Bring us your log and we'll saw it into boards, slabs, beams or a mantel. We're a working Columbia-area sawmill, and custom milling of your logs is the main thing we do: yard trees, storm-downed trees, and trees a tree service has just taken down. We also sell rough-sawn lumber, live edge slabs and mantel beams cut from local logs.
Bring us your log: how custom milling works
Most jobs start with a few photos and a tape measure. Send us pictures of the log, its diameter at the small end, its length, and the species if you know it. We'll tell you whether it's worth milling, what it could become, and roughly what it will cost.
From there it goes like this:
- Get the log to our yard. Our mill is stationary, so the log comes to us. You can haul it on your own trailer or have the tree service that took the tree down drop it off. Our custom sawmilling page covers the options.
- Pick a cut. Boards for a project, thick slabs for a table, a beam for a mantel, or a mix from one log. We'll suggest a cut pattern that gets the most usable wood out of what you have.
- We saw it. We check the log for metal, square it up and cut it to your list.
- You take it home. Fresh-sawn wood is wet. We'll show you how to stack and sticker it so it dries flat.
The full walk-through, including how to store a log until it gets here, is on our custom sawmilling page.
Storm-downed or removed tree?
A big tree that came down in a storm, or one you're having removed, doesn't have to leave as firewood or chips. A straight trunk of walnut, oak, cherry or another good hardwood can turn into hundreds of board feet of lumber. The decision has to happen before the crew cuts it up, though. Once a trunk is bucked into 18-inch firewood rounds, it can't be milled.
If a tree is down or coming down, tell the crew you want to keep the trunk in long, straight lengths. Our storm-downed trees page covers which trees are worth it and what to say to your tree service. If you run a tree crew, see our page for tree services.
What your tree can become
One good log can go a lot of directions. A few of the most common:
- Lumber for shelves, cabinets, furniture, trim, barn siding, fence boards or trailer decking.
- Live edge slabs for a dining table, desk, bar top or bench, with the natural edge of the tree left on.
- Beams and mantels cut as a solid timber from the heart of the log.
- A mix. It's common to take a couple of wide slabs from the center of a log and turn the outside into boards.
The tree's story stays with the wood. A table from the oak that shaded your backyard for 60 years means more than one from a store.
Missouri species we mill
Mid-Missouri grows good hardwood. Black walnut, white oak, red oak, hickory, cherry, sycamore, maple, elm and ash all show up in Boone County yards and woodlots, along with eastern red cedar along the fence rows. Each one saws and dries a little differently, and some are worth a lot more as lumber than others.
Our Missouri wood species page covers how each one saws, dries and gets used.
Lumber, slabs and mantels in the yard
Not everyone has a log. We also sell what we saw from our own logs: rough-sawn hardwood lumber by the board foot, live edge slabs, and mantel beams and timbers cut to length.
Stock changes as logs come in and wood sells. Tell us what you're looking for, and we'll tell you what we have or can cut. We don't have a kiln yet; our kiln drying page explains where that stands.
What it costs
Custom milling is usually priced by the hour or by the board foot, with a minimum charge and a fee if the saw hits hidden metal. The size and straightness of the log, how many logs you bring and the cut pattern all move the price. For scale, a straight log 20 inches across the small end and 10 feet long holds about 160 board feet by the Doyle log rule, enough for a dining table and a pair of benches with wood to spare. Bringing two or three logs at once usually gets more out of the minimum charge.
Our pricing page has a price table, what raises or lowers a bill, and a milling cost estimator that works out the board feet in your log.
Visiting the yard
Send us a quote request and we'll reply with directions to the yard and when to come. Message us before you bring a log so we know it's coming and can tell you where to unload. Our contact page has the quote form.
Areas we serve
We serve Columbia and mid-Missouri, roughly 40 miles out. That takes in Ashland, Hallsville, Rocheport, Centralia, Fulton, Boonville, Jefferson City, Moberly and Mexico.
See our service area page for distances and how people from each town get logs to us. Questions we hear often are on our FAQ, and you can read about us. For more on getting the most from a tree, browse our guides.
Get a Quote
Have a log, or need lumber, a slab or a mantel? Send us photos and measurements, and we'll reply with a quote.