Buying a Peterson and need help!!!

[hatchoil]

Im getting ready to buy a Peterson WPF10 with slabber and planer head. I am planning on mainly selling slabs and figured lumber from urban logs. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I should try to sell. I dont really want to do for hire mill work. Any suggestions would be grealy apprecaited, I want to pay this thing off as soon as possible. Also if anyone has any do and don'ts  that they would like to share.

[fishpharmer]

Hatchoil, welcome to FF.  I'm not much help with any of your questions.  That little search box up on top of this page is very useful in finding all types info from the immense wealth of knowledge that forestry forum provides.  Good luck.

[HSV]

Im getting ready to buy a Peterson WPF10 with slabber and planer head. I am planning on mainly selling slabs and figured lumber from urban logs. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I should try to sell. I dont really want to do for hire mill work. Any suggestions would be grealy apprecaited, I want to pay this thing off as soon as possible. Also if anyone has any do and don'ts  that they would like to share.

Hi there hatchoil 

Thank you for your message! I'm happy to hear you're looking to a Peterson!

I have put a call out to all of our owners for assistance in answering your question and will be in touch shortly with their collated replies.

Once you order your Peterson, we will issue you with a login for the Owner's Area of our website, and you will also be granted access to our Private Owner's Group on Facebook. You'll be able to ask for advice in there too!

Don't hesitate to contact us any time by phone or email, we're here to help.
http://petersonsawmills.com/contact/

Cheers
Layla

[thecfarm]

hatchoil,welcome to the forum.
Slabs take time to dry. Should be some past post on drying and selling slabs.
Good luck.

[Grandedog]

     Howdy,
   Depending on where you're located, any lumber for structural use needs to be graded. With the double cut capability of the WPF, you can knock out up to 10" x 20" beams without resetting. Beams that size are easily worth having graded. Mantles are also good for large dimensions, and don't need to be graded. If you're going to be using urban trees, a metal detector would be a good investment.
Regards
Gregg

[HSV]

Thanks to thecfarm and Grandedog for your assistance so far!

I've also had some replies from a few of our owners which I'll post below.


Products in demand here are old growth Fir vertical edge grain for door stock and flooring blanks. Old growth cedar vertical edge grain or flat sawn timber packages. Try to work with local log salvagers to keep your wood cost down, or get the wood yourself.
- TJ from British Columbia


I love slabs and I love the idea of using logs that would ordinarily not get much attention as useful wood.  You may already know that urban logs will be full of all kinds of "junk" (nails, bolts, ...), so a good metal detector is in order.  Also, you may want to find a kiln operator to get the slabs dried, as they take a long time to air dry.  Me, personally, I paid off my saw by cutting wood for my own use, which has more than paid for the saw.  The biggest project being 6" wide oak plank flooring for the house I was building; which would have cost me more than the price of the saw to buy this.  Additionally, you may want to consider cutting some 5/4 and 4/4 furniture lumber for the local craftsman market.   
- Roger from Connecticut


Contact local wood workers and cabinet makers to see if they're interested, what species that they work with, dimensions, etc.  Another area to look at is to contact local architects and builders that might be doing custom work for people building or remodeling their homes.  I've milled pine siding for ranchers that were repairing or building a new barn.  I don't know where you live and what the regulatory situation is there, but here in California, if you are removing trees from your property and have them milled for construction on your property, you don't have to have the lumber graded.  So a new landowner that wants to build a house could either have you set up on their property or ship the logs to his mill site.  Set up a website and let folks know via Facebook that you're in business.
- Steve from California

[hatchoil]

Thank you guys for the suggestions!!!!