Buying Lumber from a local supplier is the norm for most woodworkers. But more and more woodworkers are cutting their own lumber. Where do they get the logs? ... mostly from urban trees that are cut down or blown down by wind storms. Getting logs is often easy. Getting them to a manageable size and in a place that you can cut them can be bit more tricky. Not every neighbor is willing to put up with the sound of someone next door milling hundreds of board feet of lumber ... but, for many, it is still an alternative.

Very often you can find trees that are diseased or that simply get too large for the area they are in and they need to be taken down. Rather than have the wood cut into firewood, it is possible to cut the tree in to manageable size logs and then into borads that you can use ... and if you are a wood turner, you can find some fantastic wood patterns in where limbs and roots attach that can make some stunning turning projects.

You will need some sort of a mill, but for a small investment a good chain saw and with somehting called an Alaskan Chainsaw Mill, you can go about cutting your own lumber.

Copyright - Colin Knecht
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