Milling a giant sequoia redwood in Palo Alto

by Ryan Lee August 16, 2020

A homeowner in Palo Alto, CA was forced to take down a giant sequoia redwood tree due for safety reasons. We worked with him in July, 2020 to mill three large logs from that tree.

giant sequoia logs fallen

After some initial prep work -- propping up the logs, cutting the butt log in half, applying end grain sealer -- we set up a portable sawmill around the logs.

We hit a few embedded metal objects in the logs during the milling process, which is not unusual for yard trees. The grain pattern and the unique coloration of the giant sequoia was beautiful throughout the log.

giant sequoia slab grain

We left several slabs for the homeowner to make memorable furniture and then stacked and loaded the live edge slabs onto a 24' flatbed truck with a small telehandler.

Telehandler loading slabs onto flatbed

These slabs are currently being sold on consignment at Global Wood Source in San Jose. Even if you aren't looking to buy these, I'd highly recommend checking out their inventory!