Cowls Sawmill Specializes in Red and White Oak, Eastern White Pine and Eastern Hemlock.

Cowls saws local red oak, white oak, white pine and hemlock post and beam timbers and lumber at its sawmill in North Amherst, MA. Eastern white pine, the predominant softwood harvested in New England, is light in weight and reasonable in strength, with fairly uniform texture and straight grain. Lumber cut from eastern hemlock, in contrast, is often uneven in texture, moderate in weight but stronger.  Northern red oak is usually straight-grained and the strongest and heaviest of the three. White oak is stronger still, but with a closed grain structure which allows a smoother finish and better durability to the weather. White oak logs are much harder to find than red oak.

About half of the pine and hemlock and nearly all of the oak logs milled at Cowls come from company owned and sustainably managed timberland. Most of the rest of Cowls’ logs are purchased from land owners within an hour's drive of the mill. All logs the company uses must meet a particular structural and visual grades and sizes, which can make certain species and lengths and girths difficult to acquire, at times.  Hemlock, for instance, tends to have a lot of shake, which would compromise the quality of large timbers.

Because Cowls' sawmill has a longer log capacity than most mills (32 feet), we purchase logs as long as possible so we’re best able to respond quickly to special orders.  Our log yard inventory is plentifully maintained at hundreds of thousands of board feet, and is separated by length and specie. We can usually fill orders in between two and six weeks of receiving a deposit.

Cowls’ hardwood lumber is sold green and rough, to wholesalers.  White pine boards are air dried to a moisture content of 12%-14%, and then milled into finished boards (S4S) or novelty siding. 

Cowls’ new log watering system, built in the spring of 2006, enables Cowls to preserve pine logs throughout the hot summer months, and produce pine timbers and lumber year round, without the risk of logs staining blue.