OldJarheads Milling Thread...

[Weekend_Sawyer]

A front receiver hitch and "hitchhiker" type cargo carrier might work:  LINK

with the camper and towing the mill, I would be afraid of blocking too much airflow to the radiator.
My 2cents.

[OlJarhead]

Hadn't thought of that but it might work.  Wonder what it would do to cooling in the summer?

[WV Sawmiller]

MM,

   Are you suggesting putting a receiver hitch on front and one of the cargo carriers like on the link? I have never seen one used like that and would think it would cause problems with the air flow to the radiator.

   I have seen people put a ball hitch on the front of a truck and push a boat trailer around. That works real well and would work well for the mill putting it in tight spots.

[Magicman]

It's just a thought.  I see no reason that it would not work with my truck because the container would be well below the radiator.  Wouldn't need a tall container anyway.  I measured and the bottom of the basket would be 15" below the top of my front bumper.


 
Oh no, it would temporarily block my Route 66 sign and winch fairlead.   

[OlJarhead]

Looks like an F350....what year is yours?

[OlJarhead]

A friend of my last customer posted this pic on Facebook (on my page) today

That log scaled in at 463bf....I'm making 2x6's or 6x6's in this pic.

I do find it's fast to mill the 3 6" beams and then kick one off, mill two down and bring the 3rd back up and mill it down until I can use it as backing for the flichtes.  I also find milling 18-24" wide cuts eats the bands up faster and gives me less bf per band.  Probably just from heat because no matter how much water I pour on the the band they just got HOT after a  while...and I know they are getting dull (besides the sound) when they come out steaming from the water lube.

Had a guy come by and say he uses Diesel to lube when milling pine to prevent the blades gumming up and my customer said to him "why?  Erik uses piniesol and dish liquid and NONE of his bands get gummed up!".....gotta love it....oh and that guy?  Charges 50c per bf and my rates gave this customer his lumber at 21c/bf.....he calculated the cost to buy the first 10k bf would have been $19,000!  so he was VERY happy

[Deese]

OlJarhead, sir, you sure are a sawmillin' man!
Looks like you were about to rotate 90° and make some 2x4's
Nice backdrop too. 

[OlJarhead]

OlJarhead, sir, you sure are a sawmillin' man!
Looks like you were about to rotate 90° and make some 2x4's
Nice backdrop too. 

Thanks ...and that is an 18" CANT (actually 17 1/8") so I can make 2x6's out of it (1 5/8" x 5 5/8")....or it's the 18 1/4" CANT I made 6x6's out of (true)

I did a LOT of those!  So far for this customer I did 17,000bf which is the most I've milled for anyone!  His deck of 118 logs is down a few now ;) and as he put it "we're running out of punkin's" which is what he calls the big logs (24"+ at the small end).....he bought those logs for a whopping total of $1500 for ALL of them!  Then a guy with a mill 50 miles away offered him $300/Mbf for some of the logs! hahahaha  Man I wish I had that deal going ;)

[Deese]

No Joke.

[OlJarhead]

Funny thing....that 18" cant is more board feet than the log it came out of! hahaha

[Magicman]

Looking good Erik, but who is that rookie guy behind the controls  ???   :D

That is a 2012 F250 gasser.

[OlJarhead]

Oh I'm still very much a rookie!  8)

[Magicman]

Anyone that thinks they aren't will hit their side support tomorrow.  Grrrrrr.   

[OlJarhead]

Anyone that thinks they aren't will hit their side support tomorrow.  Grrrrrr.   

;D

I measure EVERY time I am close unless I'm 12" or higher on the mast.  My customer was watching me as I checked and doubled checked and when asked I explained "I do this in an attempt (emphasis) to not hit them!".....knock on wood!  It does help.

[OlJarhead]

OK I lied!  My total was over 7K this weekend and actually if you look carefully you'll notice something odd about the 19 footer.........ya, it made more than that! lol but I just included it as 17.5' because there were so many....

