The truth about milling wood

[@Lincolnstww]

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[@judyl.761]

Thank you for understanding the sentimental value of a tree!

[@lwoodt1]

Going from the tree to usable lumber is a fascinating world unto its self.

[@Moccy.]

Love the video! - Also worth noting, if you're a woodturner doing bowls, you're almost guaranteed to be more cost effective milling it up yourself because all you need is a decent chainsaw and possibly a pick-up truck to move the stuff (assuming where you're getting it from is OK with you cutting it up where it sits). Lumber yards generally don't carry the sort of large thicknesses we're interested in due to it's long drying time (which we bypass some of by rough-turning while it's still green), so anything they do have is usually more expensive.

[@m2lumber]

True! However...some mills might have a bunch of smaller log cutoffs which would be great for making bowl or turning blanks from! Thats what we do with our nice hardwoods, leave them in a pile and when a turner calls looking for material, we sell them a whole tiny log for a great deal!

[@ac311205]

Very helpful guys! Only important thing I don’t think you touched on in my experience is your personal time/energy expenditure for this task. I tried doing this once and I found it very frustrating dealing with a couple potential sawyers as pricing wasn’t straightforward nor was the timeline, when the boards would get sawn, go into the kiln, so on and so forth. They just don’t make their money dealing with homeowners with fallen yard trees so I felt like they were mostly just annoyed I was asking so many questions. So I feel like this was even a bit too encouraging for people who have a relatively small fallen cherry or walnut tree in their yard. Not to mention if your yard gets trashed by having to get it hauled away in one piece, which is dependent on access to the area. Unless you have something truly huge, straight, and premium species, I’d advise against it. Awesome video and very informative and entertaining.

[@margaretbear]

What a great video and so timely! I was just walking around our neighborhood looking at all the piles of hurricane debris and wondering about this. I knew it required milling and drying and it wasn't just a matter of sawing it up with a chain saw but had no idea of the finer details. Thank you!!

[@WoodcraftBySuman]

00:37 - I also over estimate the size of my -log- branch

[@Ffish69]

Mine was over 12 inches, but I don't use it as a rule...

[@carlson.douglas.w]

Sigh. Me too.

[@riba2233]

chances are you can't even see it.

[@cartoon80s90s]

It's always great to see Matt in a video. Very useful information too.

[@mystic9696]

Very informative, thank you. I’d also be interested in a video on milling on your own. The different setups and methods of milling lumber in your own woodshop.

[@mullingreen8370]

I used to run a Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic portable sawmill. Great machine. There is so many logistics in sawmill, but I really enjoyed it. To pick up logs we modified a small trailer with a loading arc using a winch, great DIY way to pick up logs. Moving logs was certainly the most time consuming, labor intensive, and logistics intense part of the job.

[@Braddy_Daddy]

Great video, anything sawmill related is fascinating

[@85ccmaster]

I have a portable sawmill business down in the midlands of South Carolina. I love my Wood-Mizer lt40. Huge upgrade from my lt15

[@barcodenosebleed5485]

Been thinking about buying a sawmill for a while. Pop up on marketplace from time to time, some for a couple grand. Doesn't need to be perfect in my mind, something I feel like I could work on or add bells/whistles; I can weld, rebuild an engine... But not knowing a whole lot about them, would a $8k mill used selling for $3k be useful at all or just a bunch of headaches? I've got cherry, walnut, white oak out the wazoo that's been drying for a about a year and a beech and giant maple that's going to need to come down soon. Seems like a crime against trees to not at least try lol.

[@TheDoItYourselfWorld]

I prefer logs that sat too long because of the beautiful colors and character it gives to the wood. This wood is harder on the sawmill because it holds a lot less moisture but it also dries so much faster. I can use my slabs in months. I air dry my wood outside to 15% and then bring it into the finish drying room until its ready to use.

