[dirtclod]

Hello all,
I'm new here. I was checking out your site and noticed many are searching for lumber and paying a fair price. My brother has a manual mill. We've been cutting logs. So far we have ~20. We'll cut some more as weather and time allow. The plan is to mill them this winter. So far most of what we've cut is walnut. But we've also have cherry, white oak, spalted black gum, spalted sycamore and hickory. We'll be adding more cherry, white oak, hickory and walnut. We'll also going to be cutting some eastern red cedar, red oak and white ash. By request, we'll cut beech and sugar maple. We also have access to other species.

We're not marketers. We're just a couple of poor boys trying to keep our head above water. We mainly work weekends.The plan was to sticker this lumber and let it air dry while waiting for a buyer. But I think it would work better if we could custom-cut the lumber per the buyer's needs. That way it's cut to the right sizes and, possibly, could be loaded right on their trailer. The thing is we don't have the market. So I was hoping to find some customers here that could advise us what they wanted to cut and we could run it off the mill on the spot.

Here's a couple of shots of the mill:

 

[dirtclod]

Thanks for the input Darren,
We've sold all the lumber we've milled so far with the exceptions of logs we milled for others and what we use ourselves. But now things are changing as we're trying to limit the amount we mill for others and get around to all the logs and trees we've been given. We have ample storage and some local buyers. But that doesn't mean we want to keep it indefinately. We've probably got somewhere between 20-45000 bf available for milling. Most of that is best suited to uses other than construction lumber. If sales don't keep up then we'll cut back.

""Does this price look right" kinda sounds bad, even if the price is good." Was partially tounge-in-cheek/partially serious. I'll take reasonable customer input to adjust for the market. I can usually tell the difference between a snow job and good advice.

mike,
I'll discuss this with my brother. Many promising pieces get turned into firewood or are milled into deminsion limber. As we speak, I've got several walnut blocks that'll be firewood if I don't stop my brother in time. We also have a small walnut stump that has the sapwood rotted off of it. I was thinking about milling it but it's available. I also have a small yellowwood log that may still be good.

 

[dirtclod]

Saturday afternoon's haul (1" and 5/4" walnut, 8+' lenghts in 3(?) to 11.25" widths):

A few boards were showing slight signs of spalting:

Atonther bookmatched set of the spalted pecky/wormy maple wetted (but not quiet enough) for your viewing enjoyment:

 

[dirtclod]

We've added some 9'4"(?) long 4/4 white oak in random widths. Many clear boards, some wide/clear. It's a mix of flat, rift and quarter sawn:

And some 10' long 4/4 white oak in both narrow and wide 11 1/8"(?) widths, with some numbered for bookmatching. Lots of swirly grain:

And some 12' long 4/4 red oak in wider widths. All(?) of it contains small knots:

We'll be milling more walnut and red oak soon. I expect a lot of clear boards from the red oak.

4' walnut butt, 8' walnut butt log, 4' r.oak butt and 16' r.oak butt log:

2- 8' r,oaks, 12' r. oak butt log, walnut top:

I hope to haver more walnut, red and white oak coming soon.

 

[dirtclod]

Hello BlueStingrayBoots,

Unfortunately it was hollow. But I did have one that's in an awkward position. I don't know if we'll ever get it. There are two more small ones that I will pratice on. And theres one more that I would like to dig out if the highlift ever shows up.

 

[dirtclod]

Hello blackdogwoodshop,

Be glad to sell that white oak before it gets buried. I'm doing all the milling that the weather allows. While I don't have any 10' logs at the mill (the stack with the white oak in it is 10'), this is subject to change within a week. So please hurry.

$1.30 for mill-run white oak. A $0.25 per bf extra for q-sawn.

There's an extra charge for boards wider than 8". This will vary by species and ultimate width. For white oak (subject to change) I would charge $.10 extra per per bf for each 1" of width over 8". For example: A white oak board that's 6" wide 4/4 thick and 10' long would = 5 bf and would sell for $6.50 at 1.30 bf. But if the same board were 12" wide then the calculations would be 10bf x 1.30 = $13.00 + (4 inches over the 8" limit at $0.10 per bf extra = $.40×10 bf = $4.00) = $15.00 ttl.

