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Just scored 100 plus Ponderosa logs! Now the fun begins!

Started by golddredger, February 18, 2014, 10:52:26 PM

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golddredger

Thanks again for the tips and help. I need to stick to my budget at the moment and get some wood milled and sold to offset the cost of s band mill. So for now I have to use what I have. If I go ahead and swap the upright bandsaw onto my carriage for now get some wood cut then save up and upgrade very soon.  I think this is where I am at with everything now. Will only cost me a few hundred to get this bandsaw on my mill and working. It will do the job for now. The mods I will make will not affect the bandsaw itself so when I upgrade I can just put this bandsaw back into it's original state as an upright band saw. So nothing lost. But I agree 100% the CSM will be a long hard road in cutting these logs.
I got an estimate with the guy that gave me the wood on Board Feet. He is a 40 year retired logger. Measured the logs and he gave me number of 25,000 board feet of good millable logs. 8)
Home built bandsaw mill and trailer for a mini logging operation. Lots of chainsaws and love the woods.

justallan1

Paradise is a beautiful town. I've played paintball there a bit and hiked a lot.
I understand making due with what you have, and I'm just hard headed enough to know I can turn one thing into another to suit my needs, BUT 25,000BF is a pretty tall order in my mind.
I've had a small bandmill for just over a year and don't believe I've sawn a third of that, granted I have a full time job that gets in my way quite a bit. :D I don't know if you work also, but that should be taken into thought also.
If I were in your spot I think I'd take a look at letting someone saw on percentage basis. They saw "X" amount of logs for you and take "X" amount of logs for their time. It puts money in your pocket out of logs that won't be getting sawn until you can make yours work or buy a mill.
If you kept 1/2 of your logs for yourself and make a deal with someone else on the other 12,500 bf and got half of the total footage I think you could pick up a decent mill new or a pretty nice used one, and you still have half of your logs left to saw yourself. ;D
Just my way of thinking.

Allan

Part_Timer

Quote from: golddredger on February 20, 2014, 06:10:01 PM
Thanks again for the tips and help. I need to stick to my budget at the moment and get some wood milled and sold to offset the cost of s band mill. So for now I have to use what I have. If I go ahead and swap the upright bandsaw onto my carriage for now get some wood cut then save up and upgrade very soon.  I think this is where I am at with everything now. Will only cost me a few hundred to get this bandsaw on my mill and working. It will do the job for now. The mods I will make will not affect the bandsaw itself so when I upgrade I can just put this bandsaw back into it's original state as an upright band saw. So nothing lost. But I agree 100% the CSM will be a long hard road in cutting these logs.
I got an estimate with the guy that gave me the wood on Board Feet. He is a 40 year retired logger. Measured the logs and he gave me number of 25,000 board feet of good millable logs. 8)

sounds like you have a plan now get to it and take lots of pictures for us!!!
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Nomad

     I don't like sounding like an old nanny, but I'd question those numbers too.  100 logs like you posted in your pics might be stretching a bit to get 25k bf.  I don't know how much the "100+" works out to.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

Dave Shepard

That is an average of 250 feet per log. From the firs pic, I'd say the average was less than 100 feet per log. Unless there are a bunch of big 16 footers in another pile.

If you have the skills to convert the bandsaw, then it's worth a shot if it's your only option. I think you will need good guides for the blade. Other than that, it's just your time. It's always a compromise when you have a limited, or no, budget. How many HP is your gas engine? It should produce more lumber, with less waste and fuel, than the chainsaw. You will also have to have enough bands to have some in rotation to a sharpener, or a way to sharpen them.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Ianab

Thought about rebuilding your mill as a "Car tyre" type band mill? That way you don't mess up a perfectly good bandsaw, and still have that for resawing anyway.  If you have the skills and materials to make that chainsaw mill it shouldn't be a big drama to do a band mill?

As for the log volume? Depends on the amount of big logs, like those on the trailer, vs the amount of toothpicks and shorties like in the pile. 100 of those big one would be over 25,000 bd ft for sure.

But I think you want a "real" sawmill for this, even if it's home build car wheeled rig.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

golddredger

Yes I will get some more pictures of the logs for you guys. That is pictures of 2 of the 3 decks! There is a few short logs at the very front. I hauled those home today. But most of the logs are 24" across up to around 42" across and they average 16ft to 24ft long. Stacked 3 to 4 deep and around 75ft from the front to the back of 3 decks total. 100+ big logs. Not counting the logs that are 24" and down stacked at the front of the pile. I will get some pictures from the side of the stacks. It will blow your mind how much wood is there. At least it is blowing my mind it is going to take several weeks hauling 2 loads a day to get is home.
Home built bandsaw mill and trailer for a mini logging operation. Lots of chainsaws and love the woods.

golddredger

Oh yes I have 13hp engine to power the band saw. That should be plenty. Should be an easy conversion I will take some pictures as I do it. And of course when it is cutting I will shoot some videos.
Home built bandsaw mill and trailer for a mini logging operation. Lots of chainsaws and love the woods.

Ianab

Well a 24" x 16 ft log should yield over 400 bdft, and the numbers go up fast as they get bigger. So yeah, the estimate might be pretty correct if there are a decent amount of larger the logs.  :)

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

backwoods sawyer

To bad you could not just hire a mill in to do all the milling, and then you would just be hualing the lumber home, lot less trips  ;)
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

golddredger

Quote from: backwoods sawyer on February 22, 2014, 01:40:08 AM
To bad you could not just hire a mill in to do all the milling, and then you would just be hualing the lumber home, lot less trips  ;)
You got that right..... But then again logs where free to me so gas in the truck is all they cost. Round trip from my house including loading and unloading is 1 hour total per load as the site is only about 12 minutes from my house. So all in all. Not to bad a deal. I am happy camper either way. Just want to make sure I get it all milled in a decent amount of time.

Home built bandsaw mill and trailer for a mini logging operation. Lots of chainsaws and love the woods.

customsawyer

Welcome to the forum. I think you got a great deal going there and you seem to have the fab skills to make a band mill out of the one you have or fab up another one. A couple of things I would like to share is that the blade on the band mill you have now looks like it is running the teeth on the band wheel. This will take the set out of your blade and make some poor lumber. You will want to get some blade guide rollers that will be able to handle the work load you are looking at putting them through. If you are talking about stretching that mill out I would recommend that you make it to where you use a universal size blade, like 13'2" that the LT40 uses. Best of luck to you, have fun and stay safe.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

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