[@AaronGeller]

I was just talking to my local lumber mill about this. RSL in Kalamazoo will pick up the lumber, $100-$120 within up to about 20-25 min of the yard, and then $80 per hour to mill it. It’s not bad but the thing about the city trees having metal is one of the bigger concerns. I do know that one can buy logs from loggers in Michigan though and that can save a bit of money.

[@paint1956]

I live in south Florida and every time I see a video like this I drool over how inexpensive lumber is around the country. The nearest "lumber yard" to me is around 70 mi in the heart of downtown Miami, if you can believe it. For me that's a four hour trip, and they have a limited supply of lumber choices. Great video though.

[@Familytreewoodworks]

I knew M2 would be in this video before I clicked! He’s milled some white oak for me in the past. Top notch!

[@hansangb]

You've come a long way, Jon. From stopping in the middle of the road to pick up pallet wood to milling your own lumber video :) Not bad for "just a dumb ass in a garage" 🤣 What a great video that was!

[@maxwelljohnson5388]

This feels scripted in a good way! It shows a level of consideration for my time that similar videos from other channels don't. Seriously, im gonna bookmark this for future reference.

[@Lincolnstww]

Thanks! I appreciate that comment

[@inmyimage1081]

You guys do a great job with these videos 👍

[@costidisa]

Great video. Followup video: challenges and considerations when milling your own sinker logs from rivers, swamps and lakes. 😊

[@jamesduncan578]

Cool information, thanks for sharing.

[@Syscrush]

5:00 it might be worth looking around for a mobile milling operation. I had my timber milled on site, so there was no screwing around with getting it to and from the mill.

[@ScottWalshWoodworking]

This just confirms that pallet wood is the reigning champion

[@meilyn22]

😂

[@militar3rd]

Lol 😂😂

[@GreyMaulkin]

I just wish they made walnut pallets.....

[@hipobir]

I would settle for cherry as well ​@@GreyMaulkin

[@lk7195]

I had 3 trees milled after the last 2 hurricanes. All were decent sized about 2 ft wide at least. 2 laurel oaks and one maple. The maple turned out to be extremely figured so I lucked out.

[@mrdenson3101]

Bottom line: don’t do it yourself. Leave it to the experts. 💙💙💙

[@DrtyFut]

But is it worth it to buy my own mill? Even just a chainsaw mill? Since I’m in the area, which woods are local here that would be good for outdoor projects? I would like to know what to look for on my land to mill wood for animal fencing/pens and general outdoor pole barns. Lastly, the open air storage shown in the vid doesn’t seem to have more than just a roof, how much of an issue is when rain comes into play? Are there tarp walls to keep direct water from the wood, and how much does just general moisture in the air affect the wood drying or quality?

[@jjpiatek3294]

I have what I believe to be a white oak that is dead in the top two-thirds, the bottom, which is about 15' would be what i'd like to get milled up. The diameter, measured at four feet above the ground is 22" . I'm considering getting the tree cut down but do you think this type of tree would have any millable wood or should I just have it all hauled away?

[@m2lumber]

If its solid in the bottom i would say so, as long as you have the time to wait for it!

[@Bigdog1787]

To you can mill it your self with chainsaw and a kit for doing it just need one of the powerful chainsaws that can handle the 30-60 inch blades.

[@davidross5291]

I was just debating this for a bunch of white oak projects in a new home build. What about some of the DIY chainsaw mills out there?

[@m2lumber]

Very doable...but backbreaking slow work! I would gladly pay someone else to save the effort lol.\

[@WoodworkingforAnyone]

I'm not trying to start anything and I'm not young anymore but back in my day if you couldn't lift your halfa log, you didn't get to wear a face sweeper like that. Times sure do change...

[@SkewToob]

I have lumber from around 50 trees in my garage attempting to air dry them. I dropped all the trees. I moved them all uphill to one spot in my yard. I've moved all the slabs 3 times. They still aren't dry enough probably 6 years later now. If they ever do dry enough, flattening them is going to take ages and they still might warp. It's definitely not worth it.

