Marginal Logs and Profitability of Low Investment Sawmills

Woodlot owners and management advisors, as well as industry, would benefit if volume tables and log scales were modified to reflect more closely the board foot volumes in small diameter logs. A cost study of a white pine logging-milling operation shows that in some situations 4-inch diameter logs can be processed profitably. If foresters inadvertently encourage old, largely depreciated sawmills to drop out of existence simply because of traditional assumptions about minimum log sizes, the already critically limited raw material supply will be reduced further.