A Cherry Orchard?

OlJarhead · May 22, 2013, 03:55:44 PM

Just received an RFQ of sorts (Request for Quote) on milling up 6 acres of cherry....

Um.....I might need a bigger mill! lol 8)

Of course, like many of these I'm never sure it will amount to much....but if there were enough trees.....

Delawhere Jack · May 22, 2013, 04:03:05 PM

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 22, 2013, 03:55:44 PM
Um.....I might need a bigger mill! lol 8)

Have you ever seen a cherry orchard? ;D I think the SMLT10 should be able to handle it.

Jeff · May 22, 2013, 04:20:06 PM

I'm thinking an lt10 may be overkill for a cherry orchard. The trees that produce the type of cherries sold commercially are not one would think of as sawlog material.

Maybe a chipper for smoking wood?

OlJarhead · May 22, 2013, 04:23:07 PM

I've driven by many but never really looked closely...on the other hand I milled up about 90bf of cherry for one customer when we had the 7hp motor and it took forever! I think our actual milling time was around 90 minutes! Of course the 10hp motor will do much better and with some blades made for hardwoods I think we can get better production.

Now, how many trees in 6 acres I wonder?

QuoteMost Washington State cherry orchards utilize the Bing variety on Mazzard rootstock planted about 110 trees to the acre.

So we're talking something like 600 trees of around 55bf per tree (Even if each only produces one log with a SE diameter of 12" and a length of 8 feet that's about 55bf per log on a bandmill (or more for that matter)) for a total potential 33000 board feet of cherry!

UM......

If I could maintain a rate of 100bf/hr in Cherry we'd need 330 hours to mill all that...or two months of milling!

HOW I WISH! :D

OlJarhead · May 22, 2013, 04:23:42 PM

Quote from: Jeff on May 22, 2013, 04:20:06 PM
I'm thinking an lt10 may be overkill for a cherry orchard. The trees that produce the type of cherries sold commercially are not one would think of as sawlog material. Maybe a chipper for smoking wood?

Even for 40 year old trees? I did a 40 year old yard Cherry that was 22" in diameter.

OlJarhead · May 22, 2013, 04:28:40 PM

That's the only Cherry I've done.

Happy customer

Love the look of this stuff!

Jeff · May 22, 2013, 04:37:14 PM

Try this google link for Traverse City Cherry Orchards. This is one of the most famous cherry producing areas in the world and what we see when we drive past orchards. I guess I really don't know what they have out west.

OlJarhead · May 22, 2013, 04:46:05 PM

so maybe it's 660 'logs' that are only 3-4 feet long...that would still make my day! lol

GAB · May 22, 2013, 09:15:35 PM

Jeff:
I got 5 cherry logs (I do not feel comfortable calling something that small a log, but I do not know what else to call it) from my B-I-L who lives near Traverse City and sawed three of them. It does not take long as they are short and not very big, and not very straight. The other two a fellow turned into lamps that looked very nice. I'm told that in the Traverse City area that they grow Montmorency cherries, and because they harvest them by shaking the trees that they replant often, as the shaking operation adversly affects them. I made quite a few pen blanks and put a piece in my educational box for people to see. If any of this is incorrect please let me know as I am going by what I remember. Gerald

Carpenter · May 22, 2013, 09:21:32 PM

What type of cherry trees make the best lumber?

Red Clay Hound · May 22, 2013, 09:55:13 PM

I think most cherry lumber comes from wild black cherry trees.

beenthere · May 22, 2013, 11:00:24 PM

Quote(I do not feel comfortable calling something that small a log, but I do not know what else to call it)

Something that size would usually be called a "bolt".

Not so many years ago, there were saws much like a large table saw, that had a sliding table that held the bolt and was hand pushed past a large saw blade. Called a bolter saw. They were deemed very dangerous as one slip likely resulted in a lost digit or arm.

Don't even know if any of them are still around, but in the 50's, 60's there were a few known to be operated yet.

OlJarhead · May 23, 2013, 01:13:17 AM

Only experience I've had is with the above which was 22" in diameter...was short to be called a 'log' but to make a pen out of that you'd have to be a giant! lol

Fla._Deadheader · May 23, 2013, 10:51:36 AM

We had 1 customer that collected exotic tree pieces, none longer than 4' or so.

We drug the mill 200 miles from where we were diving for $$ and would saw for him 1 whole day. We averaged $300.00 at a time and did this at least 5 times. This was 10 year ago, also.

We did maintenance on the mill at our house, then, back to the river 200 miles away.

We carried extra lumber strapped to the bunks, so we could lay a solid board "platform" ON the loader forks and standing up against the back risers of the forks.

We had purposely built the e-hydraulic clamp in the center of the mill centered between 2 bunks. Our bunks were somewhere around 24" apart. IF we needed to saw a shorter "bolt" we would use a few boards from the customers stash to reach over the span above the clamp.

Customer busted his hump to keep up, and, we didn't mind a few minutes here and there to help him move the bolts to the loader.

IF that cherry orchard job has any diameter to the logs, I would not hesitate to do the job. Charge by the hour, so the customer stays busy OR he hires help that will stay busy.

OlJarhead · May 23, 2013, 11:05:30 AM

Thanks for the reply and advice

Dave Shepard · May 23, 2013, 11:24:35 AM

Haven't seen Homie lately. What's he doing these days? :D

Fla._Deadheader · May 23, 2013, 02:51:07 PM

Retired :

:

Wish someone would give him a new home and exercise him more.

Jeff · May 23, 2013, 05:36:25 PM

Homie at Ed's?

Fla._Deadheader · May 23, 2013, 07:24:55 PM

Yes, it's at Ed's in Florida. It wouldn't fit in the container when I moved down. Should have cut it off and welded back together here, but, I didn't have a welder with me.