SCOTT HERNDON HOMES
A Sandpoint, Idaho General Contractor
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Online Blog > Previous Entry 7/15/2014 > 09/01/2014 - Custom Sawmill Projects for Clients > Next Entry 10/20/2014

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Many years ago, we bought a Woodmizer LT15 sawmill to enable us to cut custom pieces of wood for customer projects. This month provided yet another opportunity to do so. A customer wanted a barn loft installed with Doug Fir logs from his site. For the decking, readily available Cottonwood was used (which is known primarily as great pallet lumber).

The first step in the process then is to transport the logs to our sawmill and process the actual lumber. Custom sawing gives the opportunity for custom sizes. For example, rather than a smooth planed 2x8 that is actually 1 1/2" x 7 1/4", we can cut to the more robust looking 2" x 8" dimension. And, if we avoid planing, we end up with a textured look that adds rustic character. Here is the sawmill in action:

Woodmizer LT 15 Sawmill

We air dry the lumber in stacks, and then, if necessary, we can re-saw after drying. This means we have the ability to get perfect timbers for your project. After drying, we either pre-finish the lumber in our shop or transport it on our flatbed to the job:

Sandpoint lumber transport

This lumber got pre-stained and then constructed into the barn loft:

finished Sandpoint barn loft

Here is an example of another project we have done recently. We needed an economical railing system to match posts and beams we cut for a project. The trees came from the very site where the building now sits. We used some of the smaller Western Red Cedar trees to mill into the rails and spindles and then assembled them in our shop:

Custom cut deck railing

And, here is the railing installed and painted. The posts and beams for this shed roof were the ones we also cut from this site:

finished Sandpoint shop

When custom sawing, no job is too small or insignificant. For a beautiful custom home we built for a client, we had to cut down an old, wind blown Douglas Fir tree from the building site. The tree did not offer up much useable lumber due to the wind blown "shakes", but we were able to harvest from the tree this fireplace mantel that was used in the home. It is a nice touch to be able to say that certain portions of the home were built from lumber harvested from the very home site:

Custom Fireplace Mantel