I think I need to define mill-run: Mill-run is every board from the log regardless of grade. So when buying mill-run lumber you are obligated to take every board, from the top of the stack down, until the desired quantity is reached. There's no cherry-picking allowed if you are paying mill-run rates. If you want to cherry-pick then it is no longer considered mill-run and prices change.

 

[dirtclod]

Ashley113,
Very little cedar at this time. Will be harvesting sometime and have a pile of logs waiting at another site. What sizes interest you?

JetJock,
No changes and still room for some negotiation.

I've added 60(?)+ 4-5' bokmatched walnut flitches. The logs ranged from antique standing dead to fresh cut. Most have crotches and don't have bark. Many of these have a unique honey color to them not normally associated with walnut, some have the traditional freshly harvested walnut color, while the antique log produced a Hersheys chocholate color I've never seen before. Looks like there's enough there to supply tables for a coffee shop/bar.

Here's the old tree:

I've also added some 12' 6"x 8/4 and 11.25"(?) x 5/4 red oak.

I'll try to post some pictures soon.

 

[dirtclod]

Vinman, There's a lot of locust growing around here but for some reason none has show up on the mill. There's one on the property that's nice, straight and tall. But, if I cut it, it's going to go over the the road and two fences. Hedge is somewhat rare around here. A man is frequently dropping off free loads of logs and I had previously made it known I would like to have all of both that he runs into….along with holly, coffee tree, red mulberry, etc. But so far he just keeps dropping off pine, poplar, hickory, oak and walnut. What's a begger to do? (lol) I'll posts if some turns up.

Magdaddy, Pm sent.

I milled ~ 10 short black walnut logs into bookmatched flitches. (Some call them slabs.) Most I made 5/4 thick.I currently have 3 color groupings. I have 6 logs in the first color grouping and they typically run 4-4 1'2' long. I would like to sell them in complete sets. Here's a sampling:

Set 1 (6 flitches):

The color in the following photo is near true but lacks some richness. Remember, this walnut hasn't been cut very long and will darken more with age. I'm seeing it already. When I first cut them and wetted to check color they came honey colored. This picture was taken on Saturday. They're now muck darker

set1 flitches 5 & 6 side A:

I've taken a lot of pictures, measurments and notes of the first 5 sets and can provide more details to serious buyers. I will try to get pictures and notes on the remaining sets soon. Each set will be uniquely priced based loosly on a board foot charge. I try to get some posted soon.

 

[dirtclod]

MagDaddy2 - sent you another PM I hope you get it.

 

[dirtclod]

Here's some pictures of the second color grouping.

These run ~77" long. Two are 8/4 thick and the other 3 are 5/4 thick. They're wormy. The color didn't show true in the photos. It's really what I would call reddish chocolate brown, simular to cocoa. I've included a photo of a turning blank because the color looks closer to true. Antique walnut flitches:

I managed to get two shots of the third color grouping before I ran out of time. I milled 3 or 4 of these freshly-felled logs. They ran ~4' long. I cut them 5/4 thick except a number of random boards I also milled from that batch. Al,l except these two samples, still have the bark on them.

 

[dirtclod]

I appreciate your seniments. But God has helped me shed most of my vainity. (Ask anyone who's seen me.) But, if you must know, I look like Gandoff…only uglier!

 

[dirtclod]

Thanks, I post those not just to sell some lumber but also to give others some eye-candy. I still have some buried that I should have gotten shots of.

But I wish it all looked that good. Now that most of the drying defects have shown up a few of the piles are going to have to have some bad sorted out of them. Several are building barns and sheds around here and they will get put to good use. I would like to have a wide drum sander or planer to run them through to pretty them up, then size them (we leave and extra 2-6" on standard lengths for this so you typically will still end up with say 8' after squaring/removing the end checks), then (if required) edge them to remove any crook. However, I would have to raise the bf prices. For now, I will leave this to the buyers.

