Portable Lumber Production

Portable lumber production allows sawmills to be brought to the harvesting area and process logs into lumber onsite. This is in contrast to traditional lumber production where the log is transported to the sawmill. Sawmill types range from simple manually operated units to fully automatic hydraulic units with many options to relieve the operator of physical and time consuming duties. Especially useful to log house construction, post and beam framing, low volume production of specialty hardwoods, specialty timber products, small woodlot homeowners and urban timber harvesting.

Small and transportable these sawmills range in portability from being packed in pieces by animals or people, the back of trucks or fully assembled and towed by trucks. Setup time is quick and involves shimming and alignment to get guide rails straight and level. Most portable sawmills are designed to be operated by a single person, however a second person usually results in increased lumber production. Portable debarkers for pre processing logs and edgers for post processing lumber are also available. In addition larger and faster mills exist which are portable only in sections and require a couple days to assemble with the help of small cranes. Multiple operators are required to operate these mills.

- Logsol, Baker Products, Peterson Pacific Corp, TimberKing images.