Printable View
I have a friend in the Grand Rapids Michigan area who has a fairly large wooded lot. He is going to cut a few trees down this year and I am welcome to the wood but would need to hire a portable mill to process the wood.
I'm not sure what he will be cutting down but I do know he has Maple, Oak, Cherry and Walnut on the property.
What should I look for when hiring a mill?
Experience. Find someone who knows how to maximize quality and will cut to your specifications. Be on site during the milling to make the necessary decisions to the operation.
Definitely be there. And experience does count as Al said.
One of my pet peeves is several different sawmill guys (I don't call them sawyers) seem incapable of sawing a 5/4 board. >:-(
And I highly recommend sawing at least some 5/4 for tops.
Check with your guy the best one I used charged $150 set up fee and then by the BF. You can offer to supply labor especially if sawing slabs that may help make a better deal.
Try to inquire at Mactech company.
Find a miller that understands how to mill grade lumber. Woodmizer's website is a good resource for finding local millers.
hows the update of this thread?
have a cut list of what you want. Most mills can cut 4/4 5/4 6/4 8/4 0r what ever you want. When I used to travel with my mill I hated when people said cut what you can. So I started to cut 6x6 or 8x8 or what ever I could get out of a log it didn't take most wood owners to figure out they better tell me what they want