Tree species/milling question

[FlyingDutchman]

Hey all. I have an old farmstead with a bunch of old norway spruce on it. I have a dozen of them that have died and fell. Some of them are up to 24" around but rarely solid at that diameter. It makes okay firewood but I had some interest in having some of it milled. I know anything CAN be milled, better question is if it should.

I also have some black walnut logs that are slightly less than 8 foot, 8-12" diameter and straight but "interesting" that I saved to be milled, but haven't been able to find anyone to do it. I was told that that is too small.

 

[njd333]

Those walnut logs are not too small to mill. A mill designed for a 20" or less bar would be perfect for that job. I've milled plenty of logs that size for making canoe paddles and it is surely worth it.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

njd, thanks for the reply! It would be fun to make my own brew paddle for my home brew operation!

I've been reading into milling with an alaskan type mill on my own,and I have made some really crude boards by screwing pieces of OSB on the outside of logs and snapping chalk lines on the boards. would be impossible with anything longer than 3 or 4 feet.

 

[buttercup]

I posted these down in the picture forum but I guess they could be relevant here as well, it's all worth it - and fun too.

 

[Justsaws]

The description of both the spruce and the walnut would fall under the answer of probably have to do it yourself. You might find someone who is willing to mill on site for a fee however it would probably be hard to justify the cost with what you have described.

 

[ML12]

I agree that you'll probably have to mill those yourself. We have recently milled a bunch of 8"-12" x 4ft long black walnut branches etc. that we got from a homeowner that had some trimming done. The husky 181 w/ a 28" bar flew through them.

Buy one of the knock off granberg Alaskan mills from china and go crazy.