HOW WE GET RID OF SLAB WOOD: the mill’s main waste product

2 thumbs up for your parents raising you kids with such a good work ethic. WTG Mom and Dad!

In this country (Denmark) people have started to use it as sidings on garden sheds and shelters. It looks quite artistic and a good price is paid for it

When I was a kid my dad built us kids an 8x12 treehouse. He used slabs from a local saw mill as the siding with bark on. It made for a building that fit well in the scenic landscape around it. We had no problems with the slabs rotting or the bark. The slabs were free and we were poor at the time but as kids we didn't know that. To this day I don't know how he got the slabs to mate up against each other without gaps.

My dad was in the sawmill business most of his life. I respect you because I know how hard the work is. You're a doll.

I'm new to your channel, but not a sawmill. I retired last July from Hoge Lumber Co. They have a sawmill, and back in the 1970's they have over 250 employees. The sawmill was automated, logs were loaded with a Cat with front end forks and a claw. Debarked and sawn. The fletchs were cut to shorter lengths and ran thru a "Hog" which ground up these pieces and sent that to the silos. The silos fed our power plant boilers which powered our generators. They provided more electric than we needed so the excess went into the grid to power the town. Steam from the boilers ran the kilns. The dried lumber, mostly maple, was used to build bowling alley lanes, which Hoge was well known for. This was a very low emission and effective system. Sadly over the years business has slowed and left, the kilns are empty, and the sawmill is closed. The company is in the 3rd generation, with sadly no one comming up to take over. I worked in the Cabinet Shop, which is currently doing great and having a hard time hiring new employees. Like your videos and stay safe.

veteran sawmiller here, worked most of my life in sawmills. just retired from Missouri Tie. the loggers are contracted independants and they sometimes use slabs on their access roads,but here we call them plankroads. anybody is free to come and get scrap wood for firewood, but the slabs are banded up and sold to the nearby charcoal plant and sawdust is used in a furnace to treat the railroad crossties or hauled off to make particle board

Great video! I've been heating my home mostly with wood since 1987. Most of my wood supply comes from scrap from nearby commercial operations and a lumber yard. They don't want to pay to get rid of it, so they are happy to have wood stove users come and pick it up for free. Mostly it just needs to be cut to length, like your slab wood. I recently replaced the decking on an outdoor deck with scrap 2x4 and 2x6 lumber. I even reused the nails that were in them! Not galvanized ---- perhaps I'll have to pound in some more in another 10-15 years, or whatever. I'd call your slab wood sales a valuable local resource for homeowners.

Here in NZ that stuff is pure gold. Mills debark their logs and the slab is then chipped. The bulk of the chip goes to MDF factories to make MDF board. Any other chip is usually sold on as animal bedding especially for calving season. The chip also makes a great mulch under tree lines. Our company can't get enough bark or chip from our local mills. We windrow it (bark) and then screen it out to various grades. We have no problems selling it to landscape supply yards or direct to landscapers as a garden mulch. Also sell a lot on for biofilters (sewage processors, fish factories, rendering plants etc). The bark fines are composted along with an organic brew (lime and dry waste solids from the sewage plant) then screened into 3 grades that then form the base for potting mixes. Here in NZ there is also a move to wood fired boilers to replace coal and gas. All part of the renewable drive. Your average hospital here (pop 500,000) burns several 100 m3 of wood chip/waste per day. Waste wood suppliers get around NZ$7/m3 and that keeps going up as more large consumers look to switch to renewable fuels for boilers. Supply struggles to meet demand here.

We love your channel! We ordered an LT-35, arriving this October. Hubby is a carpenter since 1973 and is concerned about those beautiful locks of red hair of yours. A few moving parts on the machines, chains etc. Would hate to see you lovely ladies get injured. Please be careful out there👍🏻

You're proof that despite being in business you can still be good-hearted.

Fifteen bucks for all you could carry, that's some deal.

These slabs cost around 800 USD$ per chord in my country .... completely ridiculous. I love this video, you are such a great personality, down to earth, realy enjoyable. Thank you!

Those parents are truly blessed.

I buy slab wood here in mid Wales for £48 from my local mill in 4' square bundles by 16'. Have been cutting it into 2' lengths then building raised beds in the garden with it. Biodegradable so it will eventually return to the ground and enhance the soil. The slabs with no bark are used for other purposes such as pea and bean frames/ supports or covering an area ready for making a new bed :)

I like your simple approach . I started clamping together and resawing the slabs to joint for rustic looking fence panels. I give the rest away for stovewood or bonfires, or chip it.

I've used flitches for all sorts of things from chicken shed walls, garden shed walls, garden bed sides, firewood, mud tracks. The best ones can be used for the house out buildings, verandah sides. The list goes on and on. I'm glad you are trying to keep it all green. It will reward you more that way.

A lot of people around here use slab wood for crafts and stuff like maple syrup ect.enjoyed the video thank you for your time and work.

Newbie here to the channel.........Great work young lady. You have already refined many aspects of presenting and have further potential within you as you know, keep up the great work. Parents must be proud of you. God bless and keep up the great personal development and work at the yard.

Man, where was $15/truckload slabwood when I was heating my home with firewood? That would have been perfect and saved me a lot of time. Glad you guys are finding so many uses for this stuff. Wood truly is a versatile material.

Thank you for addressing this Emerald, this was my query a few weeks ago and the biggest question in my mind from the day I started following you guys. Wish I could pick that stuff up in the UK I've never seen it available here. I would use it for loads of stuff - rustic fencing, animal shelters, barn siding, everything. Virtually all our timber comes in from Scandinavia ready milled.