How to turn your logs into usable wood: log milling 101

Milled planks can be useful for applications like timber framing, or for anything else where you might use boards of unconventional sizes. There’s also aesthetic appeal in the rustic appearance of milled boards; you can leave the bark on the edges, or display the roughly milled surface.

Milled planks can be useful for applications like timber framing, or for anything else where you might use boards of unconventional sizes. There’s also aesthetic appeal in the rustic appearance of milled boards; you can leave the bark on the edges, or display the roughly milled surface.

You have a different options when it comes to getting your logs milled. When it comes to making the best choice, the first thing you ought to do is determine your reasons for milling. Is it to reduce waste? To be more economical? To be self-reliant? Or is it for sentimental reasons, such as you simply like the idea and intend to enjoy yourself? If money is the main factor, there are a few factors to weigh, which we will get into below

Here are the choices you’ll need to make:
1. Hire out or buy your own
2. Portable vs Stationary
3. Chainsaw vs Bandsaw vs Circular saw

1. Hire out or buy your own
Consider the upfront cost of purchasing, as well as the cost of ownership. Buying a sawmill only makes sense if you plan to use it a lot. However, if you have a limited amount of wood to mill, chainsaw mills are affordable --- especially if you already own a saw. Their weakness is that they’re slow. And own in gone means you have to do all the work, which is time consuming. If you have a lot of logs, but milling is something you only need to do once, or rarely, your best strategy is to hire somebody.

2. Portable vs Stationary
Portable mills can come to the site, so you can forego the cost and effort of transporting full size logs. Milled planks won’t require heavy equipment to lift onto the truck/trailer. However, portable mills have their limitations, in terms of production. A large stationary mill can handle logs of bigger size and mill them faster. If purchasing your own mill, portable is probably the way to go. If hiring out, the choice will really depend on the application you intend to use the milled wood for

3. Chainsaw vs Bandsaw vs Circular saw:
Chainsaw mills are the cheapest to acquire. They’re the slowest, and they create the biggest kerf, which means they waste more wood. However, if you don’t have many logs to do, and you have the luxury of taking your time, chainsaw mills are an economical solution. You can buy the mill setup for around$200 or even less if you already have the saw.
Bandsaw mills are common in commercial mills, because the kerf is so small (less waste) and they’re fast in terms of production. The size of log they can mill is limited by the jaws of the saw, so portable mills can only do so much. Their advantage is that they are highly mobile. They can be loaded onto a trailer or be mounted on their own trailer, and they’re small enough that just about any pickup can haul it. The upfront cost is significant but manageable: expect to drop 2-3K for a standard portable bandsaw mill.
Circular saw mills are the heavy artillery of sawmills. They can mill thick logs (although it may require two passes) and they’re fast. Portable circulars are cumbersome and require some setup, so there’s an investment of time every time you move it. The cost of purchase and the cost of ownership are high as well. These are really best for those who intend to do a lot of logs and need the capacity to do large logs.
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If you’re looking to hire out your milling, you can do a search on local classifieds, or just post an ad looking for somebody. There are a few private mills in the Snohomish/Monroe area, as well as a large number of people who own portable mills. If you need to make contact with one of them, Snohomish Tree might be able to help. Getting rid of trees is something we help our customers with on regular basis. Call us at 425 419 6515 or fill out a contact form.