There may be a variety of reasons you have a few fallen trees on your forest property. Three or four mature trees may have blown down on the ground after a winter storm. Perhaps the ground got soggy from persistent rains, the roots loosened, and a perfectly healthy tree tipped over. A disease in trees may have weakened them sufficiently until they became blow down candidates. On rare occasions strong winds on my property have snapped the top third out of several mature western redcedar trees. Also, a few trees along the edge of a recently harvested unit may have lost the support of surrounding trees, and hence become vulnerable to blow down. Finally, you may decide to remove three or four trees for management reasons.

Any of these five situations presents a dilemma to you. Assume you have four mature western redcedar trees lying on the ground. The trees don't represent enough board feet for a logger to economically remove them from your property. But, a recent trip to the lumberyard gave you sticker shock when you checked the retail price of 2"x 6" cedar decking.

I had this dilemma last summer after removing four trees near a boundary line to re-establish a fence line. Before I contacted several portable sawmill operators, I thought of several types of boards that would be useful to me. I decided on milling three products, 1) 2"x 6" boards as replacements for a current deck, 2) 1"x 6" boards for ceiling paneling in my home, and 3) 1"x 8" tapered siding boards for the exterior of a garage or storage sheds.

Three years ago at the 1998 Tree School, I took a class called "Milling Lumber" taught by Jim Reeb and John Belton. John with the cooperation of the OSU Extension Office-Clackamas County had prepared a concise write-up (referred to as a Farm Forestry Resource Note) listing eight local individuals with portable sawmills and a narrative explaining the steps in milling logs into boards. I found this publication very readable and useful.

After talking to four portable sawmill owners, I chose Kevin Kaster of Kasters Kustom Cutting. Two reasons for picking Kevin Kaster were limited move-in costs (he lived in nearby Mulino), and his ability to start milling on short notice. Kevin and his crew did a fantastic job! I would encourage anyone thinking about milling lumber on their property to talk to several sources. Compare portable sawmill design types (circular saw, bandsaw, chainsaw), products milled and unit cost, proximity to your property, and lead time until the operation can begin.

Kevin and crew brought two pieces of equipment to my property, a Wood Mizer bandsaw mill and a skid steer (rubber-tired bobcat-type vehicle with three forks on the front end). The bandsaw rotates inside a head mechanism, and the head is pushed down a track cutting the log into the desired thickness of the board (first dimension). Later several boards are collected and held in position to saw an edge (second dimension). The length of the board (third dimension) is by default the length of the log. Prior to the arrival of the portable sawmill I cut logs at a minimum of eight feet plus trim, or longer in increments of two feet. The longest logs I cut were 20 feet long. The skid steer is an invaluable piece of equipment. It has the capability to drag logs or haul logs on the bobcat's forks around the sawmill, and also the ability to nudge the end of a log into position next to the sawmill's hydraulic arm increasing productivity. The additional cost of the skid steer is more than offset by productivity gains. Save your back!! The crew had two peevee hand tools to assist rolling logs near the hydraulic arm. The three-person crew's two-day production consisted of: 680 board feet of 2"x 6" boards 998 board feet of 1" x 6" boards 1,746 linear feet of 8" siding

How do costs compare between milling 2" x 6" cedar and buying it at a retail outlet? A major discount retail lumber outlet store charges $.89 per board foot ($7.12 for a board 2" x 6" x 8") for western redcedar tight knot decking (GRN PAC Dec). My cost to mill a 2" x 6" board is $.20 per board foot ($200 per thousand board feet). So the cost to mill a 2" x 6" board is 22 percent of the cost you would pay at a retail outlet. The difference between purchasing a board and cost of milling a board will vary by species and type of board being cut. You need to calculate whether it is economic to mill the species and wood product you desire. The high cost of retail cedar lumber definitely makes it economic. However, you must keep in mind the board purchased at a retail store has gone through a drying process (probably kiln dried) and run through a planer to create a smooth finish.

I decided to air dry the cedar boards for six winter months. This step required a lot of LABOR to stack the lumber and place stickers in between boards (to provide maximum air circulation around the board). I hauled the boards by truck and small trailer from the field to my home. This spring shortly before construction, I hope to rent a planer and plane the decking and ceiling paneling boards. I do not intend to plane the siding boards, but rather keep a rough surface. One further complication is, do I need to create a tongue and groove edge on the paneling boards or some other type of custom edge? Possibly there are CCFFA members who mill custom edges on boards for hire?

In summary this process will require some physical work on your part, you will probably save a few dollars; but more importantly you will have a heck of a lot of fun converting a resource from your property into a wood product that you can enjoy for many years.

Editor's Note: Master Woodland Manager, Scott Hanson, is a Clackamas and Marion County tree farmer and also a Forest-Tree Leader associate editor.