Your tree is probably worth milling if it has a straight section of trunk at least 8 feet long, it's a species people want as lumber, the wood is sound when you look at the cut ends, and it doesn't have a lot of metal grown into it. Size matters, but straightness and soundness matter just as much. A straight 16-inch oak usually beats a crooked 30-inch one.
"Worth it" also depends on what you want. If you want lumber from your grandfather's walnut for a table, a modest log can be worth it to you even when it wouldn't be to a log buyer. If you're hoping to sell the tree, the bar is much higher.
The quick check
Stand back from the trunk and answer five questions:
- Is there a straight section 8 feet or longer? Shorter straight pieces can still make slabs, benches or a mantel, but 8 feet is where boards start to be broadly useful.
- How big is it? Measure across the trunk. The bigger the diameter, the more lumber per cut and the wider the boards.
- What species is it? Some woods are in demand; some are hard to use.
- Is it sound? Look at the cut ends or the base for rot, hollows and soft wood.
- Is there metal? Fences, clotheslines, signs, swings and tree stands leave nails and wire in the trunk.
Three or more good answers and it's worth sending us photos.
Size: diameter and length
Diameter. Measure the small end of the log, inside the bark. Bigger logs give wider boards and more lumber for the same amount of handling. A 12-inch log, 8 feet long, holds about 32 board feet by the Doyle rule. A 20-inch log of the same length holds about 128. See the full board-foot chart.
Species: what people want
Species affects how the wood looks, how it works and what it's good for. In mid-Missouri, these are the common yard and fencerow trees, roughly in order of how often people want them as lumber:
- Black walnut. The tree most people hope they have. Dark heartwood, prized for furniture and slabs. Young or small walnut trees have a lot of pale sapwood and less dark heartwood.
- White oak. Strong, heavy and rot-resistant compared with most hardwoods. Good for furniture, beams, outdoor work and trailer decks.
- Red oak. The most common oak. Good for indoor furniture, trim and barn work. Not a good choice for outdoor use without protection.
- Eastern red cedar. Usually small logs, but aromatic and rot-resistant. Popular for closets, chests and outdoor projects.
- Cherry, hickory and pecan, maple, sycamore, ash, elm. All mill into usable lumber, each with its own quirks. Elm has interlocking grain that's hard to split. Sycamore shows a lacy figure when quartersawn. Ash needs to be milled soon after it dies; see milling ash before the borer ruins it.
Trees like silver maple (soft, moves as it dries), cottonwood, Bradford pear and box elder can be sawn, but they're harder to dry flat, less durable, or both. They're worth milling for a specific project, rarely for general lumber.
Straightness
A log is sawn along a straight line. Any bend means boards run out of the side of the log, and you lose wood every time.
- Sweep is a gradual curve along the length. A slight sweep in a long log can often be fixed by cutting it into two shorter, straighter logs.
- Crook is a sharp bend or dogleg. Cut the log at the bend.
- Lean matters too. A tree that grew at a steep angle often has stressed wood that warps and moves as it dries.
Look down the trunk from one end, like sighting down a board. If you can see a curve, so will the saw.
Soundness: rot, hollows and cracks
Look at every cut end you can see.
- Rot shows as soft, discolored or crumbly wood. A little at the edge of the heartwood is common. Rot that runs through most of the end is a bad sign.
- Hollows are common in older yard trees, especially at the base. A hollow butt can still hide a good log above it.
- Cracks and shake. Radial cracks from the center or a ring separating from the next ring both reduce yield.
- Fungus on the bark or a trunk that sounds dull and hollow when you hit it with a hammer means the inside has decay.
Wood that's been standing dead for a long time or lying on the ground for months usually has stain, insect damage and decay. A tree that just came down is usually at its best right now.
Metal
Yard trees and fencerow trees often carry nails, staples, wire, bolts and old hardware inside the trunk. Metal damages saw blades, stains the wood around it, and is the most common reason a yard tree costs more to mill. It doesn't mean the tree isn't worth it, but tell us what you know. See why yard trees cost more to mill.
Is it worth anything to a sawmill?
Most single yard trees are worth more to the owner as milled lumber than as a log sold to a buyer. Log buyers want volume, straight clear logs and woods-grown trees without metal. A single yard tree rarely checks all those boxes. The exception is a large, straight, clean black walnut or white oak, which can carry real value.
If you want the wood, custom milling turns your tree into your lumber, and you pay for the sawing rather than selling the log. See custom sawmilling.
Ask us whether we'd buy a particular log.
What one tree can become
A single good trunk can produce a stack of boards for shelves or a table, a set of live-edge slabs, a beam or mantel, or some of each. Where you cut and how you saw it decides the mix. A log can't be both wide slabs and square boards, so tell us what you want first.
For how cut patterns change the look of the wood, see flat-sawn, quarter-sawn and live-sawn oak.
Not down yet, or just came down?
If the tree is still standing, a tree service will need to take it down; we don't fell trees. Tell the crew you want to keep the log before they start, and read what to ask for. If the tree is already down, see storm-downed trees and how to store the log until it gets here.
Get a Quote
Send us a photo of each end, one of the whole trunk with something for scale, the species if you know it, and the diameter and length. We'll tell you plainly whether it's worth milling.