The first thing you need to know is that Sustainable Northwest Wood does NOT cut trees, or buy logs, or mill, dry or process any of our wood products, but luckily we know a guy... who knows a guy…..

Removing a tree from your property can be a painful decision for many reasons. Trees can hold the sentimental memories of climbing her branches, the value of shade and privacy for your home, and some may embody the history of having been planted by your grandparents.  Tree removals can be expensive and may require a special permit for removal, so be sure to look into local ordinances for your site.  

Special trees deserve to live on for a higher purpose than firewood. While some trees are actually best served as fuel, many others can be turned into usable lumber. There are a number of Urban Sawmills in our area that specialize in milling street trees at the end of their life. This service is not free and often not cheap.  Most urban sawmills do not pay for logs, except under very special circumstances.

There are a few pieces of info that are helpful to have at hand when you contact a mill for services. 

• Species of the tree 
• Size including length and diameter of potential logs
• Accessibility of the location on the property for equipment
• The possibility of embedded metal in the tree

Sawmills usually prefer logs de-limbed and cut to desired lengths by your arborist and it’s best to consider and plan for this before the tree is cut. Depending on the situation, some sawyers can arrange transportation to their sawmill to process the logs into lumber and others can bring a portable mill to your site to cut into dimensional lumber or live edge slabs or other special cuts.

Whether for your own re-use or just to know that your tree could become something useful, we have the list below of some great folks salvaging Urban Street Trees for a higher purpose.

Custom & Mobile Milling Services for Urban Street Trees Please read their info pages before reaching out so you understand the process and best way to move forward.

Burl and Grain

Epilogue Lumber

Windwood Milling