How much do the mills charge in your area?

I'm trying to get an idea of the cost of having some White Pine logs sawed up into lumber.

Could you guys let me know what a reasonable price is?

If you could include the cost per bd.ft., or cost per hour and how much in board feet they might do in a day, etc.

I've been doing some reading around Internet and will stop at an Amish mill or two around here over the next week. Just trying to see what a I can expect for cost in the future.

Possibly thinking of having logs off my property sawed into lumber for building a barn.

Thanks in advance.

 

In my area $250/1k

 

I have a guy at work who runs a mill in the winter time. I'll ask next chance I see him

 

Thanks guys. Appreciated. I also am waiting for Scotty Overkill and some of the others to chime in.

 

The fellow I use comes to me. He charges a flat $50.00/hr from the time he leaves his house until he has it buttoned up for transport home. The first time he was here he cut up 22 logs ranging from 14" to 30" in diameter. He had almost exactly 8 hours: $400. But there was the matter of finding a nail deep in one of the large logs that his metal detector didn't pick up. That was another $30 for the blade he ruined.

 

Gas,
My guys with the Woodmizer is .25/bd. ft. too. He has a minimum of 1000 bd.ft. He will also do hourly like Uncle Jo said. When I am quarter sawing white oak we use the hourly because he can't get the production like he can with slab cutting. Last year we did 1100 bd.ft. in 6 hours all slab sawing minimum diameter log was 16". All 8' to 11" in length. Mostly 4/4 thick except for the cherry which we did 6/4 and 8/4. I have that in a barn drying. I am probably going to kiln dry it.
Tomorrow I am going to check out a flooring mill for the 1500 bd. ft. of white ash that I have a line on for a job I will be doing. So, I will post what that is like.

 

Gas, got in touch with my guy. He gets 200/hr for 3 guys. The mill is a belt driven sawblade type. The amount of bd ft/hr depends on thicknesses and the species.

 

You gotta watch out using a regular saw blade. I used to take my logs to a fellow with big ole belt driven blade. It was about 5' in diameter and 1/4" thick. A lot of potential lumber gets turned into sawdust with a kerf that thick.

 

This guy owns a bunch of cranberry bogs in Mass and bought this mill to keep his guys busy in the offseason. Not much has been updated, just throwing this out there to give Gas some numbers.

 

Yes. I read on one internet spot that you can loose as much as 20% of your wood to a large circular saw compared to a band saw. But the production is usually much faster. Depends on what you are looking for.

So it looks like if I have 10,000 board feet milled I would probably be paying $2500 to have it done.

I have several mills in the area and will talk with them soon and let you know. Two are circular saws and one is a band saw mill.

Hopefully I will be able to get it done a little cheaper than that. I will have to cut a few trees to get that much wood.

After it is cut and I stick it properly to let it dry. How long would I have to wait for it to properly dry before I could build with it?

This project is a ways off, I am just trying to get an idea so I can start planning.

Thanks for all the post guys. I appreciate it.

 

Is it worth it to keep the material on the property vs. handling it 2x or more?
You have to figure in your time and fuel, wear and tear etc into the mix as well.

 

Assuming you go to a person who mills in volume, wood it not be more economical to sell him your logs and buy product back? That way he can mill it in the most efficient manner. Maximizing the yield out of each log rather than trying to mill each one to your spec.

 

I have been looking around on craigslist and have not seen anyone in the area with a portable mill. I have two mills, one circular blade sawmill and one band saw mill.

This may be the best idea. But I am wondering if they will have the sizes I need for the timber framing I want. Doubt it. I suppose it is how I choose to build it when that time comes. I will need some large timbers for the post and beams though. They will most likely have to be cut for that purpose alone. Will I buy the trusses or go timber frame? Plenty of decisions and planning to do over the next year or two.

 

My IS heats my home When I said above that I have two mills, one circular blade sawmill and one band saw mill. I meant that I have those two mills in the area around where I live. NOT that I own two mills! I wish. LOL. Each of these mills is about 7-8 miles away I guess. It will be a lot of work to cut that many trees and get them to one of the mills. But that would be the cheapest way of building a barn. When we get to that point.

 

It's ok Gas, I understood. Talked to my guy again yesterday, for the $200/hr he will generally produce 1000 bd/ft per hr. He barters a lot of times for stock he produces from his own logs and clients looking for rough sawn stuff with their logs.
I still like the portable mill idea, that way you don't have to move anything off the property and your only paying for the operator and the machine. Your machine can work the site loading logs onto the live bed and taking finished material to a stacking area.

 

Stationary mills here are around $120/1000.
Not sure what portables are charging.
10,000 BF is gonna yield 6-8 cord of slab. Something else to consider is having that wood on your site.

 

There's an Amish guy around here with a LT40 that charges $.20/bdft on your site, but you have to pick him and the mill up and return them home. You also have to help him offload and sticker the lumber.

 

Thanks for the replies you guys. So it turns out the Amish Saw mill (circular mill) that is about 9-10 miles is in full production. The current man running it seems like a very reasonable person. I was quoted between $100-$150 per thousand board feet by the younger guy who I started talking to first. Then, when the owner came over I introduced myself to him and got his name. He and I talked and I told him about what my plans were. I also talked with him about if he might be interested in buying some White Ash logs from me. So he was interested in that. I am going to cut him around 2000 bd. ft. of Ash over the next few months. And then, hopefully I can have him about 12,000 board feet of White Pine logs by late this fall. He said it would be closer to $150 per thousand board feet. I thought that was a good price. Then we talked a little about him possibly finding me a couple of men who could help me build the barn up. Probably in the late spring/early summer. And he said yes he could. Slow but sure.