New mill markets small logs.

• Author: Phelps, Jack E.
• Position: Saxman sawmill, AK - Company Profile

A small sawmill in Saxman takes a new track for profits in the tricky timber trade.

Saxman Wood Product's J.C. Chappell thinks chipping southeast Alaska spruce and hemlock under 36 inches is unnecessarily wasteful. Not that he is criticizing anyone for doing it. The practice is simply the natural result of the market for southeast Alaska timber. After all, big logs are more valuable, and logging in Southeast is expensive.

Many trees cut in southeast Alaska are being shipped Outside as round logs, and it simply is not economical to ship little trees. Furthermore, most sawmills in the region are set up to cut big logs, again because that's where most of the market is. But smaller trees must come down with the big ones when a timber sale is logged; so they get chipped and used for pulp.

Chappell has a plan to change all that, and he has put action behind his theory. In May of this year, he began construction on a small-log mill on a three-acre lot he leased from Cape Fox Corp. at Saxman. The mill, which Chappell has dubbed Saxman Wood Products, is capable of sawing into lumber logs as small as 4 inches.

Other than its role as landlord, Cape Fox has no connection with Saxman Wood Products. "We have no plans to sell timber to him," says Cape Fox's Ernesta Ballard. Cape Fox, like other Southeast Native corporations, has title to 23,000 acres of timberland. They sell logs primarily for export and, while the company is reluctant to discuss its timber operations, Ballard says that timber sales currently comprise about half of the corporation's business.

Million-dollar Machines

Chappell indicates that, initially, he expects to get most of his logs from U.S. Forest Service sales in the Tongass. Federal guidelines stipulate that 50 percent of Tongass timber must be processed by mills operated by small businesses. Saxman Wood Products qualifies, and Chappell expects Tongass timber will keep him busy most of the time. He allows that he may buy some private sales "if we have a problem keeping the mill wooded. But I don't anticipate that in the near future."

The project is no small undertaking. By the time he is fully operational, Chappell will have invested more than a million dollars in the mill. His equipment consists of seven machine centers, including a brand new Fas-Track band saw head rig and a line bar re-saw...