So you're saying I should mill up the 30"-dia ash and 24"-dia maple that are lying in my backyard and just patiently air dry them to maximize my profits?
It's not a comfortable time to be a consumer; regardless of the sticker shock of price increases, it's hard to hear "I can only guarantee this price for the next week, the final bill will likely be much higher after all of the work is done."
I completely understand it, but it doesn't make it any more comfortable to hear.
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YES!! Get one of those portable saw mills to come in. I cut 37 ash trees a few years ago in my back yard while the Emerald Ash Borer rolled through. I got tired of cutting up firewood that I cannot burn, and ended up buying an Alaskan Chainsaw jig and started cutting out 8*8" and 8*10" beams out and have an post and beam project I want to try. The Alaska Chainsaw method is hard-you are basically sawing walking on your knees all day.
I year later I had a big sugar maple die, and had a walnut I cut that was leaning toward the house. I decided to have a portable sawmill come in. With set-up, he cut five logs up for me in 4 hours and charged me $250 (he had a helper). I thought that was cheap. However, I did not have the spacer boards made yet, and left the maple stacked in a neat pile (in the August sun). A week later, when stacked the pile with spacers, I found I had a lot of mold growing on the maple. Walnut was pretty much ok. I threw a lot of bleach on it then properly stacked it in a barn. So have your spacers ready before hand!
So YES! check out the portable sawmill way, and have your spacer boards ready to go. It is fun and made sawing look so easy, after using my chainsaw method. You can get some nice live edge wood this way and have it cut in 4/4, 6/4, 8/4 whatever you want. Borrow a Cant and see if you can roll those logs like the pioneers did. You need a nice flat area because saw pretty much has to be set level and is rather long. If the Ash is dead, watch the top as they tend to snap off-so if you rope it have a 2nd rope tied lower. Have fun and don't kill yourself!
