I'm looking into getting a small portable mill. Are most of you sawing 4/4 boards at 1 1/8 inches, or are you good with 1 inch?
I'll probably have a million questions. I've seen the knowledge base, but didn't see this practice there.
P.S. I'm another DanG, but I'll defer to the original.
I'll just say Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Red Pill. Since I saw the thickness that the customer wants, I'll defer the thickness question to other sawyers.
I do 99.99% of my sawing "mobile".
Like MM said, I saw what the customer needs.
When a customer in this area says "I want boards", they are talking about 1 inch boards.
I explain to them that I can use the "yard stick" measure on the mill and cut at 1" increments and he'll get 7/8 - 15/16" material, or I can saw using the 4/4 scale and that will yield a full inch! The customer usually picks the yard stick when we're doing soft wood!
Hardwood customers usually pick either 4/4 or 5/4 and that's exactly what they get!
We've sawn for a lot of markets over the years. Each one expects something a little different between the allowable range. Right now our flooring buyer specifies a target of 1-1/8" with a minimum of 1" to 1-3/8" accepted. That's a pretty generous range.
We target 1-1/8" and have never had a board rejected. It's a pretty easy target with the Accuset all dialed in.
I'd say 1-1/8" for 4/4 in hardwood is a pretty good target. Most customers will not reject it. I've had a few complain it's too thick – too much to plane off, etc. But those were customers wanting their logs custom sawn for their own use and so be it.
Figure out what you want the final board thickness to be. In flat sawed 4/4 stock, drying gets 1/16" off the top. Variance in sawing can account for another 1/16". Cup in boards wider than 8" may take another 1/8" to surface out...less in narrow boards.
Sawing at 1 1/8" thick allows dried and planed stock to measure 13/16" which is the NHLA standard. That's a pretty easy standard to meet. I figured out one time, losing one board in 20 because it's too thin doesn't pay...invariably it will be the widest FAS board out of the log.
I sawed a bunch of hardwood at a full 1". At that time, I was sawing lumber to build furniture. I never had a problem getting a finished 3/4" board from a full 1" rough stock. Most of the stuff I was building required at most a 6 foot board as for a desk, etc. Then, I began to sell lumber to other woodworkers. People were interested in longer length projects, say 8 foot tables. I found that the 1" thick boards would not always plane out flat (face joint flat, then thickness plane) when planing 8 to 10 foot boards.
As a result, I went to sawing 1 1/8" rough and that creates a lot more project flexibility for people. It also allow you to plane to 7/8" or even 15/16" for when you need a little thicker stock like for a table top.
So, the answer depends on what the intended use of the lumber is for.
Red ...whatever thickness you wind up sawing, Keep it uniform. boards with random thicknesses cannot be properly stacked for drying. repeatability is vital when talking about the thickness of your boards. even an 1/8" variance will allow the thinner boards to move in your stack...not good. Welcome to the Forum...btw.
If I am sawing pine for utility grade, board and batten, etc...I will saw to one inch, without allowing for kerf...come up with a pretty consistent 15/16" if I am sawing for lumber where I want consistent furniture lumber, I put the extra eighth in there..as mentioned, cupping, warp, inconsistencies in sawing..blade set out, etc....but it also makes the likelihood of getting minor surface checks and cracks out...and depending on the project, that extra thickness may pay off in the details of the project..
I saw what the customer wants, about 99% 1" and also 1" for my lumber. I just got done planing 1500 bf of ash sawed at 1" , 2 wide boards that were cupped didn't clean up . I could have ripped them down the middle and it would have been 100% at 13/16. Steve
Is this for your own use? I just saw a full one inch boards or a full 2 inch by whatever. But I don't plane my lumber either, This is just building lumber. I would feel it depends on what the use is for.
Thanks for the answers, folks. I'm not sawing yet, just exploring it. And learning. There's a lot to be learned here.
the customer tells me to saw it 1'' i say ok and saw it 1 1/8" thick :)he gets boards and i can get the wood to plane real nice next year when he changes his mind and brings it back to get planed.
for you guys that do custom planing always looking ahead for future problems will saw for the size that works better,yet still giving the customer what he or she wants
I am at 1 1/16" with the accuset also taking out 1/8" for the blade thickness....+++fat