Portable sawmill in Chapel Hill area?

[BrianInChatham]

Hi folks- I'm relatively new to woodworking (but am ambitious!) and also new to the area. Now that I live somewhere with trees (don't find too many where I lived in Phoenix!) I've been having these great ideas about having some of the oak on my land milled into lumber for all the household projects I have in mind. Unfortunately I am a complete novice in this realm. I've been reading on this forum and online for the last few days, and so far the biggest lesson I've learned is that I have an awful lot to learn...

My immediate concern: between all the rain and yesterday's winds there's a big oak tree that's started to go over and it's going to take out the power box to my street if it does. I've got a call into the power company (who were surprisingly unconcerned) and they're going to send someone out to look at it in the next few days. One way or another it's going to have to come down very soon, and if I have rights to it (it's on my land but is on an easement so not sure how that works) I'd like to have some lumber milled out of it.

So- I'm trying to figure out if this is realistic and\or worthwhile. I know this is a very open ended topic and there is no "right" answer- I'm just hoping for a little guidance. The tree is question has a crotch about 4 feet from the base, splitting into two trunks each maybe 18" in diameter (just a rough guess). The base has rotted out at the base of one of the trunks (a big crack about 1"x24" appeared in the rotted area during yesterdays winds, and a 3\8"x24" crack appeared in the ground about 2' uphill\upwind of the tree), but it only appears to go up 4' or so. The trunks after the crotch are quite straight and have few branches until much higher up.

If I am able to have it milled, I have no idea what kind of expense I may be looking at. Given my recent move there's not a ton of surplus $$$ in the budget for elective expenses like this. How does a typical portable sawmill go about pricing a job like this?

I know I've got a lot of homework to do, but unfortunately due to the situation I'm probably going to have to decide on this very quickly.

Anybody in the area with a portable sawmill want to take a look at it?

Any guidance you have to offer would be deeply appreciated!

 

[Jeff]

Brian,

Check the "Woodworking in NC" link at the top of this page. Sawyers are listed so maybe you'll hook up with one of them.

I think that they don't like to cut stuff above the crotch (limbs, etc.) because they have a "ton of stress in them" so they end up as turnings or firewood.

Good luck and welcome to NC. You'll find the environment to be a lot different than Phoenix. ccasion1

 

[BrianInChatham]

Thanks for the info and the welcome! We relocated here solely for better "quality of life" and so far couldn't be more pleased!

Now that I've done more reading and looked more closely at it in daylight (noticed it a dusk yesterday), it looks like one whole trunk is dying\dead and I think I can see some rot a lot further up. I've got 5 acres of mostly hardwood, I'm sure I can find much better specimens and go about things with a plan in place before I start.

Hopefully Progress Energy will help with removing the tree!

 

[Jeff]

I forgot to mention in my welcome that there is a "Who We Are" forum above. It's the place to introduce yourself to the community and put in any information about you, your family, likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.

You'll then get welcoming messages from the group. ccasion1

 

[scsmith42]

Brian,


I think that they don't like to cut stuff above the crotch (limbs, etc.) because they have a "ton of stress in them" so they end up as turnings or firewood.

Actually.... if it is a true "crotch" (think of a "V" in the trunk) the logs above a crotch are considered trunks, not limbs, and it is ok to mill them.

Additionally, the crotch itself can yield some highly figured wood if milled correctly.

Brian, welcome to NC and to NCWW. I have a brother who lives in Glendale (and has lived in the Phoenix Metropolitan area all of his life).

If the trunks exhibit a lot of rot and are coming apart, odds are that the logs will be of poor quality. However, the thing to do is to check them once the tree has been felled to make sure.

Typically sawmillers are not loggers or tree service pro's; they get the logs from the felling experts. If the tree is located where it can damage a building, electric service, etc, the best thing to do is usually to call in a professional tree service.

Your two choices re milling are to either transport the log to the sawmill, or bring the sawmill to the log. Most portable millers charge by the hour plus a mobilization charge.