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How many board feet per hour?

Started by woodman1876, February 10, 2016, 06:21:30 PM

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woodman1876

What is a realist board foot per hour can you cut on your portable mill? I know there would be a huge range of factors.

bkaimwood

On what mill? By yourself? With offbearers? How many? Just sawing? Or cleaning and stacking? Stickering? We gotta narrow this one down...
bk

justallan1

You might try asking by stating your mill, manual or hydraulic, engine size, a particular board size, species, with or W/O a helper to possibly get some sort of an idea. Other than that I feel you are going to fill your head with numbers that don't have a thing to do with your situation. There's just to many variables without narrowing it down some.
I saw burls mostly, so let's say I can get 200 bf in a week, while some folks can saw 1 beam in 20 minutes and beat my footage with ease.

OlJarhead

Sustained rate?  On my Woodmizer LT10 on a custom trailer with some upgrades (10hp motor, 5gallon water, better clamping system -- LT28 style) I have sustained 150+bf/hr over 8 hrs.  But that was with a mix of logs from 8" in diameter to 18".  When running all 15-18" diameter logs in the 12'-16' range I've actually done 250bf/hr but not by myself.

By myself I'm happy with 100bf/hr but remember this is the smallest of the WM mills and all manual.
2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

red

Its exactly like MPG . . Your bd ft per hour will vary
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

woodman1876

Quote from: bkaimwood on February 10, 2016, 06:40:55 PM
On what mill? By yourself? With offbearers? How many? Just sawing? Or cleaning and stacking? Stickering? We gotta narrow this one down...
Just what ever your setup is. What mill what you have for help etc. I know it was a very general question.

Verticaltrx

White pine and Poplar, sawing a mix of 2x framing lumber and 1" siding, 250bf/hr by myself. That includes stacking and stickering while milling. Mill is a Woodmizer LT 15 with power feed, 19hp gas motor. 
Wood-Mizer LT15G19

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I have never figured it and won't. I try to saw as many perfect boards as I can during a days work.
With all the variables, I'm sure each hour would be different.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

WV Sawmiller

'76,

   As mentioned above please update your profile with your equipment list and location. Where in WV are you located. There is a wide range of variables that will affect your sawing rate as mentioned before.

   I find I have been averaging a little over 125 bf/hour (operating hours off the mill meter) but that includes sawing for myself and the public and every kind and size wood imaginable.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

I doubt that I have ever figured bf per hr.  I just try to finish a day's work in a day.  I have had days that yielded 3500+ bf and then there were those 800 bf days.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

OlJarhead

Quote from: Magicman on February 10, 2016, 08:10:51 PM
I doubt that I have ever figured bf per hr.  I just try to finish a day's work in a day.  I have had days that yielded 3500+ bf and then there were those 800 bf days.

I often wonder what your max produced is and sometimes contemplate what an average might be...mostly because I'm an engineer and technician as much as a manager (in telecom) and so like to try to put it all together when contemplating a living milling if you know what I mean?
2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

Chuck White

Generally speaking, I will saw 300-400 bf per hour with one helper.

Normal daily talley would be between 1500 & 1800 bf.

Wood-Mizer LT40 HD Hydraulic with a debarker.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Ohio_Bill

Quote from: Chuck White on February 10, 2016, 08:45:13 PM
Generally speaking, I will saw 300-400 bf per hour with one helper.

Normal daily talley would be between 1500 & 1800 bf.

Wood-Mizer LT40 HD Hydraulic with a debarker.



I'm just about where you are Chuck.   1500 to 2000 ft a day   6 or 7 hrs.   Sawing by myself with a Super LT40 remote using drag back most of the time.
Bill
USAF Veteran  C141 Loadmaster
LT 40 HDD42-RA   , Allis Chalmers I 500 Forklift , Allis Chalmers 840 Loader , International 4300 , Zetor 6245 Tractor – Loader ,Bob Cat 763 , Riehl Steel Edger

scully

One of my best BF hours was 430 . Everything was right.
I bleed orange  .

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Gearbox

I have always figured 1000 ft per day per man . 5 gallon of fuel per 1000 . That is in decent logs . If you are sawing 16 and 20 ft 2 X8 you can saw more footage but your help will suffer.
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

ncsawyer

Quote from: Gearbox on February 10, 2016, 10:44:44 PM
I have always figured 1000 ft per day per man . 5 gallon of fuel per 1000 . That is in decent logs . If you are sawing 16 and 20 ft 2 X8 you can saw more footage but your help will suffer.

My old manual LT40 with the 18hp briggs would burn between 3 to 5 gallons per 1,000bdft depending on what you were cutting.  But the 36hp yanmar I have now will saw all day without a fill up.  Its more like 1.5 or 2 gallons per thousand.

I usually figure about 2,000bdft per day on my LT40 as an average.  I've cut a lot more in a day and a lot less too.
2015 Wood-Mizer LT40DD35
Woodmaster 718 planer
Ford 445 Skip Loader

Brucer

There's a difference between "board feet in an hour" and "average BF per hour over several days". The former is pretty meaningless. The latter includes all the time you are working but not running the saw.

My long term average runs around 160 BF per hour. That's with no helper using a 28 HP hydraulic mill. Averaged over 20 sawing days.


Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

woodman1876

I was just curious. When you look at all the mills they give you numbers like the LT up to 320 and the L40 up to 550 board feet and hour. I know that's under perfect conditions had now clue what real world numbers were.
Thanks

pa_of_6

I was cutting oversized logs, 20 inch diameter butt and bigger.

The log owner brought the logs to me, took away the lumber and slabs.

When I started I had a WM LT40 (24hp Onan) and an edger. (Edgers are worth the money you pay for them)
Cut 150,000 bf 12 hour days. (10 cutting)
I had one helper. We were cutting mainly 16 footers and 3x12x16
Averaged just shy of 1000 bf an hour

Bought a LT70 with the 62 hp cat.
Cutting the same type logs.
2 pilers on the back end.
Cut about 2.3 million BF with that mill
Averaged 3000 BF an hour.

But these were extremely big and consistent logs
The owner brought the logs to the mill and hauled away the waste and the lumber
All I did was saw.

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