Efficient Mill Operation and Lumber Handling

Note: This article was originally published in September/October 2025 edition of The New York Forest Owner magazine, a publication of The New York Forest Owners Assocation. It is authored by Ed Neuhauser.

In the first half of this series (May/June 2025), we considered how to decide if a bandsaw mill is right for your situation. It was suggested that you visit and talk to folks that already have a mill, that you evaluate if you have enough logs available from your property or logs that can easily be supplied locally, whether you have the tools & skills to safely harvest those logs, and finally to consider which type and size of bandsaw mill would work best for your situation.

In this article, we will evaluate how to select logs for milling, how to efficiently process a log to produce high quality lumber, and how to handle and dry the lumber after it is sawn. The information provided here is aimed at a single owner operator who is using their sawmill to produce lumber for personal use and not necessarily for profit (although after you have a sawmill, you will find that your family and friends develop lots of projects designed to keep you busy supplying them with lumber!). It is not intended to help you decide if you can develop a profitable business using your sawmill. Information regarding usinga portable bandsaw mill to develop a business can be found in publications such as Natural Resources, Agricultural and Engineering Service (NRAES) publication #134, Developing a Custom Portable Sawmill Enterprise. Another publication that explores using a sawmill to develop a profitable business is What I Wish I’d Known About Thin Kerf Sawmilling Seventeen Years and Several Million Board Feet Ago by Simon Petree.

Now that you have a sawmill selected and set up on your property, the next step is acquiring high quality logs to turn into lumber. You can think of a log as having four faces, each face representing ¼ of the circumference and running the full length of the log. The first cut that we take from a log containing the bark is called the slab cut, which entails removing a section of
the log that has no value as lumber. 

Each of the four faces of a log gives us an indication of the quality of lumber that we can expect after the slab cut from that log. Ideally, we want each face of a log to be as clear as possible, free of large knots, knot scars on the bark, insect damage, rot, seams, and splits. We can rotate the log into a position on the mill that concentrates as many defects as possible into one face. One way to try to increase the value of the lumber that is being produced is to put damage such as knots and knot scars on the edge of the slab, as such defects can sometimes be cut
away if the lumber later requires edging.

If you are selling hardwood logs, they can be graded using the US Forest Service grading system into No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 logs, which will cover most logs, though there are also two other grades of logs that can sometimes be encountered, a higher grade called “veneer” logs and a lower grade called “cull” logs. Cull logs are usually not worth sawing; it is probably a better use of your time to turn them into firewood. Details on the three common grades of logs can be found in Forest Facts # 74: Guidelines for Grading Hardwood Logs by E. M. Wengert and D. A. Meyer, University of Wisconsin Extension (1994). This log grading system is important because different grades of logs produce different grades of lumber with very different values and uses. The grades separate logs of the same size by at least 20% in value. Understanding log grading will help the sawyer select the best logs to more efficiently produce quality lumber.

Logs with large knots are usually not worth sawing, unless it is a rare wood or the wood is valuable enough that it can be used in smaller pieces, such as black locust or black walnut. It is important to saw your logs as soon as possible after the trees are cut down. Some species, such as aspen, beech, elm, red & sugar maple, pine, spruce, and yellow birch, will start showing decay and insect infestations within 2 months of being cut down, particularly in the warmer weather. Other species, such as ash, black cherry, black locust, and oak, will last longer without showing major problems. I have sawn black cherry and oak logs that were down so long that the outer sapwood was decayed, but the heartwood was fine.

It is important to understand in advance how your lumber is going to be used, and the differences between hardwood and softwood lumber. If hardwood lumber is going to be used to build fine furniture, it has to be entirely free of any knots and defects. If you had a large knot in a piece of hardwood lumber used as a turned chair leg, you would have a good chance of a weak leg breaking at the knot when someone sat in the chair. If hardwood lumber is going to be used for things like flooring or paneling, where lumber strength is not critical, defects may not
be very important. When I install the hardwood flooring that I make from my lumber, it is very easy to cut out the major defects and large knots that I find. If the lumber is being used for wall paneling, then eliminating all but the most unsightly defects is optional.

Softwood lumber is typically used as construction lumber. Since the branches of coniferous trees usually die when shaded and usually do not fall off the tree, almost all softwood lumber has numerous small knots. The way that softwood construction lumber is used is that it is usually overdesigned for the application strength required. Think of the way that a 2” X 6” vertical stud is used to build a wall, all of the studs work together to strengthen and support the wall.

Two types of knots commonly found in softwood lumber are black knots and red knots. A black knot is formed when a branch dies and the tree continues to grow over the knot for a number of years. A black knot sometimes separates from the wood around it and falls out, resulting in a knothole—for this reason black knots are also known as loose knots. A red knot results when the branch was still alive when the tree was turned into lumber, resulting in a knot that is solid in the board (hence they are also known as live or tight knots). The butt log is the bottom log of the
tree and will produce the most valuable lumber. I have seen estimates that the butt log represents 2/3 of the value of a tree. Since you are sawing lumber for personal use and not to sell, lumber grading is not as important, as you are likely going to find a use for every piece of lumber that you produce. A good summary of lumber grades and grading can be found in Woods to Woodshop – A Guide for Producing the Best Lumber by Gene Wengert, which can be obtained from Wood-Mizer.

