Milling trees

[Scott W]

Lots and lots of bowls and spoons.

[jteneyck]

Thanks for all the advice.  I'm going to call a guy with a portable saw mill and see what he will charge to go through the stack and cut every log over 8" into slabs.  The rest will be cut for firewood.

I'm interested to know what he quotes you.  Please let us know.  Thanks.

John

[Charger68]

I'm interested to know what he quotes you.  Please let us know.  Thanks.

John

The guy with the portable mill was very reasonable.  He charges $80 to come and set up - this is based on a about a 25 min drive.  He then charges $80 an hour.  I don't know how long it would take him to go through the pile in the picture.  But, after I sent him the same two pictures I posted originally here he came back and told me it would probably not make sense monetarily.  I really appreciate him being honest with me.  At this point we plan to make a lot of firewood instead.

[Bibliophile 13]

Those are the kinds of logs I would split up and then saw up into boards on my bandsaw. I’d get some 4’-5’ boards out of it, maybe 4” wide. Good enough for small-scale furniture work once it dries out. It’s heavy work, though. It takes some time and practice to be worth the effort, but I usually get my logs for free.

[ianab]

The guy with the portable mill was very reasonable.  He charges $80 to come and set up - this is based on a about a 25 min drive.  He then charges $80 an hour.  I don't know how long it would take him to go through the pile in the picture.  But, after I sent him the same two pictures I posted originally here he came back and told me it would probably not make sense monetarily.  I really appreciate him being honest with me.  At this point we plan to make a lot of firewood instead.

Rates seem reasonable, and his advice is honest. 

Is it an option  to take a handful of the best 12"+ logs to him? Pay ~$160 to get them sawed. Then firewood the rest.

[Rick LoDico]

I got 120 bf 6-7” from this cherry tree.

[jteneyck]

I got 120 bf 6-7” from this cherry tree.

It would take a 30' log, 12" in diameter to get 120 BF, and that would include the sapwood.  

John

[Rick LoDico]

It was 28 ft from northern Vt

[mike4244]

I have a friend that just had several walnut and maple trees cut down on his property.  He asked me if I wanted any of the wood.  Here is a picture of the pile.

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I don't know if the logs are wide enough to yield good lumber.  Here is a closeup of one of the larger walnut logs.  The dark area is approximately 8-10 inches in diameter.  

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My question is how large does a log have to be to make it worthwhile to get it milled?  There are about 4-5 10 foot long walnut logs that are about this wide.  There are also some silver maple logs that are about 12-14 inches in diameter.  I am concerned that I could go through all this work and end up with mostly sticks.

If you have a decent chainsaw you could saw the logs with something like an Alaskan Chain Saw Mill. Amazon has the Alaskan mill for saws 20" bars and under for $152.00. There are other makes but some have bad reviews. The Alaskan sawmills all have good reviews.
You could saw the entire pile and get a lot of usable wood.  I haven't used these mills myself but I have a friend that regularly uses his 36" mill. 
I built a sash saw for him where he sawed the logs into boards. The Alaskan mill was used to saw logs into manageable slabs. 
We both sold our sash saws and he bought a bandsaw mill which he uses weekly.