Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

[VB-Milling]

  My son studied forestry at Glenville State WV and at the time he was there he said the Paulonia (Japanese Princess Tree/Butterfly tree, etc) was the most valuable wood in the state. I have sawed a little and it saws like butter.

FWIW I put some into an accent wall last year for a customer and it came out quite flat and nice.  I was shocked as the log was 7 years old and 12" in diameter.  I did put the lumber on the bottom of the stack so that helped.  You could tell which wood it was after the kiln for sure!!

While a landscape architecture student at WVU in the 80's, I was lucky to be able to spend two summers in the New River Gorge in southern WV inventorying historic coal mining features in the area that has become the national park and preserve. It was really remote then and we would hike the benches along the gorge for hours and were amazed when we would come across these four wheeler paths that looked like they were cut through a jungle. They always lead to a paulownia stump. The trees were planted as part of mine reclamation. We were told at the time that the locals were getting crazy money for it because it was being exported for use as a ceremonial wedding bowl.

Paulownia was a bit of a plantation fad around here a few years back, super fast growing yada yada yada.

Light, white, reasonably rot resistant... great for shutters and the like and used here as an alternative to Western Red Cedar (WRC is imported obviously) Termites love the stuff so it's not much good in ground contact though.

Mostly though we exported it to Japan. It's quite popular there, though demand comes and goes subject to fashion and exchange rates.

I feel like once the mill arrives, I get a bunch more experience, and feel comfortable taking on small sawing jobs, there is money to be made somehow with Paulownia whether from something I build to sell, or just the boards themselves....but let's not get too far ahead of myself  

[tule peak timber]

All the above comments make perfect sense as to why I got the phone call in the first place.As I stated before I know nothing about Paulomia ,,,but I have written a few business plans.
  The guy that called me sounded more like a "newbie" facilitator who didn't know anything about wood or milling. He wanted detailed numbers on transportation, milling costs, production rates and volume capabilities. In short, he wanted me to develop HIS business plan for free no less.
It's obvious that with the cost of land and the cost of water in S. CA, the only thing that makes sense to grow is dope, sadly. We parted ways, and I'll have nothing to do with the dope growers either.

[WV Sawmiller]

TPL,

   Don't you love it when they do that? :D I get calls all the time where somebody wants me to tell them what it will cost to saw or sell them enough lumber to build a house or a shed or such. I should just start telling them it will be between $100 to one million based on the the size and design. When you start asking questions like floor joist sizes and rafter spacing, they are lost.

   I now just tell them to give me a cut list and I'll plug it into my spreadsheet and it will spit out the cost for them. I had a guy 2 weeks ago who wanted to add a lean-to to two sheds and he wanted the cost to build them and he kept telling me the current shed sizes. I did not know the rafter length, slope, height of the wall, spacing on his nailers or anything. 

[Darrel]

I saw an ad on marketplace for a blue pickup. $10,000. Didn't even have a picture.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 To start with I locked the horse and mule in their stalls and brought in a load of firewood then forgot to close the gate so when I let them out Blackjack spotted the gate open and ran up and down the road showing off his fresh manicure. A neighbor spotted him and honked and my wife yelled to me and I went out on the ATV and brought him back. He seemed happy to get me in trouble and took a good roll to show off.

   A neighbor stopped by and bought about 80 bf or so of air dried 8' poplar. I offered to saw him some thinner stuff like he preferred but he wanted the air dried stock.

   A guy called a couple weeks ago wanting 2-10' 6X6 poplar posts which I cut a week ago then he call called this morning wanting 2 more and i told him I could cut them today but he was out of the area and agreed to come Monday so I bucked another couple of logs off one I'd cut before and snaked it down with the ATV.


 The 2 bottom logs are 10' and there is a 6' log left a few feet out of the picture. I cut flitches off both sides and left the center 6" then stood it up and repeated getting 1X6 side lumber. I edged the flitches and got board from 1X4 to 1X8 that I stacked and stickered and will eventually sell or use.

John is sick (Hydraulic problem) so loaded the lumber on the cart and left the posts on the sawhorses till next week. Total 158 bf off the 2 little logs.  The short blocks are leftovers from this weeks log planters.

[Walnut Beast]

You have to have a little excitement with the furry friends 👍. Cute rascal 

[Southside]

I get those same calls "How much for a 16'x24' deck?"  Umm - just the decking?  "No the whole thing" - they never produce a cut list so I don't venture too far into it.  Also get the calls - "How much for fencing for 1/2 acre?".....

VB I would suggest something other than dried white oak as your first log on the new mill.   

[WV Sawmiller]

  I guess the answer we should be giving is: "Assuming you want 1" thick decking lumber, a 16'X24' deck is 384 bf and that will cost you $__ picked up here at my site".  Then we can let them figure what they are going to mount it to, bannister materials, posts, framing, etc. ;)

[woodyone.john]

My first response used to be, how long is a piece of string

[VB-Milling]

VB I would suggest something other than dried white oak as your first log on the new mill.  

A wonderful suggestion @Southside    I've got some small cedar logs and some other randoms I can cut my teeth with...
I more meant after weeks of messing around, and dialing everything in, I could "attempt" to cut some nice WO boards for my trailer. 