There are log rules commonly available that estimate the board feet of lumber contained in a log of a given length and diameter. The board foot is a unit of measurement for lumber, representing the volume of wood in a board that is 1” thick X 12” wide X 12” long (or in any piece of sawn lumber containing the same 144 cubic inches of wood).

It is helpful to understand how the number of board feet in a log is estimated. There are three common log rules that are used in the Northeast; the Doyle log rule, the Scribner Decimal C log rule, and the International ¼ inch log rule. The Doyle rule is the oldest of the three and underestimates the lumber in smaller logs. The Scribner Decimal C log rule is the next most accurate rule. The International ¼ inch rule is the most accurate and is what I use to estimate the lumber in my logs.

To estimate the number of board feet in a log, measure the wood inside the bark at the narrow end of the log. This is because you want to cut boards the full length of the log and your slab wood will be thin at one end and much thicker at the other end, particularly when sawing the butt log, which sometimes has large butt swell. When sawing my red pine, the butt log is usually around 11” in diameter at the small end of a 10’ log. This results in a Doyle estimate of 31 board feet, a Scribner estimate of 40 board feet and an International ¼ inch estimate of 45 board
feet, which I find is the best estimate.

To help minimize defects in the lumber that you will be making, it is a good idea to cut your log a little longer than the final board you would like to use. For example, I cut my hardwood logs 8 ½’ long and my softwood logs 10 ½’long, as I would like my hardwood lumber to be 8’ boards and my softwood lumber 10’ boards. I have found that my hardwood lumber is rarely used in applications requiring 10’ boards. Many of the buildings that are built with my softwood lumber require 10’ walls, so I try to be prepared for that use.

So now you have cut some logs from your woods and are preparing to bring them to your mill. I would suggest setting up a level landing next to your mill so that you can easily load the logs onto the mill. The smaller end of the log should be where you start your cut. Hence, the smaller end of the log should be facing the sawyer. This is because you want to saw boards that are the full length of your log.

Sawmills usually come equipped with a small tank that allows you to drip water (usually with a small amount of dish soap) onto the blade as you are cutting. Particularly when cutting softwoods, resinous sawdust can build up on the blade, causing the blade to dive into the log and producing poor quality lumber. Dripping water on the blade reduces sawdust buildup. It is not as much of a problem when cutting hardwoods, but it is always a good idea to make sure sawdust is not building up on your blade.

The quality of the log determines the quality of the lumber that you will end up with. Currently I am sawing mostly red pine, so I have very few crooked logs, and very little heart rot in the logs. When I fell any tree, I check the bottom of the butt log to see if any heart rot is evident. If rot is present, small cuts are made until clean wood is obtained, as there is no sense in wasting my time on logs that will give me half rotten boards. I also cut out any crooked parts of the tree, as they too are a waste of time to deal with. With most of my red pines, I get five 10 ½‘ logs, with the butt log yielding between 40 - 60 board feet and the uppermost log producing about 25 board feet, for an average of around 185 board feet per tree.

The red pine lumber I saw is mostly used as construction lumber. I cut 1 x 3”, 1 X 6”, 1 x 8”, 2 X 4”, and 2 X 6” boards from the pine logs. One of the most common uses for my lumber is board and batten siding, which uses 1 X 8” boards as the siding and 1 X 3” boards as the battens. When I put this siding up on my buildings, I stain both boards before I attach them to the building, staining the battens on all sides. When I attach the 8" boards to the building, I am very careful to attach the bark side of the board facing the building, easy to remember as “bark to the barn”. If the board warps in the future, the edges of the board will warp into the building and will not pull the fasteners away from the building. It makes it much easier to adhere to this rule when attaching the boards if you stain the correct side of the board. I also use stainless steel screws to attach the boards, as rust resistant screws will eventually stain the wood.

There are probably as many different ways of sawing a log as there are sawyers. Most sawyers develop their favorite sawing techniques for the most common logs that they are sawing. While I will describe a sawing technique taught to me by a very experienced sawyer, you will probably develop your own techniques to fit your situation. After placing the log on the mill deck
with the narrow end of the log facing the sawyer, I make my opening slab cut so that the next cut will result in a minimum of a 3” wide board. I then rotate the log 90 degrees to make the second cut; this second slab cut is also sized to allow the next cut to produce at least a 3” wide board. Then I rotate the log again by 90 degrees for the third slab cut.

Before I make the third slab cut, I will refer to the number scale provided on the sawmill. In order to make an 8” wide board, I need a log at least 10” or preferably wider on the narrow end. The
number scale refers to the height of the blade above the sawmill bed. On the third opening cut, I am setting the width of the boards that that I will cut from the current log. I usually cut my boards a little wider than the nominal width, so I will cut an 8” board 8 1/4” wide, to allow for shrinkage and edging.

