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TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT S AND EQUIPMENT Photos provided by David Boyt By David Bo yt T rees eventually come down. It's a fact of life.The U.S. Forest Service estimates that trees cut in urban areas pile up roughly 52,000,000 tons of branches, leaves and stems each year in the United States.For most tree services, grinding or chipping the branches into mulch is a routine service.Some cut up the larger branches and stems for firewood either for the land owner,or sell it themselves for additional income. But what about the big logs? Over 5 billion board feet,worth about 1.25 billion dollars could have been salvaged from urban areas in 2007.Yet selling logs can be a challenge. Large commercial sawmills generally deal with only a few species,and cut for specific markets, such as flooring or trim.Even if a mill is will- ing to take an odd log, it will pay so little that you will not likely be back with another load. Urban trees grown for shade and aesthetics generally do not have the straight, tall stems that sawmills need.The biggest issue is metal embedded in the log.Ask any sawmill operator about hitting metal, and you will likely hear harrowing tales of teeth parting ways with the saw blade with bullet-like speed,sending all hands diving for cover from the flying metal.A $1,200 blade can be destroyed before the sawyer can flinch a muscle. Some of the more interesting metal strikes include steel posts, bolts,wrenches,and even a car axle left leaning against a tree.Even cutting through a nail can shut down a mill for sharpening.Such encounters are common with urban trees,where nails from tree houses,garage sale posters,and lost pet notices remain as reminders of the families they once shaded. Small sawmills that use band saw blades solve these problems,and a growing number of tree care businesses are either hiring custom sawyers 14 Arbor Age / May/June 2012 The Norwood manual band saw mill has a low initial investment and has a fast learning curve. The operator provides the power for loading and turning the logs, as well as pushing the blade through the log. Hydraulic log handling can be added to reduce the effort. to come in and mill logs,or are investing in band sawmills for their own use. Band sawmills typically run engines from 15 to 40 hp., although larger and smaller models are available.The blade is safely tucked inside a guard.If it does strike metal,the worst that can happen is the loss of $40 and five minutes to replace the blade.The cash outlay for these machines ranges from about $8,000 to $40,000,depending on capacity and options, such as hydraulic log handling and computerized setworks.The learn- ing curve is surprisingly short,even for people with no experience.In fact, I have found that it is easier to teach a novice to run a band mill than to work with an experienced sawyer who is used to running a production circle mill. Most of my logs come from the Ozark woods — oak,hickory,wal- nut, and cedar, with the odd Osage orange, persimmon, sassafras, and mulberry.Now and then,a tree service calls to let me know about a log that might interest me.These are usually too big to be cut for firewood and can't be easily moved without special equipment. It saves the tree service time and money, and it provides me with logs of unusual size and shape — exactly what I need to provide custom woodworkers with the raw material for tables, desks, cabinets, and other furniture. Unlike the production sawmills, I thrive on the unusual, and can make more money on a single wide slab of maple than a production mill can make on an entire log.My Norwood MX34 sawmill is a manual mill — I load, turn, and clamp down the logs with muscle power, and push the blade through the logs by hand.The mill handles logs between 3- and 16- feet long and up to 34 inches in diameter, and has a flexible clamping www.arborage.com