1 million board feet club

[booman]

I have the utmost respect for anyone who has milled a million board feet or more.   Since I mill mostly Mesquite logs, I wonder if anyone on this forum has milled a million board feet of Mesquite.

[Magicman]

Having traveled through Victoria many times and seen your Mesquite trees, sawing a million bf would be highly doubtful.  Sawing 100 bf from one log would also be doubtful. 

I have hunted turkeys in your area several times.

[Osterman.r]

Just out of curiosity, do people really keep track of how many bf they saw? If so, How? And why? Or is it just a guesstimate? I have been sawing lumber for 4 or 5 years, I sell a few hundred feet here, few hundred there, use a few hundred on this or that project. I have no idea how much I have sawn.

[SawyerTed]

Some people are more meticulous than others in record keeping, some people not so much.  

In 4 years all indications are I cut over 100 Mbdft.  But other than being a reference point with customers, it means I cut in four years what some commercial mills cut in FOUR HOURS!  

It’s all relative.  

[booman]

You are correct although you cant compare a commercial mill with an individual running a sawmill like we do.

[booman]

In 20 years of milling, I don't think I have milled a million board feet of mesquite.

[Ventryjr]

I don’t think I’ve even hit 5k feet in 2 years.  Based off the logs I’ve consumed. Only a weekend hobby for me tho. 

[Magicman]

I normally saw between 100 & 150 Mbf per year but I am slowing down and it won't happen this year.  I am somewhere North of 3 MMbf.

Wood-Mizer's Million BF Club requires several checks and balances such as income, maintenance records, parts, & blades used/resharpened.  That plus a good written description of your sawing and business plan.  It is very thorough.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   Someone above asked if people actually keep up with this kind of history. Yes, some of us are detail oriented (or anal) enough to actually do things like that. The attachment below is my actual history tab. I start a new one up every year and update it at the end of every day's sawing. Buried in a couple of columns is a running total at the end of every day with grand total and an average bf/hr.

[Nebraska]

Looks like you have the quarter million foot club in your sights soon! 

[Southside]

Some people are more meticulous than others in record keeping, some people not so much

It has happened more than once that I walked around the mill yard asking "Where did I leave the Lull last night?" - Guess I am in the "not so much" category. 

[Ron Wenrich]

I sawed in commercial mills, so there isn't any real comparison for numbers.  I can safely say that I have never sawed mesquite. 

But, I worked as an independent contractor and was paid by the bf.  I had to have a reasonable way of figuring the footage on a daily basis.  The more accurate the better.   I also kept track of downtime, species and length.  It helped in giving results to mill owners.

There are 2 basic methods that I used.  I kept track of everything that was removed from the mill.  Blocking was rather easy.  We separated by length, so each cant or dimension was worth so many bf.  Simply multiplying the number of cants in a bundle would be the total bf for that bundle.  For boards, we used a layer count.  Our bundles were 42" wide.  Deduct a few inches for air gaps, and multiply by the length, and you'll come up with a footage for each layer.  At the end of the day, count up what is left in the mill, and subtract the amount that was in the mill the day before.  You'll get your daily production.  If daily production isn't your goal, then you will still have a decent idea about the amount that was sawn by counting layers or cants.

The other method is to count as you go.  It takes a bit more concentration, but can work out.  Its just an estimate, but a 1x6x8 has 4 bf.  You should be able to estimate how many bf are in a particular board.  Simply add it up in your head.  When you get to 100, put it on a tally sheet.  I've done this method, but it sure is a lot easier to just count bundles or layers.

[moodnacreek]

If I sat down and went through my records I could come up with a good estimate of how many foot of logs 
i have bought. It would not be a million foot but more than half a million.

[Cedarman]

I looked at my million plaque.  January 1991.  And that was with a manual LT30.
The 96 Super LT30 electric has 23,000 plus hours on it.  Most of the sawing done now is by employees.  I like handing the ticket and say, need this by end of week.

[SawyerTed]

Not so much a comparison of production but more perspective.

[Stephen1]

I sometimes think I am at the Million BD ft. bu then I look at my hrs on the mill and do not think I am there yet.  My 1st paid gig was around the 100,000 bd ft club which I am a member of. I have been at this now for 10 years. I do not keep records of bd ft because I saw by the hour on site, not what's on the hr meter. I probable average 50k a year now do urban salvage. 

[WV Sawmiller]

  In addition to the bf sawed I also keep up with the different species of trees I have sawed. The experience is helpful as when a new potential customer calls and asks about sawing a particular type of log I can comment on how it saws, looks, any problems to expect, and such. The same is true for different thicknesses whether beams, live edge cabin logs, thin cuts. live edge siding, etc.

  Such information is also valuable to tell the customer what to expect, how much help and equipment to bring, and helps me establish reasonable pricing and schedule the work. In some cases I guide the customer away from using a particular kind of log for lumber that would not work well for his intended purpose.

   Remember the customer is hiring you for your experience as much as for the lumber you are actually sawing.

[OlJarhead]

I keep track.

I have a spreadsheet where I list board feet produced per job and usually mill around 50Mbf a year in my LT40.  Never keept good records on the LT10 but milled about 20Mbf in the 5 year's I had it.

I had a few slack years in the 7 I've been milling on the LT40 so am only north of 200Mbf now all told.

I doubt I'll ever catch MM, Peter or Jake!!! But I like to keep track for my customers so it's easy enough to add to the total.

WM has a 100Mbf club and they will give you a shirt and hat when you reach it, or did in 2018 when I did.  They only required some record of totals, mill hours and their records on bands I think.

Was easy to do, not like the millionaires and no discounts.

[Jeff]

We counted bundles of lumber that went out the door when I was sawing. Anything not banded at the end of the day did not count. Our minimum goal for any given day was 1000ft an hour with 3 guys, running the gang saw with a 5 man crew was 2000ft + an hour.  For years we worked 5 10s and a 6 on saturday. Lotta lumber.  We sawed probably 70-80% aspen on the mill I ran, and almost all 10ft stuff.  A really good day was 30 bundles of 10ft lumber at almost 1000ft per bundle.  Easy with quality logs,impossible with logs less than 10" mixed in.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Here is the application form I used for my 100K bf membership. Pretty straight forward.