# portamill in seattle



## emart (Mar 16, 2011)

about a week ago at 5 am i was woken to up the merry sound of a 60 ft black locust falling down in my front yard, clipping my roof, and taking out my power line. fast forward to friday april 6. that tree and all the other 6 nearby have been cut up into logs so now i have several thousand pounds of logs in my yard and no way to take advantage of it.

does anyone in the seattle area know of a porta-mill i can rent? i want to salvage as much of this wood as i can since it is notorious for being dense and having unique grain. i tried to split a small log and re-saw it on my bandsaw but the wood is just too dense to split and cut up quickly with my machines. i am hoping to make some rustic furniture with it as well as some fine projects too. i will post pictures soon including some of the grain from the one log i managed to cut up


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

No idea about the mill, but I have had a little luck resawing with my chain saw. Draw a lay out line and allow for a lot of waste.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Nobody who owns a mill is likely to rent it to you. There's
too much damage an inexperienced operator can do to
the machine. If I owned a mill I wouldn't rent it to you.

That said, there are used mills available in your area which
you could buy, use and resell without a huge amount of
trouble as long as you can afford to keep some money tied
up in the tool for awhile. Smaller mills hold value well. 
Larger ones depreciate more due to the smaller pool 
of qualified buyers.

There are lots of sawmill owner/users in the Northwest as
well. Some might do the work for a portion of the wood
in addition to a cash tip to cover expenses.

###

Looked at your profile. You do SCA stuff?


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## emart (Mar 16, 2011)

well when i say rent i should have really said hire. im looking for a portamill service or nearby lumbermill that i can hire to do this for me. i kind of wish i had room for a lathe in my shop i could make a LOT of bowls from the short pieces

i dont actually so much SCA but i do make my own armor and costume props for reenactors or conventions


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

I used to be involved in it. These days I reckon the convention
scene is bigger.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

A lot of sawyers advertise on Craigslist. Check the Farm and Garden section and the Materials section and Services section. I took a quick look and found three:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=2&subAreaID=&query=Portable+Sawmill&catAbb=bbb


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

Ask here and see if anyone can help you out.

http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/forestryext/sawmill/westernwa.htm

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/sawdry.pl


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

You may notice a lack of projects boasting about being made of black locust…there's a reason for that, and it is due to the fact that it is a miserable wood on blades. It is so full of silica it will send sparks from a chainsaw ( I have had that happen). I wouldn't slice it up on my mill unless a customer was willing to give me blade money up front. Not trying to discourage you, just getting you some less-than-wonderful facts before you make the investment. Best of luck if you do.


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## emart (Mar 16, 2011)

yeah i can see that being a problem. i do want to keep it however because it is unusual and its not easy getting hardwoods here. unless the wood you want is pine you will just about sell your soul for decent woods here. a plank of 1×5x6 oak is about $50 here.


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

Wow, that's hard to believe; I'm south of you, just across the Columbia river in NW Oregon, we have a dozen types of trees growing all over the place. Several sawyers around, many selling wood cut from yards or fields. I have probably 2k bf of burled and/or high figure big-leaf maple slabs, some black walnut, english walnut, cherry, silver maple, another maple I can't remember what type… lots of stuff. I'm putting a kiln together this year, hope to dry some up. If you want I'll let you know when I do and get you a much better price; I'd deliver it to Seattle in a volume deal.


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## alterjax (May 4, 2012)

I would be willing to work out a deal with you for some locust. I don't have 5 posts so I can't send you a message yet. Maybe you could msg me.


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## Allanwoodworks (Aug 15, 2010)

Emart,

I have a portable woodmizer saw mill. I live out in North Bend. If your still intrested please send me a PM and Ill get you my information.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Don't have the info in front of me but I found a listing of sawyers on the websites of portable sawmill manufacturers.


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## silentguy (Aug 6, 2012)

I know this is an old thread but this info might help others.
I found a list of Wood Mizer owners from Woodmizer. I had to call WoodMizer and they verbally told me about 10 people.

For Seattle, there was only 1 person who was willing to come to the city, most of the mill owners were far in other cities or counties, or on the islands.

He probably doesnt need the business, as he is very busy, but I would recommend Matt Bell in Snoqualmie, Washington.
You can get his number by calling Woodmizer, or if it's ok to post that here, I can do that, but I would rather not post it publiclly without permission.

He is a great sawyer, very thorough and professional, and with a lot of knowledge of his mill and how to use it.

He cut 4 logs of A Douglas fir tree for me in about 3.5 hours.
I got lots of 2X4s, 2X6's, 6X6's, two slabs, and 2 large squared logs.


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## silentguy (Aug 6, 2012)

I found info. on Matt Bells company online. Since this is already public info, I thought it ok to post here.

Tokul Creek Forest Services
4629 Tokul Rd Se
Snoqualmie, WA, United States
(425) 888-1849


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## CinnyWoo (Mar 29, 2011)

Hi, emart -

I realize the age of this thread may make my inquiry obsolete, but thought I'd give it a shot. I lost an old cherry tree last weekend (not in last night's storm) and would like to mill the trunk. What was your final solution and outcome to your locust problem?

Thanks in advance for your time - from Burien,
Cindy


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## emart (Mar 16, 2011)

I am actually building my own mill at the time of this writing. some of the smaller logs have since been split and using wedges and an axe and them milled in my shop(or turned into bowls). For you depending on how big the tree is I'd suggest hiring a mobile sawmill since that would probably be the cheapest option. One of the LJs on this thread has a mill in north bend.


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