I will generally decline to do any logging, although I may be willing to drop a small number of trees in the right circumstances. Unless otherwise arranged your logs should be cut and staged in an area I can set up the mill. Currently the maximum logs I can run on the mill are 30" diameter and 10' long. If you need longer lumber contact me and I might decide it's time to invest in an extension for
my mill. There is always a $25 surcharge for hitting metal in a log, this damages the sawmill blade. I am often interested in trades, a common practice in small scale milling is to split the lumber 50/50 when the customer is also splitting operational costs (fuel, blades, and any other incidentals). This is not always the case depending on how much lumber I currently have. It is your responsibility to dry the wood or understand the implications of using it green. Air drying is the most common way to dry lumber coming from your own lot. This is done by stacking the green lumber on beams off of the ground and stickering between each layer of wood. Stickers can, and should, be cut from the same wood you are drying - these are small pieces of wood (3/4"x1" is a common size) that allow ample airflow to carry the moisture away. Using dry stickers or stickers from a different species may discolor your lumber. the stack of lumber should then be covered on top and all sides, but in a way that allows airflow. Air dried lumber is slower than alternatives. 1" lumber should air dry for 6-12 months. A solar kiln dries lumber more slowly than a heated kiln. This gives a more stable end product that is not as prone to splitting or warping. In a heated kiln the moisture is driven off so quickly the wood fibers can be damaged. In the future I plan to build and offer kiln drying services and may, at times, supplement the solar heat with a small woodstove on cold U.P. A solar kiln will dry 1" lumber in approximately 6 weeks, 2" lumber in 15 weeks, etc. Lumber can be cut in many ways - live-edge (slabbed) vs squared edge; and flat sawn, quarter sawn, or rift sawn for different type of looks and wood integrity. We can go over the options and pros/cons if you aren't familiar with those terms. Live-edge slabs are the fastest to mill, rift and quarter sawn lumber takes the most time and produces the most waste. I have decided to charge by the hour and not by board feet because on a small scale operation charging by board feet will either be set up to the customers detriment or the millers detriment. Milling 'x' number of board feet of live edge slabs will take much less time than milling the same number of rift saw lumber. A mill owner doesn't want to lose money so you will likely end up paying more for live edge slabs than you would need to with this method.