[WV Sawmiller]

My first response used to be, how long is a piece of string

John,

 I guess you never grew up in the deep south where a standard measure was "A mess" such as a mess of turnips, a mess of peas or string beans or a mess of fish. I have an old neighbor who used to stop by when he'd see my boat out when I was catfishing. One time I was filleting my last fish and I asked him if he wanted a mess and he said yes. I asked him how many he needed for a mess and he said "I have a freezer you know." I laughed and gave him the whole catch which was about 20 lbs or so. The last time I asked him he said yes and I said "I'll go up to the house and get an old ice cream bucket to something to put them in" and he reached in the back pocket of his overalls and said "I just happen to have a ziplock bag here in my pocket". I laughed as he obviously came with the plan of getting a mess of fish.

 Dad said he planted a couple of acres of assorted greens (Turnips, mustard, collards, rutabegas, etc) and he generally just opened it to the public but one year he up up a sign "Greens for sale. U-Pick. $1/mess" He said one lady was picking them and bundling them in bunches like a packed 5 gallon bucket full so each "Mess" would have fed a family of 40-50. Obviously she was going to repack them when she got home. Other people were much more conservative in the size of their "messes" of greens. Dad really did not care. It was all an honor system arrangement anyway and he really did not care if they paid or not as long as somebody enjoyed them.

 I had a friend whose mom was from England. His dad went over in WWII and met and married her there when she was about 16. He brought her home here to the backwoods of WV when he got out of the military. He said he came home one day and soon as she saw him she just busted out crying. When he calmed her down enough to talk she sobbed "The neighbors brought over a mess of roasting ears (Corn to the uninitiated) and I cooked them all day and those centers still haven't gotten soft enough to eat."

[caveman]

We got a late start today due to other obligations but we managed to saw a few fence boards out of some of the free logs from last week and the week before.  We also had a friend stop by for a couple of hours while we were sawing.  He has a 1991 Lt-40 that has been outside since 1991 and he still cuts with it.  Last night he got the Onan running again.  He is looking into getting a hydraulic mill.  We had a good time sawing and visiting after sawing.  

The lumber was stacked well enough to keep it from molding until the customer can arrange pickup.  We had a great day for sawing, north wind and low humidity (rarity here). 

 

[TimW]

I took a break from sawing framing lumber and doing some hardwood sawing.  A friend borrowed his neighbor's trailer and put a palm tree through the decking.  It needed replacing anyway.  So my friend gave me a hand cutting 9 inch wide RED OAK.  Yes, Red Oak.   He said he didn't care as long it wasn't pine.  I told him it wouldn't last long, but his reply floored me.  He said his neighbor probably won't be his friend for long either.

 

Then I cut some 2.5 inch thick slabs.  Sold 2 for a $100 each.  Not bad.  So I stickered live edge and cut edge.  Two of the live edge have nice knots sticking out.

 

 

 

 
hugs,  Brandi

[Thomasjw4]

I cut some junk doug fir today, but it was my first time firing up my Norwood LM29V2 and my first time cutting boards.  Now its time to learn a little.  

[Lostinmn]

This last weekend we made a pile of mostly 1x's from a tree my uncle planted when he was 4 years old.  The lumber will get made into adirondack chairs.  Kind of a neat project!!



 



 

[Darrel]

That almost looks like you've got more log there than sawmill!

[Stephen1]

This was a pretty cool sawing job 
I send a tow truck to pick up the logs. I then saw sticker and the best part is I have their wood so it ends up in my kiln. I will stack sticker and sstrap the bundle . I air dry it in my  drying sheds and then in the fall I will put this wood in the kiln. They will have a new table for Christmas. i30" Silver Birch. 3 10' logs for a customer . She wants slabs for a table, cookies, a little 6/4 lumber and we did a few ovals. It saves the portable charge of me coming to them, and I get the wood at my place and of course into my kiln. 
People love it. I do at least 2-3 sawing jobs a month like this now.  

 

 

 

 

 

      

[E-Tex]

Have not posted in a while.  My regular job and the sawmill have both been very busy.  
Here's a few pics of recent milling jobs




 


 



 



 



 



 



 




I am not a band coiler or uncoiler.  ReSharp sent back 30 blades coiled up for me.  Lets just say it was an adventure!  




 

[Dave Shepard]

If Wood-Mizer sends me coiled. 055s, I hope they also send someone to uncoil them. :

[Magicman]

Ouch!!   

I have been wondering where you were??  It's good to see you're still whack-n-stackin'. 

[E-Tex]

If Wood-Mizer sends me coiled. 055s, I hope they also send someone to uncoil them. :

the .o55s are "springy"!
i always send them in a flat box and they send back in a flat box.......except this time.
i'm pretty sure they will not coil my blades again....  ;D

[Magicman]

With .055's, I drop the loop and hold the teeth against a log before uncoiling.  Same when coiling, I hold the teeth against a log and then make the coiling motion.  It works mighty slick.

[Dan_Shade]

Coiling/uncoiling is an "art".  I distinctly remember my first attempt at uncoiling. I got half way done, realized that I had no idea what I was doing, and was really wishing I had gloves on....

Get a Lawnmower belt and learn the wrist movements to coil them up.  There are a few videos around on doing it. A Lawnmower belt won't bite you.  :} 

[Magicman]

IMG 7510 - YouTube

My 18 year old Grandson, Luke coiling and uncoiling, and this was his first day to try.

[Southside]

Had some new .055's - 1.75" come in coiled up, watched a bunch of videos, called a few guys, tried to uncoil them.  Checked the local ambulance response time and decided I had a big pile of sawdust and that was the perfect landing zone for airborne, self uncoling bands.  

Uncoiling bands is like being able to curl your tongue, some folks just don't have the gene to do it.   :D