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KS Plainsman

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I have the equipment, but have yet to do any chainsaw milling. A fella asked me today if I ever got around to doing any milling yet, and I said not yet. He asked if I'd be interested in milling up a 2 foot diameter honey locust tree for his buddy. I said I'd help him out after I run it in one of my logs first.

My question is, what would something like that be worth? Has anyone here charged for chainsaw milling? I would think an hourly rate would be best, but I'm not sure how others charge for such a thing.

Anyone familiar with charging for this, care to give me some insight/advice?
 

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Yes it is. It's about all I burn for firewood anymore. I have ripped it before, but never did any milling, yet. I have 2, 3120's, or a 394 XS to choose from for the task.

Hmmm.......... bartering might not be a bad idea. I'll have to think about that a bit. That's not a bad idea.

Thanks Doc.
 

Sloughfoot

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Some version of an hourly rate is what I'd ask, more for the first hour depending on ...................., unless he has something really good to trade.
 

KS Plainsman

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Some version of an hourly rate is what I'd ask, more for the first hour depending on ...................., unless he has something really good to trade.
I've been mulling over the barter option. He raises very good cattle. So, I thought about offering my labor for some beef.
 

srcarr52

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Chainsaw milling takes a lot of time. You can't charge accordingly for your time or the final bill will be way more than the lumber is worth.

Plus milling a semi dry locust is going to be even slower going.
 

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ask him what he thinks it’s worth to him… i never know what to charge either. but i’ve sold a few red oak slabs for about 150 bucks each. they were over 10 feet long and close to 24inches wide.
i was just like does that sound fair to you?

milling equipment isn’t cheap and a tank of gas and bar oil per slab 🤷
plus your time, 150$ isn’t even much lol
 

KS Plainsman

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Chainsaw milling takes a lot of time. You can't charge accordingly for your time or the final bill will be way more than the lumber is worth.

Plus milling a semi dry locust is going to be even slower going.
That makes sense and I agree with ya. I certainly wouldn't pay a ton for slabbed wood.

The full background is, my friend bought a half section of ground from his friends family to start his homestead, and the friends' family homestead was attached to that half section and was where this other fella was born and raised. So, the tree came from that original homestead property. My friend has since bought that small homestead (basically a house and garage is all that was left).

The other fellas daughter, asked my friend, if he knew of anyone who could mill that tree into slabs, so she could have a table of some sort, made for her Dad. The Dad lives in KC and is currently renovating his literal mansion. So, it's a bit of a sentimental thing they're going for here. Which is the only reason I'm considering it.

I actually took down several trees a few years back and posted about it on here and used that money to buy the 3120's.

Not sure if that changes anything exactly or not, but it's more information on the situation.

I do appreciate everyone's insight so far. Sometimes my desire to help folks, gets me into situations I wish I hadn't got into. So, outside perspectives are a good thing.
 

KS Plainsman

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ask him what he thinks it’s worth to him… i never know what to charge either. but i’ve sold a few red oak slabs for about 150 bucks each. they were over 10 feet long and close to 24inches wide.
i was just like does that sound fair to you?

milling equipment isn’t cheap and a tank of gas and bar oil per slab 🤷
plus your time, 150$ isn’t even much lol
That's always the dance for me.........trying to be fair. I've done free tree work for years and I'm to a point where I need to start covering my end. Not trying to get rich, but not trying to keep giving my labor away for nothing either.
 

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it’s still a good experience, so don’t regret. tell them everything involved and go from there.
maybe even strike a bargin: you get a slab for everyone you cut for them or something….

plus you need to give those 3120s some wood to chew on and milling is what they are designed for.
 

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Well, yes experience is ok, but I once offered to saw some oak trunks into firewood discs. It was about 1980, I said £2 per hour, after about an hour I had used over £2 worth of juice, let alone oil, my time, wear and tear, travel etc.etc. I went and told the guy I was stopping right now, no bill, nohard feelings. You live and learn.
 

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it’s still a good experience, so don’t regret. tell them everything involved and go from there.
maybe even strike a bargin: you get a slab for everyone you cut for them or something….

plus you need to give those 3120s some wood to chew on and milling is what they are designed for.
Those are good points and insight.
 

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I have the equipment, but have yet to do any chainsaw milling. A fella asked me today if I ever got around to doing any milling yet, and I said not yet. He asked if I'd be interested in milling up a 2 foot diameter honey locust tree for his buddy. I said I'd help him out after I run it in one of my logs first.

My question is, what would something like that be worth? Has anyone here charged for chainsaw milling? I would think an hourly rate would be best, but I'm not sure how others charge for such a thing.

Anyone familiar with charging for this, care to give me some insight/advice?

Unless all the stars align and you turn out to be a natural, there will be all kinds of errors in wood you mill until you really get the hang of it. Most of those errors can be removed or worked around.

But, it's hard to charge someone an hourly rate when you won't be producing the best boards or doing it in good time.
 

mainer_in_ak

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I do paid milling gigs occasionally. I usually charge $200 per pass. Everything is 16-18 ft.

Have a clearcut job next week. He want the big ones milled and everything bucked. So I'll probably charge $6500 for the 1 acre clear cut and $2500 for the milling of 4 32" diameter logs.
 

KS Plainsman

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I do paid milling gigs occasionally. I usually charge $200 per pass. Everything is 16-18 ft.

Have a clearcut job next week. He want the big ones milled and everything bucked. So I'll probably charge $6500 for the 1 acre clear cut and $2500 for the milling of 4 32" diameter logs.
That's all with a chainsaw mill?

This trunk is only 6' long and 2' diameter. So, small compared to what you're milling.
 
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bradb123

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I'm just a firewood guy, so this is my first experience with milling. My buddy had three Black Walnut trees in his yard that he wanted to get rid of due to the mess. I cut them down and to the length he wanted. I also cut him three Cherry logs to get milled. His neighbor has a portable mill and brought it over yesterday morning. He charged $250 for milling the logs that ended up being 500 board feet.
 

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Wolverine

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I'm a bit late to the thread but.. I milled a monster honey locust a while back for a friend of a friend. I didn't know what to charge so we agreed on $50/hour. When I got done, I realized IF I ever did it again, I would charge double that.
And no way you have to sharpen after each pass... I've never had to and I've milled a *s-word ton of wood.

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