Due to limited availability and cost to purchase band saw mills large enough to mill the larger logs purchased from the Branson Landing, approximately one third of the logs purchased from the Branson Landing site will be milled using a two-man chain saw as seen in the photo above.  After hauling the majority of the logs to our Design Studio from the Branson Landing using "picker" trucks, two giant cottonwood logs remained at the Branson Landing.  These two log sections were too heavy for the "picker" trucks to load, therefore, they were milled on site.  The on site milling process for these two logs required nearly four days to complete.  

A typical day would yield approximately half of a log section of slabs.  We would arrive in the morning, cutting and loading slabs until lunch time.  After we had a trailer load, we would take them to the Design Studio to stack and sticker them for air drying in the afternoon.  All loading and unloading of the slabs was performed using pry bars, pipe rollers and manual lifting equipment (jacks and hoists), as we did not yet own a fork lift.  Due to the size and weight of the slabs, only half a log could be hauled at a time on our 16' utility trailer.

The two log sections were from one cottonwood tree.  The lower section measures 12'-8" long x 48" diameter at large end x 40" diameter at small end and the upper section measures 18'-4" long x 40" diameter at large end x 32" diameter at small end.

Below are photos and descriptions of the milling process for these two cottonwood logs.  A photo of the two-man chain saw mill in action can be seen on the front page article of the Springfield News Leader, September 28, 2004; Crafting a Slab of Branson's History.

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