I had my first experience at a sawmill today. I recently found a place within 10 miles of my house. I have only ever used BORG lumber on my projects and I wanted to see what it would be like to work with something else. I had hoped to find some 8/4 & 12/4 pine for the bed I am building. It was an interesting day as I got to watch them cut some fairly large logs while I was there.
The selection was limited at this mill, with very little pine that was even close to dry enough with which to work. I bought some rough sawn 5/4 stuff just to see what it is like to work with. The guy said it was still a little wet and I should plane it smooth and let it sit for a week or two before doing any glue ups with it (I guess he knows best).
He tried to convince me to go to another mill because he does not keep much kiln dried stock in inventory. Most of this stuff is for large orders and he usually packs the kiln clear full and sells the entire load all at once with very little extra, if any, for walk in customers.
Sorry there are no pics of the mill, I forgot the camera.
Here are some pics of the stuff I bought ...
Here are some before and after planing pics