# $80 hr or .50 bf



## chippin-in (Aug 4, 2012)

I found 2 "kinda" local mills. 1 charges $80.00 hour mill time. He says he can do 3-4 medium-sized logs in an hour.

The other guy charges .50 cents a BF. 

Doin the math... lets say we got a log thats 24" dia and 8 ft long, thats approx $100.00 for one log (200BF-Doyle). If the other guy can do 3-4 mediums per hour, he certainly should be able to do this size log in an hour - $80.00 from the other guy.

Am I looking at this correctly? 
Does 50 cents BF sound fair? 
Does $80hr sound better? 
Will I have to just use both of them and see which works out best?

Thanks
Robert

I should just add all this up, like about 10-12 logs, figure the cost on it all and tell my wife "you know, it would be cheaper if I just bought a mill". But Im weak.


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## gvwp (Aug 4, 2012)

chippin-in said:


> I found 2 "kinda" local mills. 1 charges $80.00 hour mill time. He says he can do 3-4 medium-sized logs in an hour.
> 
> The other guy charges .50 cents a BF.
> 
> ...



These both sound just a bit high. I charge $.35 per board foot to saw or $.35 per board foot to kiln dry or if they have both done at the same time I saw and dry for $.55 per board foot. The hourly rate really depends on what type of saw is being used. This could be a good deal or a really bad deal depending on the capacity of the mill being used. A 24" log is a good sized log for some mills.


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## Mizer (Aug 4, 2012)

I am with GVWP that both sound a high, at least for around here. At .50 per bdft. I would say the 80.00 per hour would be the better deal. The more you do to have the logs ready and have a place to stack the lumber and the more you are willing to help the cheaper it will be on you.


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## chippin-in (Aug 5, 2012)

I think I will try the hourly guy first. As I think about what I am going to have done, it should benefit me more. 

I am going to get some of the big pecan stuff (starting to spalt) and have some bookmatched slabs done along with some 4/4 stuff. Maybe some ERC, both 4/4 and maybe some mantel slabs. So prolly less time but the same amount of BF.

I will start another thread when I am ready for the milling to get advice on the slabs. 

Thanks for the help.
Robert


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## davduckman2010 (Aug 5, 2012)

hey robert i found a guy at 75.00 hr tried to call him back last week and coulndnt get him to return calls so i called wood miser they hooked me up with another only 20 miles away he only chargeing 35.00 an hour plus 35.00 travel money . if i help unload while he cuts you might want to call them they can hook you up with people in your area good luck duckman


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## chippin-in (Aug 5, 2012)

Hey duckman. I did that a while back. The two people they gave me didnt work. One phone number was disconnected the other guy has cancer abd doesnt mill anymore. I may try that if these two dont work out. The guy real close to me charges 110 hr plus 30 for blades. Another in town charges 50 hr plus a 250.00 setup fee.

Thanks
Robert


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## chippin-in (Aug 6, 2012)

I may not have been clear on my last post. The 2 guys i mentioned in the last post are the reason i was lookin for the 2 guys in my first post. There. That oughta fix it.

Robert


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## chippin-in (Aug 6, 2012)

I may not have been clear on my last post. The 2 guys i mentioned in the last post are the reason i was lookin for the 2 guys in my first post. There. That oughta fix it.

Robert


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## Woodsman (Aug 27, 2012)

I think that for Texas, that is somewhere around the average. I charge $75.00/hr and I am the cheap one in my 100 mile radius. I have even been to Houston cutting for that because the people who contacted me couldn't find anyone down there to cut for them. It is almost always cheaper in the northeast to have a log cut. $35-$45/hour or around $0.30-$0.40/bd ft is common up there. I once cut for a fellow from Connecticut. He had concerns about it costing $75.00/hr. Once we were done, he figured out how much we had cut (about 3 days worth) vs. how many board feet of lumber he got out of it. It cost him right at $0.35/bd ft. These were all post oaks 9' long and about 12-20" in diameter properly limbed. He was happy, I was happy. 

The job could have taken half again as long with a lesser board foot total if he had had all Mesquite to mill. He wouldn't have been as happy then, however, he hopefully wouldn't have been using it for horse stalls either.


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