The sawmill

About a year ago we had a huge broken limb removed from the horse chestnut tree on the side of our house thinking that one day we would make a mantel out of it. How cool it would be to have a mantel made out of part of the tree outside our window. I am just trimming the tree a little but you can see on the lower left where the branch was cut.



Well today was the day. We loaded the branch into the truck and took it to a small sawmill in town. The young man, Travis, who runs it asked if we wanted to watch him mill the branch. Of course we stayed to watch.



It was a unique place filled with old saw blades and tools and a late 1800's planer. This looks safe.



He had a boom jerry-rigged to an old truck. Pretty resourceful but I don't think OSHA would approve.





It is finished being milled and now Travis is taking off the edges with an axe.



The final product before staining which we will do in the fall. Thanks to Corey and Chas for lifting it - it weighs a ton.


If anyone is looking for wood for making furniture, Travis at Middle Valley Lumber has a huge stock of extraordinary wood of all kinds - walnut, cherry, hickory, oak, etc. all dried in drying shacks on his property.