A Sawmill Is More Than a Saw

The Wood-Mizer LT70 gets all the attention, and fair enough, since it is the machine that turns a log into lumber. But a lot has to work around it before a board ever leaves the yard, and most of it never shows up in a photo.

The edger

A board comes off the mill with bark on both edges. The edger squares those edges up, which lets the sawyer keep sawing instead of stopping to flip and trim boards all day.

The conveyors

They carry boards and sawdust away from the saw so the mill can keep running. Nobody takes a picture of a conveyor, but everybody notices the day one goes down.

The Pettibone and the Bobcat

The Pettibone is our telehandler. It unloads the log trucks, and when your order is ready, it is what sets the package on your trailer. The Bobcat, an S250, handles everything the Pettibone does not. Three scoops of sawdust is about a yard, in case that ever comes up at a party.

The kiln

Our kiln is a 2017 Wood-Mizer KD250 built into a 40 foot shipping container, of which we use about 25 feet. It is the only kiln in Montrose County running 100% local wood. More on kiln drying.

What comes next

We do not have a planer or a moulder yet. Today, every board that needs a profile gets straight-line ripped here and then goes to our moulding partner. Bringing that work in-house is the plan.

None of this equipment is fancy, but all of it has to run, every day, for an order to come out right. That is most of the job.