Logs to lumber: An aerial journey through the sawmill

COLVILLE, Wash. - Take an aerial tour of Vaagen Brothers Lumber's operation flagship operation in Colville, Washington.

Today, in addition to operating a flagship facility in Colville, Washington, Vaagen Brothers Lumber operates sawmills in Usk, Washington and Midway, BC - with the recent addition of a planer mill in Athol, ID. At each Vaagen operation, quality lumber begins with quality trees. High-quality small trees yield good small logs, starting at 4 and a half inches on the small end and 14 inches on the large end. Species range from Douglas Fir, Larch, Pine, and Hem-Fir.
 
Log supply comes from private, state, federal, and tribal land. Once logs arrive at the Colville operation, they are weighed and unloaded by the companies 128 foot P and H crane. Towering above the mill, the crane feeds logs into all machine centers and handles 500 bites of material per day.

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About the author
Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].