Following, I hope you get a good outcome :)

I used to live in the mid hudson valley about an hour and a half from you. There used to be someone with a sawmill up there. Let me see if I can remember where...

BBL

Thank you Pennydesign! I'll contact Walker's Sawmill and see if they can help me out.

Too bad you don't have a longer section of the trunk that could be cut lengthwise into large live edge slabs. That would make a fine table!

Really that's what should happen to all these huge trees that people take down, but there aren't very many operations that pair up with tree services to collect logs and process them. There are a few, though.

look up flattening slabs with router on u tube

Thank you for the comments!

@toxcrusadr We DO have a few long branches that we intend to make into coffee tables. When I get in the garage I'll post a picture.

@Patrick Magliocchino Yes, I have looked on the web and youtube. We are going to build a "router flattening jig" to even everything out when the time comes. Since the three trunk slabs are so massive and heavy, ideally, I would want to cut them in half. That would give us a more manageable size to work with and provide us with a table that won't break through the floor. :)

One of the last resorts my family has discussed is renting a chainsaw. The trunks are just shy of 55 inches in diameter. None of us (except maybe my brother-in-law) has any experience with chainsaws. I'm not looking forward to that.

Hopefully, Walker's Sawmill can help out.

Thank you, everyone.

In the event Walker's Sawmill isn't aware,limbs are unsuitable for milling into lumber. The boards will twist and move for years.

Also, if the sawmill idea does not work out, best next try is the contractor who cut the tree down---he obviously has the saw/expertise to cut those pieces to a more manageable thickness. Then do the router flattening idea.

Depending on the size of the limb those may be just fine. The way you get them to stay straight is to stack them with stickers in between and add weight to the top. For thick slabs, a lot of weight. Concrete blocks or bricks. It takes about a year per inch of thickness to dry wood. If your logs have been cut for awhile they have already started drying.

BTW, on the big round slabs, watch out for cracking and splitting. If the cut end hasn't already split you're doing pretty well, but when you get them cut again, paint something on the cut faces to slow down the drying. They have special waxy stuff for this but any old paint will actually help. It will be planed/sanded back off when you use the slab.

Thank you for the comments, everybody.

@HandyMac We paid the tree cutting guys extra for the trunk to be cut into thirds. When we asked the contractor to cut those three sections in half, they suggested we go to a lumber mill and have it cut.

Update - Walker's Sawmill recommended a Portable Sawmill Company. I will call them this afternoon to check the price.

We started the project to save the wood and maybe learn something in the process. For that reason, I am willing to spend a little more than normal to get the job done. That said, I hope the Portable Mill isn't too expensive.

If it is too expensive, then, we are going to have some nice firewood.

Hope you like funk and/or fill. Those are going to nearly self-destruct as they dry.

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