Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[doc henderson]

It sounds like he really does not know much about lumber and timber and says it twice, and exactly the same number of 4 x 4s and 4 x 6s, and once you know the size, I would be ordering the number of each not the boards feet.  He cont. to not say what it is for.

[Magicman]

The grammar wording has already given you the answer. 

[SawyerTed]

Scam, no question.  

I had a similar exchange a while ago about crossties.

I asked for a purchase order and a check for 1/3 the order up front.   

The response... crickets.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, you know they don't have a lot of trees in South Dakota from what I hear so your prices sound like a pretty good deal for him.

    I would tell him "Thanks for your order. I require a 50% (Maybe 100%?) deposit up front before starting. Upon receipt of the deposit I will start on your order. Pick-up of the completed order will be required within 15 days or you will forfeit your deposit and the lumber will be sold for costs."

   Good luck but don't hold your breath.

[beenthere]

Figured it to be a scam after viewing the initial request. But you took a chance and made a good response. 2nd email also indicates a scam.

I get messages like that and don't have a sawmill or a website. Figure it has to do with something I've ordered in the past from a business that caused my email to be skimmed and worthy of someone to try to scam me. I don't respond.

[Dave Shepard]

It's either a scam (99.99%), or someone so clueless it'll turn into a job from...

I once told someone that I required a 200% deposit. They would get half of it back, minus any changes or aggravation caused by them. 

[KenMac]

That's a good response for nuisance calls!

[Magicman]

What potential buyer has ever ordered 4X4's and 4X6's by the bf instead of by the piece? 

I have already spent much more time responding on this topic than I would have ever given him from the first inquire.  Barks like a Quack Quack.  

[GAB]

Well, you know they don't have a lot of trees in South Dakota from what I hear so your prices sound like a pretty good deal for him.

    I would tell him "Thanks for your order. I require a 50% (Maybe 100%?) deposit up front before starting. Upon receipt of the deposit I will start on your order. Pick-up of the completed order will be required within 15 days or you will forfeit your deposit and the lumber will be sold for costs."

  Good luck but don't hold your breath.

@customsawyer:
Could you please repeat what you said at the pig roast concerning deposit and was it down payment.  I think it applies in this case.
GAB

[Jim_Rogers]

When I had my sawmill in MA, I got a call from a builder who said he was in Chicago. They were building a bar in Boston and wanted some 1x4 barn board for inside paneling/siding.
And gave me some bdft number.
I normally don't sell any 1x4s, so I said sure. Cost would be X dollars up front. He FedEx me a check overnight.
The next day they shoulded up with a van and picked up all the barn board 1x4's I had selected out of my inventory. And off they went.
Sometime later that afternoon, he called me and told me that they were returning all the ones that they couldn't use.
When the driver showed up, he had all the dark gray sun faded boards in the van. I said: "oh, you want it to look like a new barn?" Yes, he said.
I talked with the project manager who was building a Toby Keith bar in Foxborough, MA at the stadium. And he said he had a table saw there, so I loaded up all the wider fresh sawn "new looking" barn board wood and I delivered it to him in Foxborough. And he ripped it to the widths he needed. 
When he said he needed it delivered to Boston, I said no. But I had been to the stadium before and I knew where it was and how to get there, with my trailer.
My point is that sometimes these things can be a sale.
Jim Rogers

[WV Sawmiller]

Lynn,

  Sorry to burst your bubble but I had a customer last year who ordered 1,000 bf of 8' long poplar 4X4s. When he picked them up he ordered another 1,000 bf of 4/4 8' poplar lumber.

  Of course he was not a stranger. He was the guy I did the sawing on shares for. It all worked out very well for me, the buyer and the log owner.

[Magicman]

Howard, my bubble is not burst and I have no skin in the game.  

I was simply giving my thoughts and opinion after I read those emails that Tom got.  It may work out and the inquiry was legit and I hope that it does, but the grammar and wording was suspicious at best. 

This could be a large supplier/shipper and is needing blocking for securing loads, etc.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Actually I think what my customer was looking at was his budget and I told him I sold fresh cut rough poplar right off the mill for $1/bf and he said he wanted $1,000 worth of 4X4s then later wanted another $1,000 worth of 4/4 lumber - all 8' long.

[Peter Drouin]

I got the same E-mail, I deleted it. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Same wording Pete? Or a little bit different?

[jpassardi]

Cut more large pine logs into cants for a future timber frame addition.
Brought flitches into the heated garage to be edged at night after work.

[Magicman]

Those are some nice size cants. 

My next scheduled sawing is 1-27 through 2-7, and then 2-8 through 2-10.  This is sawing for customers that have "oil patch" jobs so the sawing has to be scheduled when they are off/home.  I have another oil patch guy but we have not scheduled his yet.  I have a whole house framing lumber job scheduled in March for a couple who are moving here from Ohio.  That one is 40-50 logs.  There are presently 10 jobs in the book.

[Peter Drouin]

Same wording Pete? Or a little bit different?

Word for word.

[jpassardi]

Yeah, some of those pine logs are stretching the limits of my standard width LT15. Had to notch one to clear the blade guide on one side for the first cut.
We have some even bigger ones yet to mill, they'll require some chainsaw work on one side. That's a handy way to slow production... 

[TimW]

Been awhile since I last posted.  Been having problems with my hormones.  But I have been sawing boards for the sawmill shed. 
Made a pallet too.
Also added 5 full size 20 foot 2x12s to my stack of top sills, but no photo.  Howard will say it didn't happen.
All this sawing had the sawmill burp only once.  One burp. 

[TimW]

Sawing cedar baseboard and door trim for my church, Willis Cowboy Fellowship's new church building.
7/8x3 inch trim boards.
Log on the mill now has this burl on it.  I was gonna cut it off and save it.  But should I cut it in half and save it, or cut the whole thing off?  It is about 8 inches high.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

   Glad to see you back. Happy New Year and what's with the negative waves? When have I ever challenged the veracity of anything you claimed? (Okay, except for those times )

[Resonator]

I'd keep the burl as one piece cut off on a thick slab. Kind of looks like a turtle, so I'd call it a turtle burl.

[TimW]

Turtle Burl, I like it.

[TimW]

Tim,

  Glad to see you back. Happy New Year and what's with the negative waves? When have I ever challenged the veracity of anything you claimed? (Okay, except for those times )

Those times is what I am referring too.
I got about 2 and a half's months of reading to catch up on.  Catching up on John's Timber Frame Build right now.  So Howard, leave Doc and OGH alone until I get caught up.