How much more

[Sawyerfortyish]

Now I dont want this to become a  who's mill is better thread But I have always wondered If you took 2 logs same length same diameter with mininum taper and tryed to cut the same dimenision lumber. One on a band sawmill then one on a circle mill. How many more boards will the band mill get? Any one up for a challenge. Not looking to put any type mill down. Since I run a circle mill I have always wondered about this. Every 4 cuts one board goes to sawdust. But if you take say a 16" log and tryed to get as many clean 1x10 then as many 1x8 and so on down to 1x4 how much more do you end up with on a bandmill? I would like to cut count and compare.

[Ron Wenrich]

I've heard it said that for every 1/32nd savings in kerf, you gain 2 % in lumber.  I think it all depends.

A lot depends on the size of the log and what you are sawing down to.  Your first cut on the log gives no savings.  Both cuts would be the same regardless of the machine being used.

There are only 2 spots for there to be in savings.  One is the extra board you get after a certain amount of cuts.  The other is in the increased face you get as you pull wider and wider boards off your initial cut.

Another factor would involve how you saw your last sides.  Do you take your shim cut from the center or do you start at a point in the log to end at a certain size?  I do it both ways, depending on the log.

You could sit down and draw a circle, then put in the boards you would pull.  I've done that to see what the difference would be.  I just don't recall offhand how much difference there was.  

[sawhead]

I have to disagree with Ron on one point ,the first cut on a log will return a savings with a band. If you are trying for say a 4 in. face ,you will start the cut at the same place on the log but the slab will be thicker with the band than the circle saw,now in my case I get 10$ a ton for sawdust and 24$ a ton for chips, so if you get a little more slab on the same size face = more$ not much on 1 log but you look at several hundreds it adds up.  

[Swede]

Sawing logs 12-18" (small end)  x 15-19' I can get a lot of extra boards 7/8 or 1" x  8-12' long.
I use to lift the small end and going in there I enter the log just inside the bark or sometimes 3-6' from the end.  Then i let the blade down 25 or 30 mm and make next cut. Beginin in the wide end I let the blade leave the log before the small end.
 Takes some time but all free lumber is good lumber and with a thin kerf you get more of them.  8)  Think I get 15-25% more lumber from these big logs sawing 1-2".

Swede.