Harvested timber and storm-fallen timber may both start as logs, but they arrive through completely different realities. Harvested trees are selected, felled, and processed under controlled conditions. Storm-fallen trees end up on the ground because external forces acted on them where they stood.
That difference matters because storms do more than knock trees over. Wind loading, saturated soil, twisting motion, and impact with the ground can introduce stress that is not obvious from the outside. A trunk can look clean and still hold internal fractures, compression zones, or fiber distortion created during the failure event.
In conventional harvesting, the fall is planned and controlled. In storm events, failure is uncontrolled. The tree may snap, twist, uproot, or slam into other trees. The log that reaches the mill may carry that history inside it. That is why storm-fallen material must be evaluated individually, with no assumptions about yield.
Storm-fallen timber also has a clock. Once a tree is down, exposure begins. Moisture cycles, insects, and fungal activity can move fast, especially in warm climates. Some logs remain strong and usable for longer than expected. Others degrade quickly. Condition is assessed, not guessed.
Old Growth Mill treats storm-fallen timber as a documentation-and-judgment problem first, and a sawing problem second. The goal is to make correct decisions in the right order. That protects safety, protects the material that can be saved, and avoids creating boards that will not perform.
Practical takeaway: storm-fallen timber is not free lumber. It is material that must be evaluated, documented, and milled according to the damage and stress the storm introduced.
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