If you are considering turning your logs to lumber, here are answers to the most common questions I get. Feel free to text, call, or email me if there are any questions that aren’t answered here.

Will I break even or make a profit when I hire a portable sawmill?

Most of the time, when you hire a sawmill, you will get far more value than you pay for. Let’s take an example. It takes me around 20 minutes to mill a 16” diameter pine into six 2x12x12s. Those are $50/piece at the hardwood store, so your dollar value for that log is $300. In most situations, you’d be paying me ~$45 to process it (set-up fee spread out over the job + hourly rate). For larger diameter logs (>16” diameter), your return-on-investment is usually 10x or greater than my processing fee. For smaller diameter logs (8” diameter), your rate of return is around 2x my processing cost. On all jobs, I process the best logs first so we can stop when we reach whatever rate-of-return threshold feels best to you. Note that the “monetary value” of your logs is best realized when you use the lumber (as opposed to expecting to sell it). My Lumber Uses FAQ goes into this in more detail.

I like the idea of using lumber from trees on my property. How much is worth doing?

I encourage you to think about two different values— the monetary value of your logs/lumber (what they’d fetch on the open market) and their use-value (what use they have for you). I recommend that you think about the latter— your lumber’s use-value to you. Are there projects coming up for which your lumber could offset costs? Do you want to build a barn, shed, home, chicken coop, accessory dwelling, kitchen renovation, or dining room table? In these case, your lumber will save you money. If you don’t have potential uses for your lumber, though, then it’s questionable whether or not your stash of $5,000 worth of live-edge oak slabs will actually become $5,000 in your pocket. Theoretically, it’s possible. But there are a lot of steps between your having a hundred live-edge slabs and selling them (finding and meeting with individual buyers, kiln-drying, etc.) I recommend that folks think about using their lumber and selling only if they have sufficient volume, time, and knowledge of the local market. Big buyers tend to only work with large volume sawmills and don’t have much incentive to work with individual homeowners. Remember, logs are in abundant supply and log prices are at a historic low.

What is the largest log your mill can handle?

I’m able to process logs of almost any size using one of my three sawmills. My Lucas Slab mill has a maximum width cut of 74”—which is a little over 6’ wide. It excels if you want full-width giant slabs. If we are going to try to mill a lot of lumber very fast, then we will want to use my LT-40. Its loader arms are limited to 4400 lbs. (You can estimate your log’s weight using a log weight calculator). For the LT-40, logs under 36” are fairly straightforward to cut. As we get into 38” diameter, however, we begin getting into weight limits for the sawmill’s hydraulics—which will likely require more time and/or an additional piece of heavy equipment (tractor, track loader, etc).

Do you barter your sawmill services for a share of the lumber?

Unfortunately, no.

I just bought property and want to use lumber from my land to build my house or barn. Will you visit the site to tell me which trees to cut, keep, and/or sell?

Your first contact for lot clearing and forestry management should be a consulting forester or your excavator. I designed this website to share most of what I know about lot clearing through a sawyer’s perspective. If you want an in-person consultation, I am happy to consider a visit after (1) you have a date set with your arborist/excavator; (2) you and I have talked on the phone; and (3) we have a tentative date set for milling. There are many inflexible factors that go into home building/lot clearing —perk tests, zoning, building codes, etc. I’ve found that my knowledge and time are most efficiently used toward the last stage of lot clearing.

I have more trees to clear than I have uses for. What should I do?

Work with your excavator or arborist to come up with a plan to get what the lumber you need and sell the rest. Log prices are extremely low and will likely be low for the next few years. For pine, logs fetch $25-45 per ton delivered to a local buyer. You can use a log weight calculator to estimate the value of each tree. Your best bet is to save as much lumber for you current and future building projects and have me or another sawyer mill that amount, plus 20% extra to account for waste. Afterwards, sell the extra logs for the highest prices you can. Note that the logs you will want (large diameter and clear of knots) are the same ones that will fetch you the most at the big mills. I recommend selling the B-grade, smaller-diameter stuff because your highest ROI will come from milling your best saw logs. Note that there are very few local sawmills that can process logs over 36” in diameter so these often get taken to a local dump (for which you’ll have to pay a tipping fee). If you have a super-large log, call me to discuss more environmentally-friendly options.

Should we mill the branches as well as the trunks?