8) 8) 8) 8)

Either way, that's a whack of lumber for the weekend and I'm going back one more time!  I guess the log owner was approached about selling some thick pine for table tops so he's picking out logs to mill up on my next visit.  Gotta love it!  At the rate I'm going I'll mill darn near all of those 118 big logs  8)

[OlJarhead]

and yes, I go by the half foot.  Not sure if anyone else does but it's 6" of log I have to mill regardless of what the customer will use and I charge by the hour anyway but for total milling purposes I don't short myself except I do call a 1 1/8" thick board a 1x for calculation purposes...

[OlJarhead]

Finished up my logbook (excel spreadsheet where I record every job and what I did) and I'm at 67607 board feet produced on the Lt40

Now I need to change the oil and filter, clean it up, replace some grease zerks, etc etc and get it all spruced up for the 22nd when I take off to Yakima to do a Walnut, then back to Malott the next weekend and work to get that sucker up over 70,000 board feet

[Bandmill Bandit]

2400 BF should be a leisurely days "walk" for you at this point. Enjoy the moment when you hit that 70K mark. Make sure you have a little something to celebrate along with you when you hit the mark.

Now you can start on the up grades like I did on my mill which will increase your production substantially. OR just trade up to the LT40 Super.

[Deese]

OlJarhead, that's impressive 
It's exciting to think what your sawing future holds  8)

[OlJarhead]

Thanks guys!  Can't wait   Though I should hit that by the end of the month now   I'll be sure to take some pics and celebrate but I imagine the 100K mark is the first big milestone.

Had a customer 212 miles away ask about my services...thinks he has 1000 board feet of logs "you mean two logs right?"  oh wait, not everyone has logs like my last customer! ha!

[OlJarhead]

 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

So, I got a call from this customer tonight and he asked me "do you want to mill every weekend for a while?"

Turns out the owner of a lumber yard about 40 miles away saw this stack of lumber and stopped in to inquire about it.  The local mill had shut down and he had no local supplier....he looked over all the lumber (of which there is now over 17,000 board feet) and the 70 remaining logs and said "I'll buy all the lumber you have right now".....my customer said "wait until you see my flooring boards" and walked him into his shop where he'd stacked all the 1 1/8" Fir I'd milled (varying widths from 12 to 21") and the guy nearly died and offered a 'whole lot' of money for it.

My customer is considering selling the lot because, as he put it, it's a lot of money!

He's also now going to get 32 more logs and tells me the lumber yard guy offered him $500Mbf for the logs and to pay my mill rate to produce 1x's out of ALL of it....

um...  8) 8) 8) 8)

So I might be busy

He also looked at the beams and nearly flipped.  Apparently where he is he can get top dollar for true (full cut) rough sawn beams and wanted to haul it all off but my customer suggested maybe he'd want to keep it and have me come out and mill the rest up....

That camper might get some use ;)

If this happens I will surpass last years total easily! lol.....granted 1x's take a lot longer then say, 2x's but I'll buy some 4 degree bands, new drive belts and darn sure make a run at it ;)  Maybe I can still do 5Mbf a weekend with 1x...not sure yet but those logs are pretty big and run from 250 to 464bf per log.

Anyway, I'm pouring a drink and will take a 'wait and see' attitude but it sure sounds like the guy wants it ALL milled by me and tried very hard to buy all the product I made so far.

OH and the final check on the mill goes out tomorrow.  I meant to send it off a week or so ago but never got it done :P  It goes out tomorrow and today I'm dancing :D  8) 8) 8)

Do this job and the truck will be paid off in a year too! ha!

[4x4American]

 8) 8) 8)




If you want to saw quick, go with 7 degree blades.  If you're sawing something tough to saw then bust out the 4.

[paul case]

Nice score!

Most of my business is repeat customers. You and they know what to expect, and that makes it handy!!!

PC

[OlJarhead]

8) 8) 8)




If you want to saw quick, go with 7 degree blades.  If you're sawing something tough to saw then bust out the 4.

Was wondering what the difference between the. Would be.  I am assuming non turbos?

[thecfarm]

Sounds like you are doing good. And than some.