mobile sawmills

[6.5x55swedish]

Wondering if anybody has hired a mobile sawmill to mill logs for a hunting camp. How much would I expect to pay and who in the area has one? Were you pleased with the results? How long did the wood need to dry before it could be used?

[Turkin8or]

I'm not sure what the going rate in your area should be. Wood in general needs to dry at the rate of one year per inch of thickness before it is usable.
You would need to cut it, stack and sticker it in a dry location where it can get good air circulation.

[JDMiller]

Wondering if anybody has hired a mobile sawmill to mill logs for a hunting camp. How much would I expect to pay and who in the area has one? Were you pleased with the results? How long did the wood need to dry before it could be used?


6.5...We fell the trees...limbed them up and hired a group of menonites bring in mules and draft horses to haul the logs up to the nearest field to the road. It was fairly wet weather and honestly we just didnt want a skidder rutting the woods up. The minonites were basically doing logging for the public and also had a portable bandsaw mill. They set it up on site and had a awful contraption of belts and sheaves connected to a old ford tractor powerplant to power the mill. We had to help them by trailering parts of the mill to the site. When all was said and done.... we had 5 by 8 cedar logs averaging 24ft... cut populars for rafter material and some oak for door & window construction. This was in 94 and they charged us $800 for everything.

I honestly would'nt know what it would cost in your area but if you have an Amish community near by....I'd check around to see what they could do for you. As far as drying.... we had these logs & lumber stacked around Christian Co. in every barn friends would let us use. We gave it well over a year to dry and then collected it all back up and hauled it to my father-in-laws where he cut the joints on the logs and fitted it together. We basically assembled this in his back yard and numbered the logs. We then hauled back to the farm and put it together. Lets just say this was a labor intense project that took a few years to complete. It turned out nice for a hunting cabin but I'm in no hurry to do it again.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c101/JDMiller1967/100_0793.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c101/JDMiller1967/Copyofscan0009.jpg

[carpenterguy]

nice cabin there JD.. looks like you guys done a fine job...

[Snareman2]

You can build a pole barn fairly cheap. I have seen some nice ones that have been fixed up, would serve for equipment/cabin.

[6.5x55swedish]

That is a nice camp, looks like it was well worth the money. I am actually buying a mill and trying to get a feel for what and who I will be competing against.