Doing business with new sawmill

[Nick585]

I have 4000bf of walnut logs and I am looking for a sawmill to cut it 5/4.  It is all 6' to 10' length.  12" - 30" diameter.  I have used many different portable sawyers in the past.  I would prefer to bring this to a larger saw mill, have them saw for grade, and pick it up when it is done. 

How does this process begin?  What does this business relationship look like?  What is a fair price?  What are the correct questions to ask?

[moodnacreek]

They will ask the questions. If it where Me I would want fresh straight no branches or rot, lightning strikes, metal, pounded in stones or real short logs.

[Cedarman]

I would recommend you find someone that has taken the week long lumber grading short course that has 1 day teaching how to grade walnut.  Get the lumber grading handbook that will show how to grade walnut so you know what you will be getting.
That is a start.

[Ron Wenrich]

Sounds like you didn't get too good of a sawing job in the past.  What do you mean by a larger sawmill?  Do you want a bandmill or circle mill?  Sometimes the state has a list of mills.

A large, commercial mill might not want to handle your logs, unless they have a time slot to put them into.  I was always concerned about having to saw other people's logs.  The first thing was trash metal.  Walnut was always good for that.  The second is that your understanding of what is grade and mine might be different.  Sometimes the log owner thought they would have more clear lumber in the logs than they actually produced.  That's not necessarily the sawyer's fault.  Make sure you're on the same page as the sawyer. 

Price varies from mill to mill.   I always quoted a price/bf, and a price for every nail I hit.  Visit the mill and look at the quality of lumber it produces.  Make sure it meets your needs.

[Magicman]

I do not intend this to be "snippy" but if/when I get an indication that a perspective customer is "sawmill shopping", I will back out and suggest that they use the other sawing service.  I will not knowingly allow myself to get into any sort of competition regarding sawing or sawing rates.

A person called last week and when they mentioned another sawyer, my immediate suggestion was that they use him and I suppose that he did.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Its my understanding that many mills won't saw walnut, presence of walnut sawdust messes up their established waste disposal stream. 

I have no experience shopping for sawyers. 

[YellowHammer]

Larger doesn't mean better, as a matter of fact, some of the mega mills here won't saw up walnut because they are not set up for high value species.

Most commercial mills won't cut less than 8 foot logs.

Just call them up, ask if they do custom sawing and 80% will say "No" and then of the remaining 20% go talk to the owner and see if they will do what you want.  

[Larry]

When I lived in north Missouri I took the NHLA short course and got to spend a week OJT with a grader at a walnut mill.  They had 3 sawyers at the time and their grade recovery was tracked by the mill owner.  More high grade recovery equals more money for the sawyer.  They would do an excellent job on your logs but they would not except custom work.  The biggest reason was the circle mill fed a grade re-saw with merry go round.  It would be near impossible to track lumber from a few logs but they might manage with 4,000 board foot.  It would still be a interruption to the normal work flow.

The commercial mill close to me now would custom saw your logs but they are focused on ties, pallet cants, and finally grade oak.  They have a logging crew and when they get walnut logs their sold to a walnut mill if that tells ya anything.

One place to look is furniture makers that have their own mills.  Their are several of those guys around.  Another place is any mill that is selling walnut on the wholesale market.  Those guys know how to squeeze grade out of walnut.