Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[Magicman]

When you hear it you know it, and no explanation is necessary. 

[doc henderson]

prob. skimmed the top with a blade (taking out set and poss. teeth) as opposed to hitting it dead on metal to metal and destroying a blade.

[Resonator]

Red Oak (future 1/4 sawn lumber).



I got a message about a big red oak that was taken down in the city, and I could have whatever logs I wanted free.
Well... "free" was actually lots of chain sawing and sledge + wedge to cut the really heavy logs into pieces I could move.
Thank you to Forum member Otis1 for providing the tree!

[Magicman]

Back to my "fast/slow" week; this morning I sawed for a repeat customer who is building a new home which is enclosing an old log home which will become the living/great room.


Ten smallish Cherry and Elm logs.


Elm on the left and Cherry on the Right.  We had completed the sawing by 10:30.  I did not scale but no way was there 1Mbf so I invoiced the minimum rate of $450.  He handed me a check for $600. 


Here is an Ash paneled bedroom wall.


This is a Cherry paneled bedroom wall.


ERC closet ceiling.


Existing log house that will become the great room.  The logs will get new chinking.  The ceiling paneling is reclaimed 2X12's.

I am off tomorrow and will start a framing lumber job Saturday to continue my fast/slow week.

[cutterboy]

Magic, you have some really nice and generous customers.

[Magicman]

I have sawed for this customer many times sawing all of the inside lumber being used in the new home.  Also "ovals" that come from some log's humps as decorative pieces for his wife & daughters.  Got two ovals yesterday from an Elm log.  Simply keeping an eye out for special stuff that would normally go to the burn pile.  Customers appreciate stuff like that, especially the wives.  

[Otis1]

Here is Resonator's logs before he cut them into manageable lengths and quartered them. The big end of the butt log was 30". Despite it being a yard tree, we didn't see any signs of metal. Fingers crossed it stays that way. 

I had most of the firewood pile behind them cleaned up before he got here. I felt like it was a win-win; he got the logs, I helped him load some of the quarters, I got my yard cleaned up. Thanks Jeremy.

[Magicman]

Back on my fast/slow week:


I started the morning with 14 logs...


The three largest log butts were 36" and the smallest were 20" top end.


So far one has had 3 nails, so kiss one blade goodbye.


And the neighbor skidded up two more logs making the total now 16 logs.


We quit work @ 4:00 leaving 4 logs for Monday. 

We are sawing mostly 2X4's & 2X6's with 4 logs being 1X12's, etc.  No tally yet because some lumber is stickered and there are still two trailers to be unloaded, plus a whack on the ground at the sawmill because the trailers were full.

Depending upon the weather, I should finish Monday before the rain moves in Tuesday.

[Old Greenhorn]

Looks like green mold on top of your snow!
 Sorry, that just looks so weird to me today all the green and guys in t-shirts. I was in a frozen marsh today cutting standing dead and the only reason we could do that is because the ground is frozen up really hard.
 It just struck me as weird.
 Happy sawing and good on ya!

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

Back to my "fast/slow" week; this morning I sawed for a repeat customer who is building a new home which is enclosing an old log home which will become the living/great room.


Ten smallish Cherry and Elm logs.


Elm on the left and Cherry on the Right.  We had completed the sawing by 10:30.  I did not scale but no way was there 1Mbf so I invoiced the minimum rate of $450.  He handed me a check for $600. 


Here is an Ash paneled bedroom wall.


This is a Cherry paneled bedroom wall.


ERC closet ceiling.


Existing log house that will become the great room.  The logs will get new chinking.  The ceiling paneling is reclaimed 2X12's.

I am off tomorrow and will start a framing lumber job Saturday to continue my fast/slow week.

Looks like a beautiful home. You definitely work for some great projects. 
The building codes are so strict in NYS you do not see many sawmill/home projects. Mostly out buildings.

[Magicman]

I finished and moved another job from the schedule book to the invoice book.


I far outpaced my tailgunners because this is all that got stickered so far and there are three trailer loads waiting.  At least I am content knowing that the lumber is being properly stickered.

We sawed for a total of 11 hours and yielded 4480bf not counting the stickers which are done for free.  This production rate is an example of what you can do when the 12' logs are ranging 300-400 bf per log. 

I parked the sawmill at the next job that will not begin until Friday.  Tailgunners are hard to find.  I am off and will watch it rain for the next few days. 

