Live Edge Pine from a Sawmill question

[EddieWalker]

I think a lot of people go through the same progression. I looked at chain mills, and it became evident that my little chainsaw wasn't going to cut it. By the time I looked at a new, powerful chainsaw, ripping chains, supports, etc., it was approaching the cost of low-end bandsaw mills. Then I looked at low-end bandsaw mills and could see how the features of the more expensive mills were attractive. Once I priced those having a guy come out occasionally didn't seem expensive at all. The guys who run mills around me don't seem to be getting rich.

If the room is 24x30x12, that's 1300 square feet of interior. That's an enormous amount of work for a chainsaw mill, probably a day's work for a bandsaw mill.

This follows my thinking. I've priced different Alaskan Mills, then looked at what it would cost to buy a bandsaw mill, and then compared spending that money on hiring it done. I love the idea of milling my own lumber, but know myself well enough to know it would be something that I would never do after I had the slabs for my walls.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...Depending on the size of the trees...you may only get two full live edge to live edge slabs off of each log cutting them 2" mean...
The second two slabs may have sawed off edges which may or may not be an issue as they (sawed edges) can be hidden in the chinking...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I think a lot of people go through the same progression. I looked at chain mills, and it became evident that my little chainsaw wasn't going to cut it. By the time I looked at a new, powerful chainsaw, ripping chains, supports, etc., it was approaching the cost of low-end bandsaw mills. Then I looked at low-end bandsaw mills and could see how the features of the more expensive mills were attractive. Once I priced those having a guy come out occasionally didn't seem expensive at all. The guys who run mills around me don't seem to be getting rich.

If the room is 24x30x12, that's 1300 square feet of interior. That's an enormous amount of work for a chainsaw mill, probably a day's work for a bandsaw mill.

Then there's the cost of keeping that CSM going too. Once owned, a BSM is much cheaper to run and has a MUCH higher resale.

It also allows you to mill fast enough, that you can sell a little lumber to re-coup the cost of the mill back.

SR

 

[/pine]

The OP does not say what type of pine the logs are but depending on the size of the trees...after the slabs are cut what is to be done with the cants ??
If they are of any value they can likely be traded for the hiring of a mobile sawmill...

Another question...are the trees to be cut of any other value now or in the future? is there any other reason to cut them other than for the slabs?....

The reason I ask is...Most sawyers and mill operators will give away pine slabs for nothing...if there are any sawmills around free slabs could be had and drying now and not have to cut then wait for drying...just sayin...!

 

[EddieWalker]

Most of the pines on my land are loblolly and long leaf pines. There are a few other types of pines, but what I would be taking down to cut the slabs will be these two species.

I'm not interested in what happens to the rest of the logs. More then likely, they will end up in my burn pile. I've tried selling logs, and even giving them away. It always ends up costing me money because I want everything to look better on my place then before the trees come down.

The only reason to remove a tree is to improve the land. The ones I want to take down for this are blocking my internet connection and too close to where my fences are going to be. My neighbor made the mistake of leaving pines close to his fence and they are dropping branches on his fences every year. It's become a massive job to keep them repaired, and then another storm comes through, and another branch takes out his fence. My goal is to remove any tree that has the potential to take out my fence.

I have oaks that are coming out too, but they are cut into firewood.

 

[newbury]

I've two Alaskans, a Stihl 088 and 2 Stihl 660's. My longest bar is 42". But I've got them for milling when it's difficult to get the trees to my little Woodmizer.
If you don't have the equipment to CSM (and you are still working) it would probably make more sense to hire it out.
But if the thought of your own milled wood is still appealing keep on the lookout for a used BSM. They should start hitting the marketplace from all the people that panicked and bought them when a 2x4x8 cost $8.
Then you can just put your inexpensive BSM in a shed and mill when you want.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've looked for used mills and found quite a few for sale, but the cost of them is so much more then what I can pay somebody to come here and get it all done in one day. I don't think that I'm cheap, but I just can't justify spending a couple of grand for a used machine to do the job that I can hire somebody with a much better machine and years of experience.

My personal debate is if it's worth the time to spend a couple hundred dollars for a chainsaw mill, and cut them myself, on my schedule, or hire it out? In my opinion, I think that the look of the chainsaw on the slabs will add character to them. But that's all in my imagination, and that's proven to be wrong before.

 

[s219]

My Alaskan mill (with Stihl 461, 76cc saw) is tedious on hardwood, but flies through pine and other softwood. Sure, my bandsaw mill is more efficient (among other things, much thinner blade kerf and smoother cut) but for a finite amount of work with pine, the Alaskan mill does pretty good. I just wouldn't want to use it for a big stack of wood. For that, the bandsaw mill is so much more productive. Hundreds of board feet in a day is a cinch. That would get old with an Alaskan mill (a lot of setup each time you start a new log).

 

[OzarkChris]

I'm in the early stage of converting my shop into a Great Room. It's 24x30 with 12 foot walls. The way things get done around here, it's probably a 2 year project, so I'm not in a rush for this, but I want to finish the interior walls with flat, live edge pine logs from my land and chink between them so you can still see some of the edge of the log.

I plan on hiring a sawmill to come out to my place and cut them here. Then I will store them in my haybarn, which I'm going to build when I'm done with my equipment shed. The slabs will be 16 feet long and 2 inches thick.

How long do you think that they will need to dry before they can be installed? What would happen if they where installed before they where dry? What issues or concerns should I have about doing something like this? Is 2 inches a realistic thickness?

I really like the look in this picture from the Permachink website and want my home to look like this.

I work with a lot of wood and the one thing that is a constant with "All" green wood is, Nothing.

I agree with the other posters questioning the need for 8/4 when 5/4 or even 4/4 would be more than enough. That being said though, the amount of time it will take to dry your 8/4 (2") boards really depends. Depends on the typical humidity, the temp, the amount of air you have flowing through and around the lumber, etc. The article link below explains most of what you probably need to see, but I would highly recommend that you consider making yourself a solar kiln - very easy and reasonably inexpensive to make - you can find plans for one on the internet. This will decrease the drying time by 1/2 or much more - possibly up to 1/10 the time of lumber just "sitting" in the barn. Also, invest in a moisture meter, not that expensive and worth its weight in gold!

That stated, what I've found is that sticker width of 1+ inch (article states 3/4) seems to dry faster for me than anything of less width. Why, I believe it's because you have more airflow blowing away the moisture away.

Here is the article:

https://www.hunker.com/13401347/how-to-dry-pine-lumber

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Drying wood too fast can cause it's own set of problems...

Drying too fast can cause case hardening, and some species, especially hardwood species, just doesn't want to dry flat if it's dried too fast.

SR