Sawmill Looking For Suggestions On How To Serve DMS

Woodshop
#1

Hi Everyone. My name is Lloyd and I operate a sawmill in East Plano. I’m posting today looking for input and suggestions on how to best offer my products and services to you folks at DMS.

My lumber products are:

  • Live Edge Slabs
  • Cookies
  • Turning Blanks
  • Dimensioned Lumber (occasionally)

My services are:

  • Custom Milling
  • Kiln Drying

I’ve got a few other products as well, not necessarily related to woodworking:

  • Sawdust
  • Smoking Wood Chunks
  • Mixed Hardwood Firewood Bundles

So, how can I best serve the woodworkers at DMS?

10 Likes
#2

Woodworld gives DMS members a discount on their purchases, it’s a nice perk and seems reasonably easy to implement.

Another option could be donating scrap cuts for people to practice and learn on.

You can always post your services in the maker trade category here on Talk, as well as posting on the bulletin board up in the front hallway.

3 Likes
#3

Sure, yeah. I can give 15% off for DMS members. I’ll make sure I include that in any posts I make.

What would be the best way to donate the scrap cuts? I’ve been there a few times, but I’m not intimately familiar with how everything works.

4 Likes
#4

Ping the current woodshop committee chair as they are the ones who can accept donations to their committee. It can be hard keeping up with who that is at any given time, so you can ping @Team_Woodshop to get them. Since I just posted their tag, they’ll be notified of this thread. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#5

Yep, that’s the best way to do it.

You could also drop them off on the freebie shelf, but they are likely just going to get snagged by one person grabbing them all.

#6

There use to be a free wood shelf (different from the general purpose freebie shelf), but I think that’s been done away with now. I would like to see the free wood shelf make a come back in the new woodshop, I found it to be a good place to source some interesting wood for my projects. Donating it to the committee chair is great and all, but I miss being able to find free wood that was just open to anyone to use

#7

Wood shelf is still there for cutoffs etc.

1 Like
#8

@Lloyd_Plum, Regarding services, you also actually haul logs/trees wherever as well…right?

#9

Jim is correct, it just moved over by the Shapeoko. I think what may be confusing about it is there is a handful of makers who just go and slap their name on stuff on the free shelf (which is against the rules). And because the shelf is over in the storage area now it probably just looks like personal storage because of the free wood shelf “dibs callers”.

2 Likes
#10

Yes, that’s correct!

#11

We’re going to be cutting down some trees to put up a building. Are you interested in hauling off the pecan? Perhaps helping you can save us some money on having the whole tree cut into small pieces and hauled off once the tree folks cut it and all the hackberry trees down.

#12

Yeah, I could more than likely do that as long as the timing works out. Is this at the Makerspace?

#13

Yes, exactly! I know exactly the area you’re talking about, I always thought it was the woodshop committees wood which is why I was always scared to touch it. Maybe some better signage there would help, i.e. a sign that says “free wood” or something to that effect

1 Like
#14

North side of Denton.

We’re = my wife and I. :slight_smile:

#15

I can probably swing that. Shoot me a DM when you’ve got a date and I can let you know for certain.

#16

My question is whether you have a portable mill? Or if not whether you can pickup chunks of wood from an in ideals house to cut down?

I had to take down a big elm tree at my house several years ago. I loved that tree, and was heartbroken when it became apparent it was dying, so I insisted on keeping a couple of big chunks of it. But the chunks are so heavy, I couldn’t move them. So I’ve had two big chunks of tree in my front yard. Not that they aren’t cool, but I really want to make something out of part of my beloved tree.

#17

I do have the ability to pick up logs.

For larger trunks I use this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrKB5dOW5P8

For smaller trunks and chunks I have a crane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riXdiEH9Y3M

1 Like
#18

What kind of pricing structure do you use? How do you calculate what you charge customers?

#19

For milling it is $100/hr in 15 minute increments. The majority of logs take under an hour.

Hauling depends on the distance and the difficulty (more or less the log size).

Kiln drying is $0.50/bdft.

4 Likes
#20

So I don’t know if this can be done through DMS, but when I lived in DC, a friend’s father also did milling and had a portable mill. He also built a place to dry the wood for people. He invited anyone from my makerspace who was interested to see the process. A bunch of us went out to his farm and he gave a demonstration and talked all about the milling process and cutting wood. It was open to all makers, not just woodworkers.

Is a demonstration something that you might be able to offer to members?