[Kip Wanaselja]

Finally got around to setting the mill up and getting some sawing done! Got the first two logs cut up, a total of 1100 board feet of some high quality redwood. Almost all the boards were select or clear, very few knots.

[Kip Wanaselja]

I’ve done a couple jobs where I’ve salvaged storm damaged trees, usually in a rural residential setting as opposed to a timber property. So access is easy but care needs to be taken in removal. Usually I am getting paid to remove or taking the timber as payment if there is enough value. Sometimes you can have a log that looks OK but when you cut into it there is a big split down the center and it’s worthless as a result.

[Kip Wanaselja]

Being able to set the mill up over logs is a big reason I went with the Lucas mill over a towable band saw. I can get it in a really tight space, was even able to fit it in my neighbors front yard when he had a big Doug Fir taken down earlier this summer. Barely room to move but we were able to cut our way through the pile to make some space. The base piece made some beautiful straight grain boards.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by  Kip Wanaselja.

[Kip Wanaselja]

Great write up Sean. I have found some success with milling redwood decking and fencing materials for my own use and occasional sale. I run a Lucas 8-30 and cut mostly 12ft+ 2x & 4x material. Retail price is $3-4/bf in my neck of the woods and I am able to source a lot of logs from storm salvage or residential tree work. I will also hire out for mobile milling and sometimes come back with extra wood. Even with the high price of redwood I need to be cutting big logs and big beams to be profitable. 16″ logs are the minimum for it to be worthwhile,

[Kip Wanaselja]

It’s pretty wild the scale of the trees around here! We can get as much rain as Seattle in the winter and as much sun as Los Angeles in the summer. It can make it difficult to do things small scale since we are always at the limits of the equipment, even when we buck the logs down a bit. I always end up wanting something bigger but we make it work. This photo is just the top half of a tree we salvaged last week from the same property.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Kip Wanaselja.