Do you cut your own stock wood?

Time and space. Jim

Reply to
Jim Northey
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I'm thinking of building a chain saw mill like the Logosol and wondered how many of you cut down trees and mill your own lumber for turning into furniture, cabinets etc.?

Any drawbacks to this vs. buying from an established mill?

-Matt

Reply to
Matt In Fenton

A true master of understatement.

Add in learning how to season different species of woods to proper dryness, how fast to do it to keep from ruining your investment, how to dry wood properly throughout the change of seasons, and how to select your logs and then learning how to handle them to get them to the mill, and you are done.

I would rather look at what I am buying, at least S2S. Soooooo much less waste.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I do. It's a lot of extra work though. Comes in handy sometimes to have green wood for bending or turning. I made a cherry table from a neighbor's tree that fell, but let the wood season for a year before using it.

Cost, selection, location, etc. I get wood from any source I can find, sometimes free sometimes not.

Reply to
Phisherman

I tried it many years ago. We just cut the trees down, sawed them into logs, loaded them on the truck, hauled them to the sawmill and helped the 70 year old mill owner cut them into boards, loaded them on the truck and hauled them back home. Let them dry outside for a couple of years and then began to make things out of them. A LOT of hard work.

Then, when the things I'd made went through their first winter indoors, all manner of bad things happened. Boards cracked down the middle, joints opened up, etc. etc. You may get enough usable boards to pay for your sawmill, but I promise, you will EARN them.

DonkeyHody "In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they are not."

Reply to
DonkeyHody

I Used to... IMHO, a bandsaw mill is the way to go. Lots less waste, less noise, less sawdust and chips, etc. I found it really wasn't worth the work and effort involved as I can buy 6% dried lumber and use it immediately. The cut your self stuff takes a year per inch to get to about 14%. For the lumber that you're gonna get, you can buy it cheaper...

-roger-

Reply to
Roger King

You can construct a solar kiln for probably a couple of hundred dollars.

Reply to
efgh

Year per inch? You're kidding, right? Ever hear of indoors?

Reply to
George

I have milled 5 or so trees and think it is totally worth it. I use a local sawyer to do the cutting. I recoup my expenses by selling some of the milled green wood to fellow woodworkers who really appreciate the wood and price I give them. Essentially I get a pile of great wood (walnut, honey locust, ash, osage orange and cherry so far) for free. It does take space, but that is cheap. It does take some time, but for me it's part of the experience that I enjoy.

I highly recommend you try it at least once.

Reply to
Todd the wood junkie

You can build a basic chainsaw mill for under $50 (not counting the chainsaw, which should be a good one, since this is tough duty). The process is time consuming and hard work. Standard air-drying regime is outdoors, stickered and protected from rain for a year per inch of thickness, then indoors for at least a few months. Many "wild" trees will not yield large clear lumber.

Compared to what I find inside a wild log, I find the lumber store offerings a little boring.

Reply to
ed_h

I've used a portable mill jobber on 4 occasions. Each time it occured as a tree or trees became available. I learned of the jobbers from Woodmizer

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. Ask them for customers near you. They bring the mill to your log. I pulled the slabs off as he cut them and I did the clean up. He charged me $.18/bd ft of clear lumber + mileage and $25/blade (nails in trees). I got a lot of beautiful walnut, cherry, and American elm. Yup, elm. I'm out of places to store it all as it dries; friend's barn, wife's garden shed, outdoors and my garage. All told, about 6000 bd. ft. I've been building with walnut for a couple of years and recently started on the cherry. The elm will be next year. The walnut is stunning! Air dried walnut is much prettier than the kiln stuff.

Add to the yield the excitement of seeing the slabs come off the mill and you will have mucho satisfaction, not to mention the possibility of having it milled to order. Quarter-sawn, 4-12 quarter thickness. turning materials, stumps and crotch lumber.

I got the elm through a tree service that was taking down a huge elm dying of Dutch Elm disease. I got enough material to make 60 chair seats! It would have been in a landfill.

The first walnut trees went down in a ice storm. The owner was going to be charged $1200 to get them removed. We were both happy.

Jim in the Bluegrass

Reply to
Woodhead

I think I just shed a tear. :) Thanks for your thoughts

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Reply to
Matt in fenton

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