Many bandsaw mills manufactured today come with some variation of computer setworks to help the sawyer accurately set the thickness of the lumber being produced. On the Wood-Mizer
sawmill that I use, the setworks is called Simple Set. Simple Set allows me to set lumber thickness in increments of 1/16” and allows me to set up two different board thicknesses. On my saw I select Simple Set in increments of 1 1/8” and 2 1/8”, which will give me boards of 4/4” to remove during timber stand improvement (TSI). Trees that I did not want to cut down for firewood,
either because they were poor firewood species such as aspen, basswood, and white pine, or trees that had so much decay that they would have been dangerous to cut down, were
previously controlled by using hack and squirt. Now I could use the drill and fill technique, boring a 5/8” hole at a 45-degree angle two inches deep about every six inches around the
circumference of the tree. This hole was then filled with the highest potency herbicide that I could find, usually resulting in the death of the tree within a couple of months.

Now all of the small tools in my shop are battery-powered, eliminating the limitation of extension cords, and greatly increasing the versatility of these tools. Change occurring without
me really thinking about it. In another example, about ten years ago, battery-operated chain saws became available. I was pretty skeptical at first, wondering how a battery could produce
power comparable to that of an internal combustion engine. One way that they do it is by reducing the kerf of the chainsaw chain from to 3/16” from ¼”, reducing the power required by
25%. I borrowed a battery-operated chain saw from one of my friends, and was amazed at how well it performed. The current models are not suitable for felling timber all day long, but work very well at lighter tasks. I use mine for bucking and limbing logs at my sawmill. The problems associated with starting an infrequently used chainsaw are gone, as is the need of having fresh chainsaw fuel available.

The battery-operated chainsaw worked so well that I replaced my gas-operated blower, riding and push lawn mowers, and weed whackers with battery operated units. It is especially
nice not having to deal with starting and maintaining an internal combustion engine, the noxious fumes and loud noise, and always making sure I have gas on hand. We charge our batteries
using our photovoltaic (PV) system, making it especially convenient and economical. The riding lawn mower has been the biggest surprise, ramping up the amperage when running into
thick grass, and only rarely stalling. 

I would love to have a battery-operated sawmill someday. Wood-Mizer currently makes a battery-operated mill, but hydraulics for moving and turning the logs are not currently available. I currently get all of my power for operating the large tools in my woodshop, such as the jointer, planer, and table saw, from my PV system on the woodshop roof. It would be great to be able to saw my lumber someday with the power supplied by the sun.

In another instance of change, I recently visited the Greene Lumber Company in Davenport, NY, on a tour sponsored by the Catskill Forestry Association. The amount of automation used in converting the logs into lumber was truly amazing. On a given day at this mill, usually only one species is cut. All logs are first debarked, removing any dirt and stones that might be embedded in the log and potentially dulling the blade. The bark has value as mulch and is sold separately. The logs are then run through a metal detector before being sawn. Logs that have metal detected in them are sent to a separate area to see if any metal in the logs can be removed while minimizing any damage to the log during extraction.

The logs are then run through a head saw, which turns them into square cants that are resawn on another saw. I had never before seen saw blades that had teeth on both sides of the blade,
allowing you to cut a board every time the blade goes back and forth. The blades are changed with every eighthour shift. Any boards from the head saw that has bark on the outer edge of
the board (wane) gets trimmed in an edger. The slab cuts and edgings get ground up for the energy and paper markets.

The trimmed boards then get graded on what used to be called the green chain. The old method was that a lumber grader would examine both sides of each piece and assign each piece a grade. At this mill, grading and sorting of all lumber is done by a computer, with no human input involved. The graded lumber is then sorted into large stacks which are then stickered into large piles for drying. The computer then prints out a specific label for each stack of lumber, detailing the species, amount, and grade of lumber in the pile. The Greene Lumber Company has no kilns
at the Davenport site; all of their lumber is shipped to another company site that kiln-dries lumber from several company sawmills.

When the mill is operating, it employs 23 people. This doesn’t include the loggers and foresters who obtain the logs, or the truckers who bring the logs to the mill and move the lumber to the secondary possessing sites. The Davenport mill saws between 6 and 7 million board feet of lumber per year. This works out to roughly 30,000 board feet of lumber in a day. On my little Wood-Mizer sawmill I saw about 10,000 board feet of lumber per year. So, the Greene Lumber Company saws as much lumber in one morning as I saw in an entire year!

The contrast between a modern sawmill like that of the Greene Lumber Company and the water-powered late 19th-century sawmill that I visited at the Hanford Mills Museum in the
northeastern Catskills is astounding. Since the water-powered mill was first built in 1846, the technological advancement that has taken place in producing lumber is extraordinary, yet
inevitable. In a similar fashion, almost everything in our world changes over time. NYFOA too must change to prepare for the future, so our board of directors is currently hard at work on
figuring out what that change will look like, and how to best prepare for it.

Ed Neuhauser is NYFOA’s president. He saws lumber from his Groton, NY woodlot with a hydraulic Wood-Mizer LT35.