We live near ground zero & have a few large trees (maple, pecan & oak) that I would like to have milled into slabs & ideally kiln dried. We’re having the tree guys salvage 8-10’ sections of the trunks, which are 2-3’ across. Does anyone have a local source who will pick up & slab? Thanks!
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I can’t say these folks would pickup, but they do mill, or at least they did: https://www.hardensawmill.com/.
I’m sure that they are probably getting calls already from folks who suffered, like you, tree loss.
You might go to Craig’s List and search for “wood slab Plano”. This guy has a saw mill and he is a real nice fellow to work with… You can probably work a deal with him>
You might want to try Shawn at Nuthouse Sawmill in bonham.
9728247136. I don;t know if he picks up. Shawn sells slabs and does a fantastic job of spalting pecan, if you are into spalting.
I only know of three sawmills in the DFW area (Harden sawmill, nuthouse and there is one in waco that specializes in mesquite.
Do you have any 8-12" in diameter walnut branches? I have a hard time sourcing walnut for bowls, vases, candle sticks,etc. I’d be glad to pick up.
Dan Wolf
469-744-0271
I’d like to build some nice live edge slab tables for digital media. Not sure how to go about it except step 1 find free wood.
Thanks! Re: walnut limbs, there used to be a walnut grove (hence the name of the street & the neighborhood) there doesn’t seem to be a preponderance of the trees left.
I put messages out on the walnut hill Facebook page & neighbor Nextdoor sites asking if anyone had a downed walnut tree with no success.
I have lots of pecan if you want any of that, PM me & I’ll send you my address.
Hey Kevin, I currently have three sections of pecan trunk, each is 6-8’ long and 20-30” diameter. My plan is to have them picked up & taken to a mill. Happy to let you have a slab, the wood is free but the cost of pick up & milling is not. I’m not sure what it will end up costing but we can work something out.
Our multicam is 10 ft long. That length and width are perfect. Been looking at desk frames from Uplift to put them on. In fact we voted on it today and it would drop the price in half. I’m sure I could mill it. Sending you a PM now. @Team_Woodshop anyone foresee me having problems making desktops out of these?
The type of milling you need is different from the type of milling that the multicam delivers. A sawmill has a massive saw blade that slices the wood. The multicam can’t slice like that. It would waste a lot of wood, and take a long time to grind away half the log. Still, it probably is cheaper to take it somewhere and have it run through a sawmill vs buying a slab.
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‘Milling’ in the sense of fresh cut trees is typically done by a bandsaw or chainsaw mill. The large (20-30" in your case) log is roughly secured to the ground, the top flattened off and then slabs are cut. Then the slabs are stacked, sepersted, and ends are sealed and the slabs are left to dry, in a kiln or outside. Kiln drying is faster but in air this process can take a year or more. Once dried, some places will sell these as live edge slabs, others cut them into rough lumber.
Frank Howarth has quite a view videos of milling lumber on his YouTube channel.
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Ok based on this quote
What you will get is a slab. The maximum thickness under the gantry I believe is 4". So if the slabs are less than 4" the Multicam will work. If not Hardwood Lumber or Wood World or maybe Central Hardwoods will thickness the slabs.
One other issue is if the trees are recently felled and slabbed they will still have a high moisture content. If air-drying the wood it will take approximately 1 year for each inch of thickness to get the slabs dry. And you will need to seal the ends to prevent checking and cracking. Pecan is bad about that.
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That’s a big ol negatory
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@smithamy - here’s a list of woodmizer (portable sawmill services) in our area; you might find one that can come to the site.
https://woodmizer.com/us/Find-a-Local-Sawyer
I haven’t been around the space for a while - doing most of my lathe work at home but I do have a chainsaw and can help cut some stuff up for trade -