Trunks will give you the most stable lumber. Branches tend to retain “wind-shake” so they may come off the mill straight but will become bent or bowed over time. It’s still worth milling branches if they are of large diameter (>10”) AND you have non-critical uses for them such as siding, rough outdoor tables, chicken coops, etc. Otherwise, turn them into firewood or have them chipped. In my experience, it’s almost always worth it to pay your arborist/excavator to chip the small branches.

Will you come get my logs for free if I give them to you?

No. The heavy equipment, skills, transport risk, and time related to moving logs is more often greater than the logs’ value.

What lengths should I have my arborist cut my logs?

I like to work with logs between 8’ and 16’ long. On my LT-40, 8’ is a magic number because the mill’s side-supports work best with this length. I recommend that folks have their logs cut to consistent lengths to make stacking the lumber —after milling— go easier. (Otherwise, you’ll have to Jenga the stack of different lengths). Logs that are cut long, and stacked on shorter logs, can bend over time and produce uneven lumber. Also, note that most arborists and excavators add 6” to logs to account for checking and a general margin of error. Therefore a 12’ log in sawyer or arborist vernacular is actually 12’6”. Common lengths at sawmills are 12’ (12’6”) and 16’ (16’6”).

How small is too small for your mill?

I can mill most logs down to toothpicks if you want; the real question is whether or not it’s cost effective for you. In most cases, 8” is as small as I like to go because I can get a 6x6 out of the logs. The only case when I like to go smaller is in specialty woods like cedar, cherry, walnut, etc.

Do you buy logs?
I do buy logs— but only from one of my partnering arborists and/or excavators who know my specifications and deliver to my logyard. I pay around $60/ton, which is relatively high in the lumber industry, but is far less than what most people would imagine they’d get for their logs. The reasons for this are complicated, but suffice it to say that logs are in historically abundant supply. If you want to sell your logs, see my Local Contacts page (under Resources) for log buyers. Note that they all require that you deliver the logs to their locations.

How can I determine how much lumber I will get from a log?

Sawyers use the Doyle scale to determine board footage based on log length and diameter. If you want to just eye-ball it, look at the end of the log and imagine the largest rectangle or square that you can get. If it’s 12” x 12” then we can get any configuration within that square— twelve 1x12s, twelve 2x6s, etc.

How long do I have to mill a log after it has been felled? And how do I tell if a log is too decayed to mill?

If you intend to use the lumber for framing material, it’s best to mill it as soon as possible. For pine, in the summer, I like to get to it within a month if I’m going to use it as framing material. In the winter, this can be a couple months without noticeable blue-stain or defects. If you are not using the lumber for critical structural strength, then pine can be milled whenever; at some point it becomes crumbly, spongy, and brittle and really only good for chicken coop siding or the like. Hardwoods, in contrast, tend to have fairly solid heartwood even after the outer section (sapwood) has started to decay. I’ve milled oak logs that have been down for two years and they are still good. In fact, the aging can add beautiful spalting patterns. Note that all of this depends heavily on species and how the logs have been stored. Persimmon, hickory, and ash, for example rot pretty quickly. Cedars can be milled many, many years after they come down.

Should I paint the ends of the logs?

If you have hardwoods to mill, then yes, I recommend that you paint the ends after they are cut to length. The best paint to use is Anchorseal. If you don’t have Anchorseal, then any exterior house paint will work fine. Painting the ends will slow and equalize the log’s drying process, which will prevent checking. If you haven’t painted the ends, you can go back and do it when the wood is in lumber form; however, it will take significantly longer. Pine, in my experience, doesn’t check as bad as hardwoods so it’s not as critical to paint the ends. That said, it couldn’t hurt—especially if you want to maximize your yield.

What is the longest log your mill can handle?

20’ is the longest length that my mill can cut. That said, if you are instructing your arborist or excavator to buck your logs, note that 20’ takes a little bit longer to position on the mill than, say, a 16’ log. If we’re going to be processing a lot of logs, go with 16’ to make the milling go faster.

Can you cut cookies or cross sections of a log?

Yes. All three of my mills –the LT-40, Alaskan Mill, and Slabber—can cut cookies of various widths. Please note that cookies tend to crack when they dry, so even if they come off the mill looking perfect, you may find that they develop a crack over time. Some woodworkers work with this crack or try to prevent it using Polyethylene Glycol (PEG). Using PEG is tricky, expensive, and time-consuming. I encourage folks to anticipate that less than 50% of their “cookies” will not crack after drying.