mid range portable mills looking at this thread.

[Dave Shepard]

When I started out sawing, I was after wide boards, so I flipped 90, also most logs were huge, and I was running a manual mill. If I'm sawing to a target, say an 8x8 cant, or  dimensional lumber of say 6 or 8 inches, I flip 180. This sets me up to have a very square cant for a timber. Also, once I take a slab off of either side, I am pulling finished dimension boards off the mill. This also works for sawing wide planks. I like to get 16", 18" and 20" boards out of the big pine logs, so I will flip 180 and pattern saw down to the nearest of those dimensions, leaving a waney, large cant if I have to. This knocks a lot of the smaller stuff of the log, and relieves some of the tension and makes for less edging. If I'm grade sawing, I am not as worried about exact widths, and even perfectly square edges, so I will pick my opening face and turn 90, unless I have trouble clamping.

[ladylake]

 Yes you end up with less edging boards when flipping 180 although both sides will have to be edged but they're on the mill already and only need to be turned over, got to agree with Dave on dimensional lumber, pick out which side to saw through take a edging board or 2 of the other sides first and your at your target size, also it does make clamping easier .  Having a good chain turner speeds thing up when turning 180, with a slow turner or by hand I'd turn 90 also.   Steve

[woodsteach]

I'd agree with the 200-250 /hr but DanG, my last custom job with what you guys would call firewood logs, was not quite that high but the customer loved the highly figured/knotty wood.  Hedge, sugar maple and silver maple.  So ya do what the customer wants with their logs.  Sometimes it would be nice to have the long straight logs. : :

woodsteach

[Firebass]

I like to go like @#$% Aftier the log is dogged and on the bunk.   After I peel off all the boards I like to sip a frosty while I stack my prized new stash after which I find myself pacing back and forth thinking to myself "What a mess!"  For me setup and cleanup is the real bottleneck.

Merry Christmas
Firebass

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Woodsteach them long straight logs make very clear boring boards.  Got no character and provide no challange to saw.  Why they make my grader fall asleep on the job.

[woodmills1]

I see your grader also lost his stick and his tally sheet  or is it a her :D

and BTW

MERRY CHRISTMAS  ya bunch a yoper rastafarin sawyer types

[aksawyer]

I absolutly love this topic.We love to saw with our manual mill so much we sold our bigger lt70.We saw here in the interior of alaska,where we saw alot in winter.The hydrolic mills are h not able to run.We try to log in winter and mill in summer but we do alot of special orders for other peoples logs that they need in summer as boards.Also with me and my two sons we can load turn and off bear quicker than the wm hydrolics.We were at a trade show that had a very famous mill from the east,I wont say the name.When we were chating with him he became very vocal about our mills qualities,he challenged us and gave us just a quarter of his lot to prove in public his claims.Our mill with two of us and their mill with two and all the bells and whistles.We out produced that BLUE machine by a third and edged all our boards and claimed all our saw dust from a catch bucket to a storage box .They had a large sawdust trail and unedged boards they could not count because they were un finished.By the way our manual mill is a 2001 LT15 we love it and cant wait to get that new wm resaw.

[Coalsmoke]

AKsawyer, that's very interesting about the hydraulics in the cold. How do you move your logs then?

I agree, this is an excellent thread.