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Thread: How much for milling timber
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25th January 2014, 07:59 PM #31GOLD MEMBER
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I figure the running cost for my Lucas at around $40 an hour. That's blade maintenance, fuel and oils, general maintenance, and buying a new mill when the old one hits 1000 hours.
Then there's wages, and a profit margin, and travelling allowances etc etc... but for a dollar cost to actually run the mill per service meter hour it's a touch high but not too far off base. And its a number that's better to be high then low on anyway.
I'd be trying to pick and choose your jobs for a while. Garden sleepers, yard rails or similar are a great place to start because if they're a bit rough it doesn't matter so much. (I guess the other side of that is that if someone offers you a huge red cedar to mill it would be wise to defer that job till you feel confident in your ability). But I would be looking to get that $40 back one way or another, be it a reduced cube rate, or a by the meter hourly rate, or a % of the sawn timber.
My base rate (seeing no-one wants to say it) is $250 a m3, and I'd say thats about an average price for most of the guys who mill for a living. I try and avoid contract jobs though... it doesnt pay as well as buying logs and selling lumber.
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25th January 2014, 09:20 PM #32Retired
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I'm really enjoying this thread.
The idea of milling lumber feels like it would be a highly rewarding experience.
Ev
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25th January 2014, 09:29 PM #33
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25th January 2014, 11:31 PM #34GOLD MEMBER
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28th January 2014, 08:49 AM #35Retired
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2nd February 2014, 08:18 AM #36
Not only a bad name for yourself, but for Lucas Mills too - that is where the problem is.
Funny thing is no-one told me how to roll logs, how to charge, where to get logs from, how to cut for maximum recovery, or maximum grade from a log, how to deal with log tension, or a myriad of other things with milling. Besides if one was just told everything it wouldn't be worth spit - experience is exactly that experienceI love my Lucas!! ...just ask me!
Allan.
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2nd February 2014, 11:09 AM #37Senior Member
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Hi guys
Interesting comments. I am a firm believer in learning to mill carefully for quality, and the speed will come naturally. By starting off at a steady careful pace, you don't race past the lessons and errors you should pick up and see. All the little things that eventually add up to what we call experience, which is all relative to what your comparing it with. I've been milling for about 15 years in a lot of places, and still learn a thing or two every project we do. However I still consider myself a novice in the company of forth generation milling folk, like the Crane's and Morrison's of the West Coast of Tassie. I too messed up my own logs for a while until I learnt the behaviour of the timber at all parts of the milling and drying process.
If I am doing a fully paid milling job on someone else's logs, it is strictly by the hour rate, and I explain that I mill for quality and recovery as the priority, not speed. An extra half an hour invested in wages can produce a lot more dollars worth of timber for the customer in the end if that's what it needs. It once took me a day and a half to mill a 4-5 foot round solid birdseye log, but ended up with 6 magnificent single slabs and 3 book matched sets of slabs. I could have knocked it out in a few hours simply whizzing the mill up and down, but chose to get the best out of it. That is where "experience" pays off.
So steady, steady and study the logs carefully to gain the knowledge to "read" a log, especially its defects. This skill will prove invaluable as you attempt to extract the best from a log, but don't be disappointed if you get it wrong occasionally, we all still do when complete surprises pop up in logs. Take the time to learn what cuts are best in what species the best way to mill for particular figure found in a log.
Failing all that, just use the mill as an excuse to buy more toys to complement your milling hobby, then bite off more than you can chew and chew like hell!
Cheer and good luck.
James
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8th February 2014, 01:39 PM #38Member
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Hourly rate
$120hr gate to gate 2 blokes
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