[@chad10006]

Your friend has a mustache.

[@roofermarc1]

I've never heard of 2 to 3$ per bd ft for kiln drying lumber? That's a high price from what we used to pay, notice I said used to pay? A 100,000 bd ft kiln a friend owned would cost him $4,000 to fire it up and dry the loaded kiln. It might take him several months to get that much lumber in it though, this was 2008 when he went bankrupt. He said once all the wood was dried, his profit was $8,000. He would try to collect 12,000 each time the kiln was empty. But a customer would often not pay and he wound up with a huge building, his shipping shed filled with a lot of beautiful species, then he would charge a storage fee after 30 days. Lot of times the lumber was never picked up, he was never paid for any of his work and would then simply start selling it. The real expensive lumber would almost always be paid for and picked up. So if he could've charged 2$ a bd ft he'd a received 200,000 dollars? He'd be a millionaire many times over. He also had a planer mill and would f4s the lumber if the customer paid for that. I seen huge load of South America hardwoods come into this place. Mahogany boards over 24" wide3" thick over 20' long. They wouldn't fit through the door and he'd cut the ends off I have one of them drops that's 30" wide from the end of a board! It was chocolatey brown colored genuine

[@m2lumber]

Hi there, so for the context of this video, the idea was for smaller operational sawmills etc., which are a dime a dozen these days. Most of those operations do not have a kiln, let a lone a kiln that can handle 100k bdft per load! That is an industrial high volume operation! There are still some of them in existence, but most will not bother wasting their time milling or drying for individuals. The lower volume kilns are slightly more expensive to run...we touched on that slightly on the economies of scale for larger mill operations.

[@roofermarc1]

@@m2lumber I get it. For small loads 200 bucks was minimum and that allowed up to 1000 bd ft. So a small load was stacked on pallets by hand and placed under drying roof for a month or so and most wood here is cypress, easy to dry. For truck loads to stick they had a sticker or stacker machine. I asked him back then he charged .20 bd ft which wasn't much, probably why he collapsed

[@mullingreen8370]

iDRY is an awesome system

[@Tobsen660]

1year for 1inch Your wood in the US seems to dry much faster. In the EU it takes 1year per cm 😂

[@m2lumber]

Its a pretty "general" rule of thumb...and im with you its not always accurate...its only really accurate for medium density woods and up to 2" thickness...anything thicker takes exponentially longer!

[@zee-fr5kw]

most of the us is pretty dry

[@rcranes2227]

Great video. Thanks! Question: would a mill pay for logs I have delivered there but have no interest in the wood? I'm curious for certain trees if maybe the value of the milled wood can offset the cost of the tree service. Had a friend lose a maybe 20 inch super tall pecan once and she didn't want to pay for the tree service. She ended up having a bunch of friends show up with chainsaws and axes and let them keep the firewood they chopped. Always wondered if a sawmill would have paid her for the logs to offset the cost of clearing the tree from her property.

[@m2lumber]

They absolutely might! Call and ask them, but yes all logs have value...it just might not be enough to make it worth the effort at times, but each sawmill operation is different so definitely call and ask them

[@mullingreen8370]

Also… slabs mean different things in saw milling, but us sawyers know what the woodworking guys mean. The slabs are the first cutoffs when canting the tree, usually just bark as an FYI

[@infinitybeyond6357]

isn't "Dead Edge", just "Straight Edge" ?

[@Cutting-with-Paul]

imagine doing all of that with a chainsaw , power of the air sun and time :) .... but , requires a lot of work , chainsaw milling is not for everyone . Good luck , great video

[@Michael-Makes-Stuff]

Great video! This was very educational - and eye opening. Well done, sir! 🫡

[@twisterwiper]

I can imagine the sentiment, “…but I thought I could get free boards, because I have a log laying around” 😄

[@TheHusky1213]

Fyi the sawmill app in your description says its for older model phones.

