Turning trees into lumber

[jlm]

A friend of a friend is expanding a cabin, and there are a couple trees in the way. Both are about 24" in diameter, maybe 40-50 ft tall. One's cherry, one's either hickory or oak (I haven't seen either tree yet, I'm just going on information that's been passed to me).

They're having the trees removed no matter what, so I was thinking of salvaging them for lumber. Any ballpark figures on what I could expect a sawyer to charge me to mill these down to usable planks? I can resaw and surface them into finished lumber once they've dried, so I'm just looking for rough milling.

[blame]

hey jlm

i have my logs sawed for $0.20 a bdft, but i know other people that pay upwards of 0.80 to 0.90 a bdft to have there stuff saw i'm sure others will post about this

[John Hunter]

You might cut a deal and split the wood with the mill, then it would cost you nothing.

[Tamarack]

A local mill (small) near here charges $115.00 per thousand board feet to saw the logs for you, you have to deliver the logs to him though.
Paul

[Workman]

I pay a set-up fee (depends on distance) and per hour. Set-up usually costs me about $100 and $75 per hour is common. 2-3 good size trees can take a day to saw. It depends on how you're cutting - quarter or rift sawn take longer but yield better furniture grade lumber. Face sawn is fastest (and poorest). I quartersaw everything but soft woods (includes Poplar although technically a hardwood). By the way Poplar is a wonderful secondary wood (or for painting). Hickory and Oak are both very nice quartersawn - especially if it is white oak. To see your savings, check out the prices for rough sawn lumber in your area. Prices vary by region. Sawyers also vary in experience and work ethic - get a good one. The results are worth every penny. Of course, it also matters what widths, etc. you are cutting. The above is based on standard 3/4 (cut oversize for shrinkage, planing, etc.) to 8/4 lumber. If you have veneer to cut, oh boy! But have you bought veneer lately?