What do you do with all the offcuts?

[Woodworks]

I have just got my first bandsaw mill up and running. Cutting 6"x6" post today. First you get the scabs and these are clearly scrap but next 1" cut you end up with narrow waney edge boards with some good wood in them especially from the thicker end. How can these put to use or marketed?  Thanks 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Woodworks

[Conor Wright]

If it's worth the work to you, you could cut out the good timber from the first board and make bundles of 1 or 2 mtr long boards and try selling it that way.

It may be the case you're not taking enough off with the scab. I did this a lot when I first got the woodmizer. Trying to create timber where there was none! Now I either deliberately take the log down in 2 inch or less increments and use the waste to make kindling (have a dodgy homemade flywheel cutter that takes 2.5 inches) or just go big and get to the good wood in the first cut, turning the waste into firewood after. 

It's a balancing act between excessive waste and how you value your time really.

[Squaredy]

I used to sell bundles of such off cuts but not so much now.  I also used to cross cut them and dry them and sell as firewood but that takes way too much space and time.

 

 If I were bigger I would sell them for biomass but I don’t produce enough for this to be viable.  I may simply give them away but even this takes time.

[trigger_andy]

I sell 1” thick Waney Edged boards on facebay. In fact I’ve got someone coming tomorrow to who wants a regular supply.

 

 

Now I’ve access to a branch logger I’ll be taking thicker scab cuts and putting them all through this machine. Can take a 4”thick times 8” wide scab. Last week I bagged up 14 or so 1-1/4 cubic meter bags and stacked them in two and a half hours. They sell for £50 a bag.

 

 

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[/url]I did a days milling for a local Estate. 100 larch logs needing one cut on each log. £450 for the day and just had to drive the Avant and push the saw. The scabs will fill 3 bags. That’s an extra £150.

 

 

I’m gonna need a bigger shed. 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

[trigger_andy]

No idea what happened to my post above. [emoji15]

[Welsh cleaning services]

Another side product from the scabs are hedging stakes at around 90 pence each,easily make 50+ an hour,on a rough weather day with cheap sawbench.

[Woodworks]

1 hour ago, Welsh cleaning services said:

Another side product from the scabs are hedging stakes at around 90 pence each,easily make 50+ an hour,on a rough weather day with cheap sawbench.

Sounds like a good idea. What size are hedging stakes? 

[Stere]

Usually around 5ft6

[peds]

There are a big number of smelly hippies around who'd like to build a fence with scabs and offcuts.

The question is whether or not there's any overlap between the money the smelly hippies would be willing to give you and the time it'd take you to prep it.

 

My local sawmill does stacked and metal taped pallets of loads like this for absolute peanuts, at the price it's worth it for the firewood alone for at-home producers with no source for their own logs.

 

I'll be making a fence in the future like the one pictured, anyway.

 

[Welsh cleaning services]

My hedging buddy,asks for4foot6 length,and around inch and a half square.

nice long point