 

[dirtclod]

I just talked with my brother. He' has been talking to someone who wants to buy all the lumber we have at less than wholesale prices. Despite my best efforts he's determined to sell all of our lumber in one foolish deal to someone he just met. I can't seem to change his mind. This includes a big walnut butt log that may be veneer-quality my brother says he wants to mill for this guy and sell him the lumber for ~2.00 bf.

The deal hasn't been struck. He's meeting with him this weekend. Says he can't wait for people to show up. I'm disappointed by this new development.

I've been contacted by numerous people on this site who said they were going to stop by. If any of you want some of this lumber before the deal goes through then you better contact me soon. The only way to change my brother's mind is if he had some sales at reasonable prices.

 

[dirtclod]

Thanks Roper. We're in Kentucky.

 

[dirtclod]

Got some more sugar (hard) maple stacked:

From the bottom: 8' 12/4 in 12-13" widths, 8' 12/4 turning squares, 8' 8/4, 8' 5/4 random widths up to 12", with the remainder of the boards in the stack being 5-8' 4/4 in random widths. The 17/4 beams on top are pith-centered and used for weights only. All boards were flat-sawn.

 

[dirtclod]

HokieMojo,
I'd be willing to bet that all those cants that have pith in them will split open, twist and bow That's been my experience with pithy sugar maple cants in the past. But a few could survive. Anyway, I need stack weights. It don't matter if they're cracked. If they come out ok I'll sell them. And If I get too many twisted cracked cants I can use them as firewood.

 

[dirtclod]

Here's an upcoming project:

That's a hornbeam. (Carpinus caroliniana: American hornbeam, blue beech, broomwood, musclewood, o-tan-tahr-te-weh, smoothbark ironwood, water beech) And for hornbeam, it's a big'n. It' has 24' of sawable log and is over 12" at the butt. [Ok, hornbeam don't get very big.] They typically don't get more than 24-27' tall. This one was over 50'. It was growing in some beech and that's what it looked like. But I suspected it was hornbeam and couldn't positively id it until it put on hops.

They are hard to harvest because of they eat chains and slap you around. Everything on them is stiff, heavy, and hard to handle.

Here's some traditional uses: knife handles, shuttle cocks for weaving looms, tool handles - especially for striking tools, plane bodies, walking canes/sticks, chess pieces, mallets, bowls, and ox yokes.

I hear it's hard to glue and takes a good burnishing polish. It's not sold often because it don't get very big and it's hard to dry without cracking.

Weather and schedule permitting we'll be milling this next month. The buck points on the log should be (starting at the butt) ~4', ~6', ~5', ~9'. This is a rare wood (particularly this big/long) and I want to cut it to order.

 

[dirtclod]

Rhett - response to your PM sent. We will q-saw sycamore but there's few sycamores available and they have to be harvested. We do have some through-sawn (flat,quarter and rift) that has been drying for ~ 1 year. I remember much of it was cut 8/4 but there could be 5/4 and 4/4 also. Seems there was a lot of clear in that tree (I need to tear the stack apart to get a better look at it) but it seems it experienced some warp, etc. during drying. We're due to tear many of these stacks apart soon and I'll be able to tell what they look like then.

 

[dirtclod]

Ernest1,

I didn't check your profile before replying. I see you're in Ill.. I should have reminded you we that we still aren't shipping. Are you coming our way sometime? All but one of the poplars on the deck are too small to make pith-free 16/4. So I could only get maybe 12 pieces or so off of them. There will be more coming sometime. While we have a good bit of 5/4 and 8/4 that will make good turning blanks, we haven't cut a lot of 16/4 specifically for turning blanks. We do have a few interesting pieces of 6×6 laying around. We had allready planned on cutting a lot of thick stock like mantels and turning stock out of this batch; and planned on cutting even more out of the next batch.

 

[dirtclod]

Ernest1,

PM sent.