I have a Peterson WPF Sawmill and produce lumber that I sell. Sometimes I contract out some sawing to another sawyer who uses a band mill who does a great job of sawing but the lumber comes to me a noticeably different color. Once planed there's no difference between our lumber but I can sell the wood I produce rough sawn with no additional work and the lumber he's producing I have to do extra work to so it looks nicer. It's a brand thing for me.
It's quite possible it's excess sawdust (but I clean the boards off) or it could be a lubrication thing (maybe he's adding something to the water) but it just seems off to me. Does anyone else ever experience this using a band mill? His sawing his great. I would just like to get brighter lumber out of the gate. And since I don't own a band mill I'm not sure what questions to ask to solve the problem.
Below are two photos. The top one is boards sawn from a red oak log yesterday with my mill. The second one is red oak boards from the same log sawn on his mill with one from my mill mixed in. I sawed some cants and then we put the cants on his mill and made the boards to save on kerf. The boards coming off his band mill were grey and mine looked like fresh sawn red oak. Any thoughts?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14435/Oak.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1497220108)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14435/Oak_2.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1497220185)
Iron stain from the band. Wet band + the tannin in oak = the black stains. Usually only happens if you stop the mill in the middle of a cut. I also get it from the backstops on the mill. It's superficial. Will come off with the lightest of passes through a planer.
That makes sense for the black stain but do you think iron stain would explain how visibly grey the whole boards are from the band mill vs the boards from my mill?
Maybe he's not dusting them off soon enough after milling? Or leaving them out in the weather? See if you can go check out his operation. Really it shouldn't be much of an issue. So long is you're not getting deeply stained wood.
I wonder if the water he is using in the lube tank is high in iron content? That would cause the grey stain.
It also looks like he is using a lot more water than required, but you said he saws a nice board. Can't argue with that.
You might mention the color is making his boards harder to sell. He might take the initiative and come up with a solution on his own.
Yeah... I was going to talk to him to see if we can find a solution. If I can avoid having to clean up the boards before selling them it saves me time. And saving me time is the reason I contract some of the work out. In the end though the boards are sawn well so I'm not complaining. Just trying to save time.
With every Oak board I saw, the saw dust is scraped off with a sheet rock knife / scraper before stacking.
And my rule of thumb is, if I'm sawing Oak, it must be scraped and stacked and stickered ASAP.
Flat stacking will change the color quick.
Putting fresh cut boards onto a diamond plate flatbed truck, leaves an interesting pattern.
Too much lube, and dead stack will do that in an hour.