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

Nice load of free pine was delivered to me today. Not all in the photo. The largest is 30 inch ten footers. Warms up a little and I will get sawing.

[jpassardi]

Nothing wrong with those EWP logs especially delivered for free. 

[Magicman]

Nice score.  Sadly I had an offer yesterday of about 30 free fresh felled SYP logs.  I say sadly because I am not in the log business and had to refuse them.  Just not enough of me to do any more than what I am already doing.  At least I have whittled my sawing schedule down to 8 jobs. 

[Sixacresand]

Just not enough of me to do any more than what I am already doing.    

Of all the stuff I have been doing lately, running the lt40 seems to be one of the easiest thing I do, including the  material handling. 

[Magicman]

Yes, since I have virtually eliminated any material handling, although I do occasionally get involved with flipping flitches.  Customers/tailgunners rarely see what I am looking at or what I am seeking to recover.  They will often say; "Oh, now I see what you were doing and why".

I tailed one end of slabs for years and my stretched knuckles constantly remind me of it.  I can no longer make a fist with my right hand.

A guy called yesterday to try to buy my sawmill.  "No" was as far as the conversation reached.  Not yet and probably never. 

 

[Magicman]

I set two all time records for me today; First, I hit nails with 5 blades, and Second, the first time that I have ever emptied my Magic Blade Can which was not full but there was 7 in it.  I was sawing for a many times customer that gets his logs from wherever, these being tree removal service trees, so no surprise and expect what you get.


22 logs which included ERC, SYP, Red Oak, Tulip Poplar, and Cherry.


An "empty" Cherry log.  The top log yielded some nice lumber but this butt log only yielded not too much lumber and a nail.


This butt ERC log made five 2" and one 3" live edge slabs.  There were four 4X4's from pecker poles that we stacked the lumber on.


The Red Oak turned out some amazing QS plus 4 rift sawn 5X5's for table legs.


And the 1X12 SYP wasn't bad.


I sawed the job "hourly rate" so no bf tally.

Depending upon the weather my next job begins Monday.  It is 30-40 logs.

[Magicman]

The rain came yesterday before we finished edging the last four 15' flitches and the customer had all of the lumber that he needed so he gave them to me.  I went back this morning and bucked and edged them into 1X12's plus a few stickers.


I loaded them up, strapped them down and home I came.

 
Since it is well known that I have no shed, I stickered them beside my truck parking space in the carport.

I fueled the sawmill and since we have some low 20°'s coming next week I also winterized the lube system.   I already have a good mix in the system which would not freeze but I went ahead and purged with 0° WW fluid.  Better safe than sorry.

 

[Magicman]

This sawing customer has had about 40 logs; White Oak, Water Oak, Tulip Poplar, Cherry, Cypress, Sweetgum & ERC that I can think of.


It was all separated by species so really spread out and hard to picture.


Most of what is seen here got sawed with the exception of the Tulip Poplar in the furthest whack.


The customer and his Grandson were excellent help.


We quit early so they could haul this to the shed and sticker.  It is about 1400bf that we sawed in 5 hours. 

We both have appointments tomorrow and whether we saw Wednesday is dependent on the weather/rain.  We can easily finish this job in three days....maybe two if he finds good help.

[Magicman]

My customer and I just made an 'executive' decision and decided not to saw until next week when the temperatures will be in the 60's and 70's.  That will be much better than the remainder of this week when we will be in the low 20's. 

[GAB]

My customer and I just made an 'executive' decision and decided not to saw until next week when the temperatures will be in the 60's and 70's.  That will be much better than the remainder of this week when we will be in the low 20's. 

Lynn:
I wish you a happy hibernation day(s).
Keep the fire stoked and put your feet up a bit.
GAB

[Magicman]

We made a good decision because I have watched the temperature drop from 37° to 33° during the past hour with a ~15mph wind. 

Nothing happening here but: 

[TimW]

Dear Northern friends,
Your weather is down here in my yard and I need you to come get it.

[Dave Shepard]

We don't have room for it, we've got too much weather as it is. 

[GAB]

Dear Northern friends,
Your weather is down here in my yard and I need you to come get it.

Now, Now, Now there are some things we are very willing to share and that and snow are two of them.  Hope you enjoy our generosity.
GAB