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wood to good use Finestkind Builders has embarked on an enterprise to clean up fallen trees from a wind storm last summer on Cliff Island, while providing a needed product and jobs for nine islanders. Roger Berle (at left), owner of Finestkind, saw an opportunity that was too good to pass by: locally cut and milled wood could bolster the local economy, provide a value-added island product and clean up large areas of forest that were wiped out by an unusual  "microburst" wind last August, which felled large stands of spruce in swaths up the island's hillsides, Berle calls it "making lemonade when you've got lemons."Early in the fall, Berle began looking into different types of portable mills and settled on the Lucas Mill, a circular saw designed in Australia and still relatively new. According to crew members the mill is simple to use, minimizes waste and allows a sawyer to cut the most product out of each log. The crew is cutting dimensional lumber, kiln dried on the premises, By last November, nine lobstermen and carpenters were cutting and limb fallen spruce trees and then milling them into 2-by-4s and 2-by-6s, as well as other custom sizes The boards will be used in construction projects on Cliff and other nearby islands; orders are welcome. For information, contact Dale at 766-2827 -Annette S. Naegel Article from Working Waterfront/Inter-Island News, March 1999 An Island Institute publication (picture is not from the article) |
Sawmill photos New 3/16