[@janionmakes]

I'm not sure if i should be glad or not that I've just finished building my own bandsaw mill...

[@jerryspeedbumps512]

So walnut would be bad for a dovetail exterior wall mounted mailbox? Whatd be better for a covered, but still exterior mailbox.

[@Ashitaka1110]

White Oak (NOT Red Oak) has solid water resistant properties (enough to build boats from) and is a quality hardwood. Also takes stain well if you want the walnut look. Cedar is not a hardwood but is readily available (and cheaper), has a natural reddish-brown color, easy to work, and is almost impervious to water damage. For something like a mailbox that won't see a ton of abuse, it could be fine.

[@jerryspeedbumps512]

@Ashitaka1110 never even thought about the walnut outside thing. I just happen to have a bunch. Not sure cedar would be great for dovetail though? I'll maybe look for some white oak. I needed some anyways

[@dosadoodle]

Is board feet calculated by the advertised dimensions or the actual dimensions?

[@Lincolnstww]

its actual dimensions

[@abouc]

If you're not in any hurry to use the lumber, can it air dry in your climate controlled workshop over the course of several years instead of being stored outdoors?

[@Lincolnstww]

@@abouc yes, it will just take longer

[@abouc]

@@Lincolnstww thanks! We've got a beautiful ash tree about 18"-20" in diameter that's succumbing to emerald ash borers. It's my favorite tree, so I'm hoping to enjoy it forever as wood for bass guitar bodies.

[@thenext9537]

My sawyer charges .50 a yard and also 75$ if you break his blade due to nails or what not. I’m finding out, dude is magical because other sawyers aren’t anywhere near his prices. I got several pallets of white oak 12 quarter, red oak, walnut, ash, maple, alder. I’d like some cherry, but can’t get it for some reason. Personally, NOT worth it doing your own. I mean you want to figure out flat sawn, quarter sawn, gutting metal, blades whipping around, all that? Nah. Lol

[@AhmetE-g7o]

Here in Amsterdam they burn trees that where fallen

[@TheJttv]

There are lots of apps that can ID trees and plants by taking pictures of leaves or bark

[@thewoodshop69]

The only problem with air dried wood is heat treatment it to get rid of bugs

[@Rivertable]

First Lincoln

[@gabriellongworth]

Hazaa!!!

[@dougr188]

Will you ever post a video that isn't snarky or negative?

[@m2lumber]

The answer is no...

[@wtfdoicare]

go touch some grass.

[@mreconomist1402]

😒 my sought after wood is apparently cheap…red oak.

[@bierbarrel]

wow...numbers are really skewed

[@Kmnri]

foot logs, wow, yeah that's not a woodworker thing, it just the US weirdness 😆

[@lil-j-waters]

rage bait title to sell a class. if you make stuff out of wood and have a chainsaw, a fallen tree is free lumber.

[@Lincolnstww]

everything wrong with the internet summed up in one comment!

[@RobertCro]

They didn't appreciate being called out 😅. Milling is just plain fun if you are actually doing it. Chainsaw milling is dirt cheap to get into.

[@DisrespectfulRob]

To be fair: “wood glue, a vise…. and squeeze them together” is not bad for a woman.

[@EllenBoard]

Thanks for the “compliment”, but I don’t think we need to qualify the statement with a gender. Woodworking is an art that most women AND men aren’t educated on.

[@DisrespectfulRob]

You had to know I wasn’t talking to you, sweetie.

[@TheThomasdahl]

A tree slaughterer wearing a 'save the trees' t-shirt just feels wrong somehow....?

[@m2lumber]

Were more like morticians...we dont actually do the slaughtering :)

[@ourtube4266]

His livelihood depends on trees, it’s about effective management of them, not saving each individual tree. The same way that a hunter can harvest individual deer and still be a stout conservationist, which many are

[@wtfdoicare]

People that harvest resources often advocate for their sustainable use and care.

[@TheThomasdahl]

I know I know.. I just thought someone needed to make this comment.