Best Sawmill Services in Wisconsin, According to an Experienced Sawyer

If you've got logs sitting on your property and you're trying to figure out what to do with them, the first thing I'll tell you is this: hire a local sawmill if you can. 

A sawmill operator who works in your region knows the wood species you're dealing with, knows how Wisconsin weather affects drying times, and can actually get to your property without charging you a hefty travel fee. 

But "local" doesn't always mean available. Wisconsin has a solid community of sawmills and portable sawmill rental services, but not every mill takes every job. Some have minimum log volume requirements. Some won't touch storm-damaged trees. Some are booked out for weeks. And if you've got a black walnut that came down in a storm, you want someone you can fully trust. 

So here's how I'd approach it: figure out what your project actually needs first, then find the sawmill service that matches.

Before You Start

The biggest time-waster in this process is calling five different sawmill services and answering the same questions over and over. Or worse, realizing day-of the mill can't handle what you've got. Before you reach out to anyone, it helps to know your log sizes, species, site access situation, whether the tree is storm-damaged or might have metal in it, and roughly how many logs you're working with.

We put together a full guide on this: Portable Sawmill Service: What to Know Before You Book. Worth a read before you start making calls.

Map of Sawmill Services in Wisconsin 

Best Portable Sawmill Services in Wisconsin & Minnesota

A portable sawmill service brings the equipment to your property (you don't haul anything). That changes the logistics significantly for most landowners and homeowners, especially if you're dealing with a single tree, a remote location, storm damage, or a log you'd rather not move.

If you want a deeper breakdown of when each makes sense, we covered it here: Traditional Sawmill vs. Portable Sawmill: Which Is Right for You?

Here are some of the best portable sawmills in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Best Traditional Sawmills in Wisconsin

Traditional wood mills in Wisconsin are a good option when you've got volume. These sawmills run faster on high volumes and often have kilns on site, which matters if you need dried lumber fast.

The trade-off is that you're hauling logs to them, which adds cost and logistics. Not to mention most traditional mills won’t even take “homeowner” logs. Instead they buy only from logging operations and established supply chains they trust. If they do take homeowner logs, they have minimum size requirements and won't take storm-damaged trees or logs with metal contamination. 

What to Ask Before You Hire

Once you find a local sawmill that fits your needs, there are still some questions you’ll want to ask before hiring. Here's what I'd want to know if I were on the other side of the call:

• Do you come to me, or do I haul logs to you? These are two completely different services. Make sure you know which one you're getting

• What log diameters and lengths can you handle?

• If applicable, do you work with storm-damaged trees? Can you mill logs with possible metal contamination?

• How do you charge, hourly or by the board foot? Hourly is straightforward. Board-foot pricing rewards efficiency and tends to work better on larger volumes.

• What's your travel radius, and is there a travel fee?

• What do I get at the end of the day? Green lumber, live edge slabs, rough-cut dimensional stock? Know what you're getting before anyone shows up.

• Do I have to have a way of moving the logs? Many times logs stacked in a pile can be transferred to the mill without machinery. However, having a machine on site for the day of milling increases productivity drastically. This is especially true when the bigger the logs, when machinery typically becomes a requirement. 

Additional Resources & Directories 

If you're still looking for options beyond this list:

• Wisconsin DNR Urban Wood Directory: Operator listings with capacity specs by region.

• Wisconsin DNR Forest Products Industry Listing: An interactive map designed to connect buyers of wood with Wisconsin’s primary mills

• Urban Wood Network: Searchable member directory, especially useful for salvage and storm-damage situations.

• portablesawmill.info/wisconsin: Smaller independent operators who may not show up in the bigger directories.

Book Your Portable Sawmill Service

Wisconsin has good wood and good sawyers, and I genuinely mean that. There are people on this list doing excellent work. If one of them is right down the road from you, call them first. But if you're in northern Wisconsin or Minnesota, we'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you've got. Nine times out of ten, we can work with it.