Portable saw mill

[NOTW]

I have the opportunity to get a large what looks to be red oak tree in the Wendell area (thanks Matthew) and wanted to know before I dive into this who is in that area that has a portable mill and what kind of cost would I be looking for something like that. I know there are probably variables that drive cost up and down but i'm not sure what they would be. Thanks

 

[Fishbucket]

Is it a "Yard" tree?

most sawyers won't touch them, the ones that do will charge a per tooth damage fee.
Sorry, don't mean to be a bummer... Good luck in getting some great pieces out of it.

 

[NOTW]

I assume by "yard tree" you mean is it in someone's yard and it is.

Then as to per tooth for damage I assume that you mean in case the sawyer hits a nail or some other piece of metal in the tree?

That is a bummer but I can understand their risk and why they would want to use caution. Thanks


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[Skymaster]

Calling Scott Smith

 

[Xlogger]

Moving a mill for one tree might be more money than wood is worth. Bob on here (KelLog) sometimes will come out and pick it up and take it back to his place in Durham and saw it there. Bob does a good job. He will charge a blade charge for hitting metal. I use to do portable sawing but only saw at home now.

 

[NOTW]

So it sounds like unless I want to invest in an Alaskan saw mill I may be better off just taking some of the smaller wood for turning blanks

 

[Raymond]

You can always manually rive the tree, Notw. Having said that, do you have the tools and equipment to do such a task?

 

[scsmith42]

Depending upon the size of the log NCWW member Robert King (Robster68) can provide transportation for your log to a local sawmill. You have several local milling options, including Jack up in Rolesville, Ricky in Bahama, Bob Kellog in S. Durham and I am in New Hill just south of Apex.

Expect to pay a blade damage fee if metal is struck. Prices vary between $25 - $45 dollars depending upon the mill and sawyer, and the blade costs. If it is a very large log (>36") then your options are more limited; to my knowlege only Jack or myself are the only local millers with the ability to through cut (slab) a log larger than 36".

Blade damage fees for the slabbing mills are much greater (mine is $120.00 if it has to be replaced and $50 if it can be sharpened and salvaged)

If the tree was uprooted it may be a good candidate for milling. If it was sheared off it will be full of shake and not a good candidate.

What is the small end diameter of the log and how many feet of clear log does it have?

 

[NOTW]

Depending upon the size of the log NCWW member Robert King (Robster68) can provide transportation for your log to a local sawmill. You have several local milling options, including Jack up in Rolesville, Ricky in Bahama, Bob Kellog in S. Durham and I am in New Hill just south of Apex.

Expect to pay a blade damage fee if metal is struck. Prices vary between $25 - $45 dollars depending upon the mill and sawyer, and the blade costs. If it is a very large log (>36") then your options are more limited; to my knowlege only Jack or myself are the only local millers with the ability to through cut (slab) a log larger than 36".

Blade damage fees for the slabbing mills are much greater (mine is $120.00 if it has to be replaced and $50 if it can be sharpened and salvaged)

If the tree was uprooted it may be a good candidate for milling. If it was sheared off it will be full of shake and not a good candidate.

What is the small end diameter of the log and how many feet of clear log does it have?

The tree was uprooted, if I had to guess I would say the tree was around 50' tall when it stood. From base to the first main branch I would estimate to be around 15'-20' with a diameter close to 36-40" at the base and around 24-30" where the first large branch is. Again these are rough estimates going from memory. If I were to get it loaded on a trailer and transported to you or Jack what could I expect to pay to have a 10'-12' section of the base milled? PM is fine if you don't want to list your prices on the open forum. Thanks for your input, I hate to see a good tree go to waste.

 

[Raymond]

If the tree was uprooted it may be a good candidate for milling. If it was sheared off it will be full of shake and not a good candidate.

Scott, could you explain why a tree might be full of shake if it was sheared versus being felled? I have heard that if a tree is not felled properly, you might as well use as fire wood. Not too sure I understand this.

I don't mean to highjack the thread but your statement got me to thinking (a very dangerous thing).

 

[scsmith42]

The tree was uprooted, if I had to guess I would say the tree was around 50' tall when it stood. From base to the first main branch I would estimate to be around 15'-20' with a diameter close to 36-40" at the base and around 24-30" where the first large branch is. Again these are rough estimates going from memory. If I were to get it loaded on a trailer and transported to you or Jack what could I expect to pay to have a 10'-12' section of the base milled? PM is fine if you don't want to list your prices on the open forum. Thanks for your input, I hate to see a good tree go to waste.

That may be a good candidate for quartersawing, based upon those diameters.

We charge $1.00 per board foot to quartersaw or live edge slab wider than 28". Flat sawing is typically .45 bd ft, unless the customer off-bears in which instance the prices drop to .35 bd ft. That's for grade milling.

You can most likely find someone lesser expensive than us; however they may not have our knowledge of grade and quartersaw milling and your ultimate quantity of high grade dried lumber may be different than what we can provide.

 

[scsmith42]

Scott, could you explain why a tree might be full of shake if it was sheared versus being felled? I have heard that if a tree is not felled properly, you might as well use as fire wood. Not too sure I understand this.

I don't mean to highjack the thread but your statement got me to thinking (a very dangerous thing).

When a tree is sheared off by wind typically the wood inside shears off along the grain (as well as shearing horizontally) due to the extreme stresses on the tree. A lot of times this is not obvious until it is dried, when the boards have long, vertical splits in them.

This photo shows an example of both ring and wind shake viewed from the end of the log. It's a red oak log and the ring shake is usually due to a bacterial infection; however you can experience ring shake from high winds as well. The straight cracks visible along the top of the log are wind shake. It can occur in different locations in different parts of the log, and from my experience it is a total waste of time to mill a log from a tree with wind shake, as you will end up scrapping about 75% of the lumber.