# Turning Club field trip to the sawmill



## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Last Saturday, our turning club took a trip to one of the local sawmills in our area. We started off by doing some shopping amongst all the wood blanks. They log their own trees and mill it into lumber. Part of which includes nice size turning blanks. All our domestic woods, very reasonably priced. 
Some of their employees took us for a tour through their bandsaw mill. It wasn't running at the time, but still pretty neat to see how everything works. They also had one of their loggers do a chainsaw demo, explaining basic maintenance of the saw, and then demonstrating how to properly and safely cut down a tree. 
After that myself and one of the other members cooked up a bunch of burgers and hot dogs for everybody. Then for the coup de gras, they have a five acre stocked lake they let us fish in. The young kids that came had a ball. All in all, a fun day with absolutely perfect weather. BTW, the name of the place is Doll Lumber Co. It's a family run outfit, very friendly people. 
Mike Hawkins


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Looks like a great excursion Mike. A little something for everyone. Thanks for posting. Kinda makes me wish that I lived closer. That's the sort of thing that I would enjoy.
Ken


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Ken,
One thing I forgot to mention: If you look in the chainsaw demo pics, the fellow was cutting a bunch of burls off the logs. They were all sold in about ten minutes. He actually asked us how he should cut the burls off to maximize their value to us. It was a very nice day all around. They were very happy to have us visit. Just to give you an idea, I bought three blanks, one cherry, one ambrosia maple, and one figured hard maple. All the blanks were roughly 16" x 16" x 4". They were 16-18.00 each. 
Mike Hawkins


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Great pics and boy am I jealous. That looked like a blast on all aspects of the trip. Thanks for posting the pics Mike!


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## cody.sheridan-2008 (May 23, 2010)

Looked great, I would have had a ball!


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

Nice operation. I wish I could have been there too. And look at the size of that band.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Wow that is a nice place, not what I expected (or am used to I guess). Clean operation.








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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

Can I join your club? Sounds like a fantastic day. Thanks for sharing.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

That is one slick, efficient-running enterprise. Very impressive looks like y'all had a ball on top of it all. 







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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

If you think of almost the exact opposite of how that sawmill looked you would have our operation. I am glad that you had a good time.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

TT,
If I remember right, they said it takes 5-6 people to run the mill. When it's running, they can do between 2500-3500 board feet an hour. The floor in the mill was spotless. I asked them if they always kept it this clean. They said they did do a little extra cleaning because of us, but they normally do keep it pretty clean.
Mike Hawkins


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## Bob Willing (Jul 4, 2008)

firehawkmph said:


> Ken,
> One thing I forgot to mention: If you look in the chainsaw demo pics, the fellow was cutting a bunch of burls off the logs. They were all sold in about ten minutes. He actually asked us how he should cut the burls off to maximize their value to us. It was a very nice day all around. They were very happy to have us visit. Just to give you an idea, I bought three blanks, one cherry, one ambrosia maple, and one figured hard maple. All the blanks were roughly 16" x 16" x 4". They were 16-18.00 each.
> Mike Hawkins


What a great clean place for a sawmill. I have not seen anything like that in the UP. The closest thing up here would be Bellforest Lumber. Do they sell on line?


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Bob,
They have a website, but I don't know if they sell online. Probably wouldn't hurt to ask.
http://www.dolllumber.com/

Mike Hawkins


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Ah, I see now looking at their price list how they can afford to give field trips and keep things so tidy. Any fish in that pond out back ?







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