On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:14:06 -0500, Matt In Fenton wrote:
>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.?
>
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.
>Any drawbacks to this vs. buying from an established mill?
Cost, selection, location, etc. I get wood from any source I can
find, sometimes free sometimes not.
>
>-Matt
On Mar 24, 7:41 pm, "Jim Northey" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Time and space.
> Jim
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
On Mar 24, 9:14 pm, Matt In Fenton wrote:
> 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
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."
On Mar 24, 10:14 pm, Matt In Fenton wrote:
> 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
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.
On Mar 24, 9:14 pm, Matt In Fenton wrote:
> 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
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.
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
www.woodmizer.com . 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
<Matt In Fenton> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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
"Roger King" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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...
Year per inch? You're kidding, right? Ever hear of indoors?
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-
<Matt In Fenton> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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
"Roger King" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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-
>
You can construct a solar kiln for probably a couple of hundred dollars.
> <Matt In Fenton> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> 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
>
>
<Matt In Fenton> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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
Time and space.
Jim