# The Pros and Cons of Milling Your Own Lumber



## Tom the Sawyer (Sep 4, 2012)

Very nice overview of the custom milling process. Another benefit is that you would have access to lumber with 'character' that would never survive the grading standards. Those who purchase 'commodity' lumber may not be able to enjoy or practice things like live-edges, book-matching, epoxy fills, spalting, and bowties or Dutchmen. It can be very economical, if you are willing to deal in quantity (you commit to an entire log, not just a couple of boards), time, and culls (not every board in a log will be "select"). Most of my clients who have their first logs milled, can't wait to do it again.


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## bongodrummer (Oct 4, 2009)

Nice pros and cons review. I personally feel that an intermediate step is to have a crack at chainsaw milling, as the initial investment is so much less. And if it's just something the woodworker does on the side to feed their hobby It doesn't matter that it isn't as efficient. As you implied, there is something meaningful and priceless about going right from the raw tree through to a finished project. A good video with a load of tips for getting started at chainsaw milling is https://goo.gl/gH8LAZ 
Thanks, Steve,


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## SRQ Sid (Jul 4, 2014)

Air drying is enhanced by elevating the stack's bottom layer 6-8 inches off the ground and keeping vegetation cut, using dry stickers no more than 3' apart, leaving a 3/8" gap between adjacent boards, protecting the top course from rain, and adding top weight to reduce cupping. Aluminium paint can be a poor man's end-sealer to reduce splits. For those with patience, you can put a prized piece of green wood in the bottom of a hay mow for 2 years. I hear it is a very gentle method of drying difficult species, YMMV.


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## Hutchiwood (Apr 26, 2016)

It seems that everyone has their own opinion about this subject & depends on how much timber you want to supply. I myself only Cut what is required. Getting a solar kiln together, as most of my cutting is hardwood. To have this supplied by a merchant would cost more by far than the cost of milling my own, & one keeps the eyes peeled for the trees that get blown over & retrieve them, or mill them where they fall.


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## Carson (Apr 1, 2018)

Much depends on where you live, be it Rural or Urban. Personally I get a great deal of satisfaction out of re-claiming the "higher value" within these logs that most see only as firewood or mulch and the like. For the "hobby sawyer" and depending on the intentions, a "basic" sawmill" be it band saw or circle saw, can be purchased reasonably. Heck, you can even build your own band saw mill. If you plan on venturing into going portable than indeed you're going to spend quite a bit more BUT the "pay off" is..getting paid to do what you enjoy doing, seeing the faces of those you cut for when you open the face of that log. Especially if that log came from a tree either they, their Parents or even Grandparents planted.


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## Glenyse_Ford (Feb 21, 2019)

I have a large Camphor Laurel tree in Ashwood Victoria, which is going to cut down. I've been told Camphor Laurel wood makes lovely furniture. Interested to hear from anyone who might be interested in collecting some wood when it is chopped down. The tree is 25m high so there will be a lot of wood.


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