Ordie Price's Sawmill

Ordie Price’s Sawmill is known throughout the world for producing and packaging some of the world’s finest hardwoods. We wholesale our products across North America as well as overseas to countries throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Even recently, several loads have made it as far as Asia. To some, Ordie Price’s Sawmill is not a business, but rather a brand name.

In the past two years Ordie Price’s Sawmill has began placing a greater emphasis on retail and local sales. Where we used to sell packs of kiln-dried rough-cut, we are now able to sell pieces. Weather a contractor or home owner, hobbyist or wood enthusiast, we can help you with your lumber needs, be it two pieces, 200 board feet, or more.

New to our retail sales mix is the ability to surface, straight line, and mould any lumber we carry in stock. Surface two sides (S2S), surface 4 sides (S4S), straight line rip one edge (SLR1E), and any flooring, paneling, siding, or moulding is now available. Ordie and Austin carry some standard items and profiles in stock, and have the ability to match profiles and do custom work when necessary.

Our Mill

Logs come to our yard from a variety of sources. First and foremost would be independent loggers. These individuals, or businesses, will acquire a parcel of standing timber on their own and sell us the logs once they are cut. In addition to loggers there are property owners, such as farmers, who will timber their land. When this is the case, they will cut enough timber for a load of logs and call us to come pick them up. Also in the mix are the people who come across timber or logs and simply deliver them in. Another source of timber comes from consulting foresters. And finally, Ordie Price’s Sawmill obtains timber from its own land.

As the logs enter our yard, Ordie E. Price III scales them, meaning he measures the volume and assigns a grade to each log. For the most part, larger and cleaner logs will pay more. Once the load of logs is scaled they are sorted accordingly, primarily for specie and length.

When logs enter the mill they first go through the debarker. This machine removes the tree bark, along with dirt, mud, rocks, and any other abrasives that may dull our saws. Once debarked, the log then travels through a metal detector. Any logs containing metal, such as nails, barbed wire, etc., are kicked out of the mill. Logs that make it into the mill proceed to the head saw, or main saw.

At the head saw, Ordie or Austin A. Price, will load an individual log onto the carriage and dog, or hold, it in position. Once dogged on the carriage, the carriage will then travel a straight line back and forth past the saw blade. Currently Ordie Price’s Sawmill uses a 60” single cut band saw. After the first cut, the log is turned down 90 degrees so that the flat surface the saw created is now resting flat on the carriage. The log is now dogged again. This process repeats until what was once a round log is now a square timber or cant. At this point the cant moves on the next machine called a resaw. Any boards that are taken on the head saw travel down a series of roll cases to the edger or a lumber deck.

The resaw operator will examine each face of the cant before it enters the 48” single cut band saw. The operator is looking for the face that will yield the highest-grade board. If the board needs to have its rough edges, or wane, trimmed off, the resaw operator will send the board to the edger. If the board is okay the way it is, it will proceed down a series of roll cases to a lumber deck. The remaining cant circles back around on what is called a merry go round system, traveling through another metal detector on its way. At this point, the resaw operator is reexamining the remaining cant to determine which face is now the best face to take the next board. This continues until the cant gets down to a 3” by 4” block, or the grade of the cant falls below a certain level. Throughout the course of a shift, this is done to each and every cant in the mill.

As boards approach the edger, the edger operator will visually inspect both faces of the piece to determine how much wane, bark or lack of wood, can be left on the piece. Industry standards dictate how much wane is tolerable in certain grades of lumber. The now edged board travels down a belt the same lumber deck the head saw and resaw feed.

Also located in the mill is a 42” single cut resaw. This band saw is used primarily for any remanufacturing that needs to be done, or it can handle cants smaller in size. Any lumber that goes through the 42” resaw then goes onto the same lumber deck as mentioned above. Once all of this lumber is on the deck, it travels to the grading deck located before the multi drop saw trimmer. Ordie and Austin will then inspect each and every piece of lumber that comes out of the mill. As they inspect each board, they determine and assign a grade to the piece and mark it accordingly. Some boards need to be trimmed, while other do not. The lumber then travels down a series of roll cases and is automatically sorted for thickness. Thinner material is transported one-way and thicker stock the other way. Once at the green chain, where green lumber is piled, lumber is generally sorted by thickness, length and grade.

While some lumber is sold green, wet, out of the mill, there is some that we keep to put through our dry kilns. Once the lumber is stuck, put on spacers, we let it air dry. After some time, depending on the thickness and specie of wood, we load it into a dry kiln.
We have four traditional dry kilns, operated by Ordie and Austin, with an average total capacity on 200,000 board feet, 50,000 per kiln. Our wood fired boiler heats all four kilns. Any sawdust from the sawmill is blown into a silo that feeds this boiler.

Once a charge of lumber is dried to and industry standard of 6% - 8% moisture content, it proceeds to our dry line. Here, lumber is reinspected by Ordie or Austin. Once reinspected, each piece is double end trimmed to ensure the best possible grade and quality. Lumber is then sorted accordingly by thickness, length, grade, and/or any other required specifications. Upon being sorted, lumber is tallied in order to obtain accurate volumes, and placed in our inventory system. From this point, the package lumber is waiting to be sold.

Please view the rest of our site and feel free to contact us with any questions or inquiries. We look forward to hearing from you!