Extra Pine Logs

[TCBNH]

I bought a Fami winch this winter and had a guy doing some work cutting old wood around the fields and some pine out behind the barn.  We have about 40 cords of firewood and I figured I'd have the pine sawed out with a portable mill for another small hayshed.  Well, I went up last weekend to check things  out and seems that I have about 12,000 BF of pine logs piled up.  Some of them are 8 ft long and 6-8 inch diameter at the butt.  But over 9,000 BF are 16 footers, many (70% or so) pretty clear, and some with 18" to 24" butts.  My questions are, 1) is it economical to have them milled with a portable mill 2) What should I do with the clear wide pine 3) if I have this sawn out, can I stick it and keep it outside or does it need to be under cover?  Any other advice would be appreciated.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, TCBNH.  Many of you answers will depend upon where you live and what species of Pine you have.  Off hand I would say; 1)Yes, 2) Depends upon your market or use, 3) Yes, but it needs to be covered preferably with something like metal roofing.

[TCBNH]

Thank you.  I'm in New Hampshire.  Do you have any idea what I should plan to pay to have them sawn out?   In your opinion, should I leave the pine as wide as possible (for value)? 

[Magicman]

I'll defer to someone that knows about New Hampshire Pine.  I only am familiar with Southern Yellow Pine. (SYP)

[Peter Drouin]

Wellcome TCBNH  most saw mills will get 250.00 a 1000  .25 a bf .  make a lumber list for your hayshed and go from there

[TCBNH]

Thank you.  I've spend a good part of the evening figuring out the # of 2x4 and 2x6 needed.

Should I go out of my way to keep the wide, clear pine separate - is there enough value in this market?  Doesn't seem like white pine prices have moved much in years ($220-$240).  Maybe my data is bad.

[Woodchuck53]

Welcome TCBNH, you'll like it here. Am I to understand you won't use any of the pine to wall up the new hay shed? If not then figure your cost of alternative material. That pine may be real cost pleasing then. The wide boards would cover it real quick also. I use pine for most everything around my place and sell only what I want need for my projects. In time the task around here will get caught up to where I will move more again. Stay safe Chuck

[Okrafarmer]

I might consider keeping some of the best stuff separate, but don't get too carried away. Make sure you have enough for your shed, and then the rest you can sell or use for other things. If you want to keep some nice pieces, by all means help yourself. It's your wood, and you can do as you like with it.

Make sure you take into consideration that white pine is a fairly weak wood for structural uses. Spruce and fir and red pine are stronger. You can use white pine for a shed, but you want to make sure you build it with the weaker wood considered. If you use full-dimension lumber (true 2" X true 4" for instance) you will gain some extra strength over nominal sized lumber.

Welcome to the forum! It's been great to see so many new people jump in, in the last few days. Always room for more, and we have a lot of fun and learn a lot from each other here. 

[TCBNH]

Great advice.

We have 3 other haysheds built with real dimension stock...2 with hemlock and only one with white pine.

Thank you again.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, hemlock is a good one too, for structural things.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Welcome to the forum TCBNH

Dont know much about your area. But you will get the information you need from the people on the forum. That you can count on.

Just a note on saw logs from a personal preference.

I dont cut any thing under 10 inchs un less it is a more valuable hard wood. Smaller then that is better value processed as firewood.

[Okrafarmer]

Out west, trees are bigger  ;) Some people I know regularly mill 8" logs. A custom sawyer may or may not want to mess with logs that small, but they'll usually do whatever you ask. 6" is a bit small, though. I'd consider using them for posts.

And Bandmill Bandit, white pine makes a rather poor firewood, but he could sell it as pulp if he didn;t have any other use for it.

[Peter Drouin]

TCBNH ya the big mills around here pay 300 to 350 a 1000 del to the mill. or cut it up in to lumber you can sell it for .50 a bf and up to maybe a 1.00 a bf.  if you want to build a hayshed with it the best logs will be frame wood you can;t have a 2x4 with a 3" knot in it. keep that in mind when you buck your logs up . and give some trim to them too like 6"  .   8' 6"- 10" 6" like that so you can square them up later. and all the logs that are smaller than 12" [ small end]  and all the crooked ones sell as pulp. 

[bandmiller2]

TCB, sounds like your a regular wood user, may pay if you have the intrest,to get you own mill.Many small time sawyers will cut for shares,that would keep your costs down.Best thing to save pine is dry it outside for up to a year then put it under cover. Oh and welcome. Frank C.

[bandmiller2]

TCB,when I build sheads I use oak for anything thats going to carry much weight,it doesn't nail bad when green.Besides we all use nail guns now,don't we?? Frank C.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Yes Okra

You are correct but I wasn't commenting on the kind of wood.

Also around here you can sell most any thing that will burn as camp fire wood in the summer time. Even black poplar.

Right now the gas stations are selling a bundled half cubic foot for 8 to 10 bucks. For black poplar.

[Overlength]

You could separate out the moulding and better grade, 4/4-8/4, 8/4 bringing the highest $. Put on dry sticks and cover quick to prevent sticker stain. You could then check with a local hardwood concentration yard with dry kilns. The moulding Pine generally goes into the moulding, door and furniture buisness along with the hardwoods. Also a good market for the red knot knotty furniture grade white Pine. 

[thecfarm]

If I could get rid of my clear white pine by sawing it into boards, I would. I just sell it to a mill so they can saw it up and make the money.  : But it can be done. Just have to find a buyer for it.

[Overlength]

The big mills competing for the business will keep the overall market pricing low as possible, good for buyers, but if your sawing it into lumber anyway and using the lower frame grade for building, you may have a lower overhead than the bigger mills and could make good margins on the clearer stock bring the highest pricing. Drying it too will make it a lot easier to sell opening up many more avenues to go with it. Even so, needs to be large enough quanities to make it worthwhile to you and your customers.

[TCBNH]

Thanks to all.  I found a guy with an LT 70 who will saw it out for $.25 per BF.  says he can do 12,000 BF in a week.  Is that realistic?

[Okrafarmer]

With an LT-70, probably so, if it goes well. And possibly even if it doesn't. If you are making 2X and thicker, it should go pretty fast.

[Ianab]

Thanks to all.  I found a guy with an LT 70 who will saw it out for $.25 per BF.  says he can do 12,000 BF in a week.  Is that realistic?

The 12,000 BF a week may be all the sawyer can handle  :D

The mill can probably produce more, but you still need to handle the logs, boards and waste around it. That means support equipment and a couple of extra guys to run around and handle the product.

Woodmizer claims up to 900 bf/hr on that mill, but to achieve that all day you can't be doing anything but sawing. You need some fit helpers and equipment to keep the beast fed at that rate.

Ian

[Okrafarmer]

With an LT-70, probably so, if it goes well. And possibly even if it doesn't. If you are making 2X and thicker, it should go pretty fast.

That is to say, if, as Ianab duly noted, there is adequate help.  ;)

[customsawyer]

12,000 bf in a week with a LT70 can be done with out to much worry. That is less than 3,000 bf per day. I would expect a little higher numbers if the man knows what he is doing.