Woodworkers breathe life into lumber milled from “scrap” trees.

Portable sawmill owners all over rural America are changing the way people look at trees.

The sawmills transform nuisance yard trees or woods that need to be removed into lumber that craftsmen use for siding and trim, fencing, furniture, and heirloom pieces such as picture frames, wooden bowls, walking canes, and other beautiful and functional items. Much of the lumber produced by portable sawmills comes from trees that would otherwise be burned as firewood, landfilled in local dumps, or left to rot in the woods.

Woodworkers who have discovered the quality of lumber produced on portable sawmills like the control they have over the end product.

“The boards are custom cut, so you get exactly what you want instead of having to buy pre-cut boards at a lumber yard,” says Irv Dupuis, a Hart Great Lakes Energy customer and proficient woodworker hobbyist. Dupuis stays on the lookout for trees that he can have custom-sawn into boards he then fashions into trim moulding, fencing, and unique pieces of furniture. He recalls building tables from walnut boards sawn on a portable sawmill from trees that the City of Hart wanted removed. He has his own solar kiln to dry boards sawn from cherry, oak, walnut and pine trees.

Bud Stenberg of Pentwater built his own house in the 1950s and appreciates the warmth that wood rather than drywall or plaster brings to a home. His living room ceiling made from California redwood as an example.

Stenberg has a woodshop in his garage and has contracted portable sawmill operators to custom saw boards for trim and paneling in his home, as well as wooden blocks that he carves into duck and fish decoys.

“I got boards 15 inches wide from one cedar tree in my front yard,” says Stenberg, noting that it would be nearly impossible to buy such boards at a standard lumber company.

Dave VanDuinen, a teacher at Shelby High School, designed and built a second home as a family get-away in the School Section Lake area. He started the project over 15 years ago, adding to the home year by year. Lumber for wood trim in the home, mouldings, door jams and casings, a fireplace mantle, and a small table came from trees on site that VanDuinen had custom sawed on a portable sawmill.

“Sawmill wood is just different,” insists VanDuinen. “It has flaws in it, sure, but it shows the way the wood was when it was here.

“If houses are stories to be told, it’s a better story if you’ve done it yourself,” he explains of his determination to incorporate wood from his own property into the home.

“About half the work I do for other people with my sawmill is for hobbyists,” says Randall Maczka of Grant, who owns a Wood-Mizer sawmill. “I find my fellow sawyers and the folks I work for to be honorable people. I like that.”

Wood-Mizer is the world’s largest portable sawmill manufacturer with over 30,000 mills presently in use. Every two years, they sponsor a “Personal Best” contest to recognize Wood-Mizer sawmill owners who cut lumber for their own building projects to fulfill a dream. Maczka won the 2005 Personal Best contest in the miscellaneous interior projects category with a walnut gun cabinet made from boards cut on his sawmill and dedicated to the memory of his father, who intended his next woodworking project to be a walnut gun cabinet before he passed away in 1988.

Maczka put 767 hours of work into completing the gun cabinet, which shows some striking design features and is a testament to his carpentry skills.

Portable sawmill operators often take on jobs that big mills with circular saws won’t accept, such as sawing smaller logs or sawing just one or a few logs. Because the sawblades on portable mills are thinner than the blades on big circular saws, the mills produce more lumber and less sawdust than large commercial mills. As an added benefit, portable mills can be brought on-site.

Portable mill owners span a variety of ages and lifestyles and include women. Spouses with a portable sawmill may share sawing-related duties with their children as a family activity; teenagers operate mills to earn college tuition; retired people who like woodworking might start a portable sawmill business as a retirement career.

Portable sawmill businesses are usually rural and aren’t always listed in the yellow pages. To find mill owners who will custom saw logs, try checking classified listings in small weekly newspapers or ask local woodworkers if they know any portable sawmill owners.

Since trees are one of America’s most treasured natural resources, using portable sawmills to convert scrap trees into usable lumber is another conservation measure that just makes sense.