Canadian Cheese boards

[Stephen1]

I had an interesting visitor to my yard about 3 months ago, an older gentleman (78 ) looking to have some wood sawn and KD. 
He arrives a good 30 min early for the appointment and I'm busy sawing. Well didn't get the 3rd degree about the mill and what I was sawing. I guess I had all the right answers and he has a good laugh. His name is Bernard Shimmel and used to build and sell sawmills. I think Enercraft, We have good long chat after that. Then he wants to see the vacuum kiln and understand it. He runs his own kiln to dry lumber. Another good long chat and again I have most of the answers. 
This gentleman sells 25,000 bd ft of cheese boards to grocery stores, farm boy, whole foods , loblaws. 
Now here comes the best part, he is in need of sawing and some KD work. Well thats what I do. 
He calls his cheese boards 'Functional Art'. (wait for it ;D)
Here is wood being delivered for me to start, 5 & 1/2 bush cords, see how I do. I was told by Bernard they would be the better quality firewood logs. 

 

 

 the Logger called them  bucking logs, when I was talking to him for delivery, I was thinking logs not suitable for a processor, but  still logs. 


All I could think when I saw these "Logs" coming of the truck was the FF and YH telling the driver these are not logs. 
I ran the whole bunch live edge at 1" & 3/16" 5700 Bd Ft for the kiln from 5.5 bush cords. We SS 4 4' skids and 6 bundles for the Kiln. the kiln performed like I was told. 4/4 lumber dry in a week from the mill to the kiln in 6 days and then dry to 6% in 7.5 days.  It was the 1st full load of 4/4 'lumber', as we do mostly LE slabs in the kiln.    It was a nice job, a fair amount of wrestling with the logs, but mainly flop them on the bunks and saw them the way they landed.
I hired a local youth, who is living in a tent to help. 

[Walnut Beast]

Interesting little story 👍

[Crossroads]

I have a customer in Washington state that goes around and gets free firewood from Craig's list, all black walnut,oak and maple. Most of it is roughly 16" pieces of firewood. I made a jig so that I can hold them and slab them. Anyway, he makes cheese boards and such out of them and fetches a nice price on Etsy. 

[SwampDonkey]

Like I said many times, there's value in all wood. ;D

[Ianab]

While you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, you can certainly make a cutting board from a "firewood" grade log.  ;D No point trying to saw "grade" lumber from a log that doesn't contain any. 

Smart business is being able to cash in on that.  ;) Basically everyone wins, logger gets to sell junk logs, you get to saw and dry them, your customer gets affordable raw material, and end user gets a real wood cutting board. I don't see a down side to this deal. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I was curious so I looked him up. Very sophisticated website he has! Looks like he does all wholesale. I was curious what these go for and I finally found one of his distributors with some prices, assuming those are his boards. $300 to almost $700 (CA)!
 Good for him! If he has outlets for that much material, you should stay pretty busy!

[Southside]

From the title I thought you were visited by some Govt appointed bureaucrat who knows nothing about the matter for which the board he sits on regulates and they wanted advertising signs or something for the roadside creameries in Quebec.  Maybe a push on Poutine?    :D

[Sixacresand]

At $10-20 each, 25,000 bd ft worth of cheese boards is a lot of money.  

[Crossroads]

I make a mean smoked cheese, maybe I should work out a deal with him and sell a package with the board and a variety pack of smoked cheese 🤔

[VB-Milling]

I have a customer in Washington state that goes around and gets free firewood from Craig's list, all black walnut,oak and maple. Most of it is roughly 16" pieces of firewood. I made a jig so that I can hold them and slab them. Anyway, he makes cheese boards and such out of them and fetches a nice price on Etsy.

This is basically why I got into chainsaw milling.  Always free hardwood on OfferUp, Craigslist, Letgo, FB Marketplace etc.  Load it up, mill it, dry it, build it, and always have the option to sell it or keep it.  Better than the city having to haul it to the landfill and mulch it.

[Larry]

Called charcuterie boards here, the name makes them a lot more valuable than plane old cheese boards. ;D

I saw lots of the crap.  They even bring me big limbs to saw!  The uglier the board, the higher the price goes.  Bunch of folks pour resin and the price escalates again.

Probably a bigger money maker than river tables.  Lots of folks can afford a couple hundred for a board, not many can buy a finished live edge table.

[Stephen1]

It really is a great storey. Right from the beginning and calling it functionl art. People love it. He only uses maple, ash, and cherry.
On my buisness card I " specialize in craft lumber" . Every one likes the Charcuterie boards or cheese boards. Part of the returning to nature movement. As long as I make money I'm happy. 

[Ed_K]

 When you sell these cheese boards do you put a coating of something on them or sell them raw?

[Stephen1]

They have the wood certified as food grade  they treat the wood with 'Kosher' mineral oil. 

[Crossroads]

Called charcuterie boards here, the name makes them a lot more valuable than plane old cheese boards. ;D

I saw lots of the crap.  They even bring me big limbs to saw!  The uglier the board, the higher the price goes.  Bunch of folks pour resin and the price escalates again.

Probably a bigger money maker than river tables.  Lots of folks can afford a couple hundred for a board, not many can buy a finished live edge table.

Yup, that's the $5 word he used to, but I wasn't even going to attempt it lol