Bandmill and "Cedar" trees

Well, the bankmill I used to produce aromatic cedar lumber for trim wood was sold (I found out after it sold) but I have located a nice guy with a new bandmill less than 20 miles away. It is manual and only saws a tad over 12 feet (previous mill was fully hydraulic and would do 20 ft.) But since I am not the operator I guess I shouldn't care since I reallyl don't need 20 footers and they are more trouble to handle.

I discussed price with the owner and he told me of a few options, the best of which are:

1. you give him 25% of the wood and pay $0.25 per board foot for what you take or

2. I get first pick of the produced lumber and take half leaving the second best half for the mill and pay nothing. I can have all the bark removal cuts too which I'm thinking will make neat wainscot in my basement as well as some rustic furniture.

I have logged so much good sized cedar that I really don't need even half of what will be produced and I have located plenty more. Realize these trees are considered a plague and there are various cost share programs to assist land owners in removing them from their property. As a result, the logs prior to milling are not worth much and are typically heaped up and burned.

I think the wood is pretty and after the smell dies down a bit they smell Ok too. I am getting some nice 1X12 boards as well as 1x3, 4, 6, and 8 also.

As hot as it is I should be able to start using some of the 1 by stock for projects this winter as it should be dry enough by then.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]