Timber milling
Some trunks are far too good to put through a chipper. We are setting up to slab the best of them into furniture timber.
The part of the loop we are still building
Chipping a straight, clear, eighty-year-old blackbutt trunk into garden mulch is a waste, and every arborist who has done it knows that. Milling is the last piece of the Treecycling loop and the one we are working on now.
The idea is simple: when a trunk comes out of an Illawarra backyard with good form, sound timber and enough length, it gets set aside and slabbed rather than chipped. That timber then goes to local makers as bench tops, table slabs and furniture stock, with a known provenance down to the street it grew on.
What we expect to offer
- Slabs from local removals - blackbutt, Sydney blue gum, turpentine, camphor laurel and the occasional something unusual.
- Custom milling of your own tree - if a tree with sentimental value is coming down, we can slab it so it stays in the house as a table instead of leaving on a truck.
- Air-dried and stickered stock - slabbed, stickered and stacked to dry. Air drying hardwood is roughly a year per 25mm of thickness, so this is a slow business by nature.
This service is in setup and not taking orders. If you want to know when it starts, or you have a tree coming down that you think is worth milling, tell us now. We would rather set a good trunk aside than discover afterwards that it should have been.
If your tree might be worth milling
Mention it when you book the removal, not after. Once a trunk is cut into rounds for firewood the decision is made. Things that make a trunk worth slabbing are a reasonably straight section of two metres or more, a diameter over about 500mm, no embedded metal, and timber that is sound rather than hollow. We can tell you at the quote whether yours qualifies.
Timber milling, answered.
When will milling be available?
We are in setup. Register your interest and we will tell you when it starts rather than leaving you to check back.
Can you mill my tree for me?
That is the plan, and it is the part people ask for most. A tree with a bit of history in it makes a much better table than it does mulch. Flag it before the removal is booked so the trunk is cut to length for slabbing rather than to length for a firewood truck.
How long does the timber take to dry?
Air drying hardwood runs at roughly a year per 25mm of thickness, so a 50mm slab is a two year wait before it is stable enough to work. There is no way to rush it without a kiln, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
What species are worth slabbing around here?
Blackbutt and Sydney blue gum both produce good, workable timber. Turpentine is dense and durable. Camphor laurel, for all that it is a weed, makes genuinely beautiful furniture and there is a great deal of it in the Illawarra.
Want a price?
Ring or send your address and how much you need. Delivery across the Illawarra.