Milling the Wood
Once the tree is cut down it will need to be milled into boards. I currently do not have a mill, so I bring the wood to a friend in Bastrop, Tx to have it milled. The mill that is used is a bandsaw mill, which is the most efficient in cutting through a piece of wood with the smallest kerf or wood loss due to sawblade. I have an Alaskan sawmill at my shop that is used on burls or something that I would be cut perpendicular to the tree grain. My Alaskan mill used a Stihl 066 chainsaw to power the 32 inch blade.
The thickness of the boards cut is determined by the size, shape, characteristics, etc of the log and also what the furniture maker plans to build with it. To mill a tree the log is put on the mill and the first cut will go down one edge of the log to get a flat surface cut. When that is done the log is turned on the flat and then you can mill the rest of the log. Sometimes the sawyer may cut the adjacent edges of the log so that the boards that come off the mill have a flat edge and not a natural edge.