Milling Your Own Lumber: Advice from a Seasoned Sawyer

Want to mill your own wood? Tony shares the various ways he's milled lumber for his own projects

Tony doesn't want to call himself an expert because he says he's still improving how he uses milled wood in his many projects. 

"I'm happy to share what I can, I am still learning too and I'm still figuring out a lot of this stuff as I go," says Tony, operator of B&B Farms Maple, a maple syrup business located in Indiana. "If somebody finds a better way to do something then why not share it?"

And Tony has found lots of ways to salvage wood and turn it into fresh cut lumber for his own projects. One of those projects is a chicken coop made almost entirely of milled lumber, saving him money from buying materials at the lumber yard.

Want to know more about Tony's advice as a sawyer? Here's what he has to say:

The First Cut

Tony says he bought his Woodland Mills HM126 Portable Sawmill in 2021, when lumber was in high demand and prices were skyrocketing. Because of that it was becoming increasingly popular for people to buy a portable sawmill and make their own lumber.

Looking online at portable mills, Tony says he saw other sawyers online using Woodland Mills sawmills to turn entire logs into rough lumber and thought it would be the right choice for him, so he pulled the trigger and got his own mill.

"We've been using it ever since," says Tony.

On his Youtube channel he uses his sawmill for everything, milling up red oak and white pine to build hunting blinds, sheds and more.

He says he doesn't have a kiln yet so right now his lumber is air drying, but that's sufficient to get boards flat, dry and ready for building.

The Chicken Coop

One of Tony's recent projects is a chicken coop that he made using trees blown over from a storm. Between using plans he found online and his own lumber he was able to save money and make something unique and low cost.

When he posted the chicken coop in the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group for others to see, he says he was flooded with positive comments, some people saying it was the "nicest chicken coop" they'd ever seen.

Tony is humbled by the comments even though he says it probably isn't the nicest chicken coop ever made, but he loves the positivity and how people are eager to share their knowledge with others online.

While he says he's not an expert he's more than happy to share what he knows with people.

Salvaging Lumber

So how does Tony get lumber to put on his sawmill? He has a number of different ways, from felling trees on his property to salvaging trees downed in storms.

Tony says a recent storm led to a blow down of eastern white pine, so he went into the woods with a chainsaw and saved the wood from rotting on the forest floor.

"Every time one falls maybe I'm just a little bit sad, but I'm real glad at the same time because here comes some lumber," says Tony.

It helps prevent wood from going to waste and puts it to use in your projects, he says.

Another way of acquiring lumber is from utility poles. Tony says his local utility co-op gives away used poles, but you have to be put on a waiting list. Two years after writing his name down he got a call asking if he wanted to come down and grab some.

The lumber was clean, didn't have much metal in them and turned into great lumber, he says.

Advice for Sawyers

So what kind of advice would Tony give to sawyers looking at making their own lumber using a portable mill?

• • A portable sawmill is a good investment

  • Find ways to acquire logs for cheap to turn into your own lumber

  • Share what you've learned online and ask other sawyers for help

  • Check for metal in your logs before doing final milling

There are also plenty of sawyers online who have plenty of other tips, such as how to do the drying process, how to mill on a level and flat surface, when you need to build with graded lumber and how to make extra money with your sawmill.

Check out the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community to chat with other seasoned sawyers and see what they're working on.