Operation "Tulip Poplar" is underway

Here's the total of the lumber we sawed today in the bed of the truck. The pile on the right of this pict is the shorter boards from last week that I had to take off the sticks to put thoday's 12 1/2 foot 2x4's under them.

I got everything stacked and stickered tonight, but it was after dark when I finished. Picts of the final stack will be up tomorrow.

 

How long did it take to cut that amount ?

 

4 hours including setup time for the mill.

 

It Sure does a nice job

 

Yep. It gets addictive. I have done well over 3000 board-feet in the last 8 years of various trees that have fallen in my forest or that I've "road hunted" from people taking down trees in their yards. Species include White Oak, Red Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Black Birch, Red Maple and now Tulip Poplar. I'm kind of set for lumber for the rest of my life. I may have to build a new barn just to store lumber.

 

That's for the whole amount. The stuff in the truck we knocked out in about and hour this morning. Under ideal conditions, that mill can put out 600+ bd-ft / hour. I haven't done a final tally, but we probably did about 200 bd-ft / hr. That's still a little slower than the guy I used to have saw for me (same mill). He was lightning fast.

 

Here's the final stack with Augie guarding it. .Time to let mother nature work her magic and dry it out.

My final tally is: 924 bd-ft. That comes out to +43.5% Doyle, +15.5% Scibner and +5.1% International
The final bill for sawing was $176, but I gave him and even $200. So, that comes out to 21.6 cents/bd-ft including tip. Of course, I have a whole bunch of "sweat equity" invested here, too. Super satisfied!

 

Beats the keck out of retail
POPLAR BF: 1+-------100+ 500+ 1000+
1" Sel&Btr 10"&W $3.16 $2.43 $2.23 $2.06

 

A1+ stackin job too , there Mike

 

Now you know why it's so addictive! Ultimately, I'm a cheap bugger. If I really wanted to get it kiln-dried, I know a guy who does it for 20 cents/bd-ft. However, I'm in no hurry, so I'll just let it air-dry to equilibrium. Then I can use it for anything outdoors. When I need it for indoor use, I can just bring the boards I need into the house a month or two beforehand and they will come down 8-9% M.C. Works like a charm.

 

That's a nice stack of clear polar Mike.
When I had some wood milled years ago instead of the cinderblocks I sandwiched the stack in Unistrut and all-thread. Allows constant tightening and no heavy lifting
good idea to seal the end grain with some heavy roof coating or similar to save from checking

 

All good ideas. This way works very well for me. The cinder blocks keep constant weight on the stack as the wood shrinks, so I don't have to keep tightening it like all-thread or ratchet straps. The ends were sealed with two coats of Anchorseal right after the logs were bucked. It dries almost clear. In the end, poplar is supposed to be very forgiving to dry.

 

Check out the price on some of this
H.MAPLE Birdseye/Curly BF: 1+ 100+ 500+ 1000+
1" Prem Eye --------------------------22.94 17.61 16.22 14.94

 

HDRock, like i said better than money in the bank.

 

Phew! Finally got all the firewood from these trees C/S/S today, total fo about 2/3 cord. Took advantage of a pleasant drop in temperature and humidity this afternoon. Now it's time to let mother nature take care of drying the lumber and the firewood. I love this stuff.

 

All done now on to cuttin up the other