Dog Earing machine

[CLL]

Had a man call today wanting to buy truck load lots of 1x8x6 cedar. Problem is he wants them dog eared. Never seen one. Any information. Is it worth my time?

[Mooseherder]

Sounds like they are for a fencing operation.
In a previous life, I had a job making sure each board got the dog ears. ;D
There is a machine that does this easily.
Stick the board in and 2 knives come in to trim da ears. :D

[DanG]

CLL, he's just talking about cutting the corners off one end of the board.  It's easy to do with a chop saw, in small quantities.  In truckload lots, I dunno.  I'm sure they have a machine, but I never seen one.

Be sure you check this guy out good before you jump into anything.  It sounds like he may just be fishing for a bargain.  Quote him a top price for top quality and see if he sticks around.  Ask him if he's looking for Eastern Red, Western Red, or White.  If he can't answer you, then "Run, Forrest, run!"  Don't invest in any special equipment until you see the color of his money. ;)

[CLL]

DanG he has already told me what he pays, $1.60 a board. Since I'm new at this I don't know whether that ok or to cheap. So I thought I would ask. 

[Sprucegum]

If I figured it out right he would be paying you 53 cents a board foot , if you can cut at 3/4 inch instead of the full 1 inch.
Plus you gotta knock the corners off.

Can you make any money at that price?

[Mooseherder]

If memory is serving me correctly. Didn't Jim Rogers have one of these machines?

[DanG]

1x8x6 sounds like 4 bd ft to me.  $1.60 each sounds like 40 cents/bd ft.  I bet he would just love to get them for that, with additional milling to boot!  I get that price for utility grade pine from free logs.

[Bibbyman]

Talk to Arky..  He's making some cedar fencing boards.  Has a setup with a radial arm saw to chop them to length and a miter saw to cut the corners.

[CLL]

DanG, I thought that sounded awful low myself. my wife said at first he said 5/8"  them he said 1" either way I think I will pass. Appreciate all the help guys.

[Cedarman]

We are selling 5/8" fence boards out of ERC.  We end trim some, others are untrimmed.  At about 50 cents a square foot or .80 per board foot.  These are outside boards with sapwood and some ingrown bark, good edges, some nice boards, truckload quantities.  We do not dog ear for this price.

[CLL]

Cedarman I appreciate your help. I guess since we have told these people we are new at it they figure they will see how stupid we are. Without all your alls help, probably would have some hard lessons to learn. Probably will have some anyway, but no sense in having more than we have to. Thanks all!!

[Larry]

Somewhat related question...I have made fish scale shingles few times over the years.  Sold for high dollar but I didn't make much, as to labor intensive.  I used a jig on the bandsaw to produce them.  What kind of machine would allow for faster production?

[Furby]

A double head chop saw would do the trick. ;)
Could coble one up.
Stick the end in and drop the blades.
Dog eared in one step.

[Murf]

Seems to me a double bladed tablesaw, sorta like an edger, but with the blades tilted in towards each other would be an easier thing to do.

Stand the board on end and pass it through between da blades flatways.   :

[Mooseherder]

The machine I ran at Blier's mill had two wedge knives(one on each side) that were triggered when the board was in the right placement. They came in from each side and in an upward motion towards the top of the board.