have a walk thru the shop with pics.

[red oaks lumber]

my only means of advertising is my sign on the state highway. mostly word of mouth. the more customers you can have coming thru your door, it dosent matter if its a $10 job or $10,000 they are going to tell the same number of people. the more "soldiers" you can have spreading the word of mouth the faster word spreads.
how you interact with customers is huge, being relaxed and confident explaining things just reassures them you really do know what your doing, making them feel at ease is also big.
one draw back for you is only doing it parttime , people will be concerned since you are p.t. you might not get the job done or , you really dont know what your doing. its a mystery how people think and why.

[BobInMN]

Beautiful Operation!  You are a great example that hard work has its rewards.   smiley_clapping

Off topic, was Kyle able to help you any?

[logman 219]

red oaks ,  sort of passes up definition of wood shop ! ends up at million   dollar commercial operation . not quit your average wood shop!!

[red oaks lumber]

logman
why is my shop differant than any others?  bigger yes, better no. 

[backwoods sawyer]

Nice set up, takes good management to get it there and keep it running smooth, love the smell of a wood shop, and a comfy office to boot. Bet it would rang high in a sawmill / wood workers office comparison.

I always like seeing wood working operations. 

[Ohio_Bill]

What a wonderful operation. Congratulations

[Barney II]

WOW----had no idea . What you have there is super great .  I'll have come down and see it in person.  Maybe I could sweep the floor :D :D ;D You are credit to whole area-------Good Job

[SILVERTOOTH]

I'll tell you something else about this guy going by "Redoaks". About a year or so ago I was in the market for a sawmill, through this site I came across Steve, and being he wasn't too far away, thought I'd give him a call for advice. Without hesitation, he invited me up for a tour and some helpfull tips when buying a mill. He not only gave me a tour of his great shop, he went out of his way to set up a few logs on the mill to give me a demo sawing!! Thanks again Steve!, and for the forum people, hes got a lot to offer in "good experienced" advice.
By the way...I ended up buying a mill just like the one he has.

[red oaks lumber]

who is this guy you speak of? :D thats great to hear you ended up buying a mill!
when i started looong ago there wasnt the forestry forum or i didnt have any operation within 150 miles that i could call or go see. so most of my experince came with a high tution fee now i just am paying it forward, offering advice or help how ever i can.

[Okrafarmer]

I missed this thread before. Nice shop, Red Oaks!

I was wondering if you or anyone else could tell, how hard is it to learn how to use, adjust, and maintain the moulder? Somebody I know here has one available to use, but it's been sitting a few years and nobody involved knows how to set it up or use it. It is a SCMI six-head-- actually, the same man has a 4-head Weinig, same deal.

[Chuck White]

I too missed this post somehow.

Very nice setup you have there ROL.   

[red oaks lumber]

if your not familiar with moulders, the learning curve will be steep and hard :)it wont do much good to explain the workings without you standing in front of it.if you get that far pm me and i'll do my best.

[beenthere]

I agree with ROL.
Have helped set up a 5 head moulder to run just 2x4 red maple, and it took a lot of setting, re-setting, and trial runs (means a lot of prepared blanks for practice runs) before all 5 heads were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Each head has a set of knives to set, just like a planer or jointer head. A slight adjustment in any one head can affect the other adjustments some, a lot, or not at all.
One blank had a crack in it that broke a large splinter loose and it caught behind one of the heads and broke the casting of the Diehl moulder as the next blank was coming through. That was expensive, and a long wait for new parts.
Here is a video of a 6 head moulder. Pretty good explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0nbgwVigBc

One that has been setting for awhile may add another dimension to the puzzle. But hope you get a chance to give it a try.
Would you have an idea what the moulder was set up to run the last time it was used?  Any pics?

[drobertson]

Missed this one too,  it explains a lot,  nice shop Steve,  have to say, real! happy for you!  good machine work, coupled with woodwork is just great!

[Okrafarmer]

One that has been setting for awhile may add another dimension to the puzzle. But hope you get a chance to give it a try.
Would you have an idea what the moulder was set up to run the last time it was used?  Any pics?

No, I didn't think to take pics. I should have. There were actually two-- a four-head Weinig and a 6-head SCMI. I believe the Weinig was set up for flooring, not sure about the SCMI. They come with "Many many many" cutting heads and knives and a sharpening system, I was told, though we didn't look at the sharpening system.

[Okrafarmer]

That was a good video, Beenthere.

[Southside]

Very nice set up.  Did you ever get the photos of the mill and farm posted?

[slider]

It's great to see this come up again .It's very inspiring to some of us.Thanks for posting it Steve.Now how about some pics without all that white stuff,not saw dust.

[red oaks lumber]

i'm hoping to post a sawmill tour this coming week, i think most will get some ideas to put in play with their own operations.

[Peter Drouin]

i'm hoping to post a sawmill tour this coming week, i think most will get some ideas to put in play with their own operations.

You have new Ideas?

[5quarter]

Are you kidding? Steve has more ideas before getting out of his angry birds PJs in the morning than I have all day!  ;) :D

[Okrafarmer]

I have plenty of ideas, just little way of implementing them!

[mesquite buckeye]

First I have seen this too. I had an idea you had a pretty serious operation from your writing. This is quite a bit more than I expected.

Super nice setup and congratulations on building your business. ;D

By the way I heard you didn't build that.
Can't remember where I heard it. : ;D ;D ;D

[customsawyer]

I bet his sawmill tour will include a pic of proper sticking of lumber. ;D

[slider]

Better not be any out of place.