Lumber milled on-site

[Lou Stags]

I have a friend with A LOT of older trees on his property. He mentioned that if I was ever interested in taking one (or more) off his hands, he would be totally fine with it. Does anyone have experience in bringing someone on-site to "harvest" a few trees? Any suggestions? I am intrigued by the idea...

Thanks,

Lou

[David Posey]

There's a lot of factors that are going to influence how you go about this. How accessible are the trees? What kind of equipment are you going to need to bring the logs out? How concerned is the landowner with potential damage to the surrounding canopy and the land? I do have a bit of experience working with this (my dad operated the portable sawmill and I was the offbearer), but the guy we worked with had really flat land with thinned pines so he was able to move all his logs with a decent size Kubota. In some of the hillier parts of this state where you live, it may not be quite so easy.

My advice is to find someone with a portable mill and ask a few questions of them. There's a good chance they'll have the equipment to move the logs out, but you may have to have a certain minimum cut to make it worth your while. If they don't have the equipment, I'm pretty sure they'll know someone who does. Do you know if there's likely to be metal in any of these trees? That's going to be a major concern to your sawyer, and can bump your costs up if you have to pay for replacement blades or for their time spent sharpening.

How are you going to dry the lumber? Some sawyers may have a kiln and may be able to do that for you, but then you loose the on-site part of your idea. I think the general rule of thumb for air drying is a year per inch of thickness, so if you're wanting to use it soon, air drying isn't a good option.

You may also want to have a forester look at the trees to give you an idea of what you can expect out of them. At the very least, I'd suggest you check out the Forestry Forum (google it, can't link because of ToS) and maybe even post your question there as well.

[Scott T Smith]

Lou, if your objective is to save money, you probably won't. There is a lot that goes into turning trees into furniture grade lumber, and David delved into some of them.

Not all sawyers are created equal. There are few "grade" sawyers - which is what you want, and a lot of "yield Sawyers", who are not as adept at turning logs into furniture grade lumber. I've seen instances where someone took the route that you proposed and in the end lost most of what they had milled due to poor logs, poor milling, drying degrade, or insect damage.

You will need a place to stack and sticker the lumber for air drying, preferably out of the weather yet not indoors (at least not for oak). Then, you will need to either sterilize via chemicals or via a kiln, or build your own sterilization chamber.

At the end of the day, time spent harvesting, milling, stacking and stickering, and drying lumber takes away from the time that you can spend in the shop building something.

It can be very rewarding, but there is a significant time and financial investment involved.

[Al Weber]

Lou,

Go for it. Shady Grove Custom Sawmill in Lancing, TN (eastern TN) is one possibility. I'm not sure of his pricing but they have a swing mill and they know how to grade saw. I'm not sure whether they will do the felling but they certainly can bring the swing mill to the location. Someone has to be able to move the downed logs also so a tractor or other equipment will be necessary. I'd go for it if the trees are large. However, if they are not more than 18" in diameter or so, probably not worth doing. I'm not sure of Shady Grove pricing for milling but 25 to 75 cents a bf would be reasonable depending on what they do and how much assistance you provide to move logs and lumber as they mill. Remember you have to have a place to stack and dry or pay for kiln drying time if you do this.

[Jim Becker]

I've brought a local sawyer in twice to mill lumber from trees that had to be felled here on-property. It was a good experience, albiet a lot of hard work. The first run was in 2000 and resulted in about 3000 bd ft of poplar and walnut. In 2009, another 1500 bd ft of poplar went through the Woodmizer and is now ready to use.

[Tom Fischer]

What kind of trees? Most softwoods and poplar are still around $1/bf at the local mill here. Not worth my time.

But I have hired the Sawmizer guy twice. Last time was two black walnut sticks, pretty clear ~ 350 bf yield. Cost me less than $200. Some of the lumber is very nice, straight, dark to almost black. Hint of curly in a few boards. Potluck. Probably couldn't buy that for under $10/bf.
If your neighbor has trees you want, and you have storage, sure, give it a shot. Felling lumber trees in winter is best, sap is in the roots, the tree is is dry as it will get. Then rip it on a cold day. The boards freeze before you get them stickered.

Here's some, first stacked outside in a very damp tractor shed for 3 years, now three years in the garage.
Very stable.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6...081fbf31_z.jpg

60 bf in this 12 foot long window seat:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6223/6...99308e61_b.jpg

Here's a black cherry table. The tree was in my yard, under the power lines. The power company killed it by topping it so many times.
Had the Sawmizer guy cut it.Can't anticipate what comes out, this one had some mild curly.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6...69e749a3_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6...0868680e_z.jpg