Year end re-cap

[WV Sawmiller]

    I assume most of you keep pretty good records of your sawing. I got my mill in January and started learning to saw a few weeks later.  A few weeks later I slowly eased into cutting for the public. I try to keep a detailed record of my sawing. Looking at the weather reports for the next few days I suspect I will not be cutting anything else before the start of the New Year so below is a re-cap of 2015 sawing for me.  I'd be interested in seeing a re-cap from you guys about your sawing records for the year.

    My records show the following:

Operating hours on my mill – 228
Board Feet of lumber sawed -29,257
Average BF/hr – 128.3
Longest board sawed – 20'6"
Largest single job for a customer – 5228 bf
Types of logs sawed – Red oak, Tulip poplar, Maple, Cherry, Black locust, Buckeye, Basswood, Red cedar, Norway spruce, Hemlock, Hickory, Black walnut, White oak, Ash, Chestnut oak, and White pine

[Magicman]

No records here other than the customer invoices and my invoice log book.  The invoices list the date, customer's name and address, board feet, and $$$.  That plus the sawmill service records and invoices.

[fishfighter]

Got my mill in Feb. Saw for myself. Really don't know how many BF of lumber I sawed. I do know I went thru around 20 blades, not counting the ones I wiped out hitting back stops or only one log with metal in it. ;D

All my lumber is going into my camp.

[sandsawmill14]

dont have any exact records here either but in the neighborhood of 400 mbft for 1 customer since last november   so i would guess 450-500 mbdft for the year. over 200 bands from 1 supplier i started using in may dont know how many from the supplier i was using before the change i break alot of blades and hit alot of steel at what im doing :-\  dont have any idea about total gas bill but its alot :  i can have some hard #s when i do my taxes if the topic is still active i will update with actual totals

[SawyerBrown]

WV, you sawed about the same as I did -- officially for customers, 24,651 bd-ft, but I also picked up some logs and sawed them for myself, probably another 2000 bd-ft or so, so I'm in the 27-28 Mbf range.  Biggest job was only 2425 bd-ft ... mine tend to be smaller.  I don't know how many blades ... probably in the 40-50 range!  One job I used 7-8 blades after hitting nails ... customer said "Keep going!" ... so I did.  Longest was right at 21' (capacity of mill) -- some big cedar power poles.  Shortest was about 3' (I HATE short logs, but ...). 

I'd love to at least double that in 2016.  We'll see ...

I keep all my records in a spreadsheet.  Makes it real easy come tax time.

[dean herring]

Got mill shed roof on so mill is in the dry. Cutting some cedar for a friends new house, working on keeping boards consistant, got a lot to learn but having a blast.

[WV Sawmiller]

Sawyer,

   My numbers include everything with a column showing what was for me or for clients. I hate the short logs too. Too hard to clamp.

   I also keep detailed spreadsheets with sawing history, mileage, one for gas, expenses, sales w/sales taxes showing if from sale of lumber or sawing, etc. I keep scanned receipts for everything related to the mill/business, tax reports, credit card statements, etc. I should have everything my tax accountants need readily available for them.

    I generally make a spreadsheet type invoice for each sawing customer showing a daily total by size. This file has formulas built in and calculates my bf total then adds them, computes the sales tax, etc. Just simple Excel files but they work and are easy to manipulate.

[Magicman]

OK, I did not mention that all sawing invoices and expenses are entered into a spreadsheet for the CPA.

[Sixacresand]

You guys did well. 

[Magicman]

I have not tallied yet, but this year's bf total will be somewhere in the 70Mbf range.  This is higher than some and much lower than others.

[SawyerBrown]

That's a nice tally, MM!  Wish I could get up in that neighborhood.  Just not enough softwoods up in this part of the country.  And the big sawmills come in and get the big stands of hardwoods.  Seldom have more than a days worth with what's left.

[sandsawmill14]

you all sound to have had a pretty good year for custom sawing i saw ALOT of logs in a year but i bet most of your bottom lines are better than mine as i only charge .20 per bdft for sawing its all commercial sawing can stand but i can make more per year at that with every log i can saw every day than i can just sawing when i can get custom work there is just not much of that around here :  but when the girls get out of school i plan to go to custom sawing so maybe there will be a little time for fishing ;D  you just got to do what you have to to keep the lights on :D  hope everyone has a great :new_year:

[Ljohnsaw]

I finished my mill build mid-summer and cut some logs for my form boards - 186' of the equivalent 2x12 x both sides of the forms.  So 186 x 2 x 2? plus a bit of practice board, about 800 BF of pines.  I made a lot of 1x2 form stakes, too.  Then I did another 400 BF of cedar 1x6 that I T&G'd with him.   8) Whoo Hoo, a whopping 1,200BF.  2016 should up that amount quite a bit as I start on my cabin.