Stella Sawmill Carves New Roots for Felled Trees

Nick and Angie DeVolder don’t see a downed tree as a nuisance. They view felled trees as opportunities – and they give them a second life. The DeVolders operate Milan-based Stella Sawmill as a source for urban lumber, meaning wood salvaged from trees in urban settings such as streets, parks and residential yards, rather than harvested from forests. 

“By slabbing these trees rather than mulching them up, we are able to hold on to 20% to 30% of the carbon a tree sequesters in its lifetime,” Angie says. “That’s much more than if the tree is mulched.”

The couple works with tree companies, municipalities, arborists and homeowners to salvage trees.

“With municipalities, not only does it cut down on a city’s costs and resources because they don’t have to haul the trees away or pay to dispose of them, but it keeps trees out of landfills,” Angie says. “It’s a win-win for both of us.”

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Family Tree

Nick’s grandfather introduced him to woodworking as a boy. His hobby idled for several years until he was in his early 30s, when he purchased a sawmill. However, he wasn’t able to dry the wood to his satisfaction, so he considered buying a kiln.

“If we bought a kiln, we thought we might as well see if we could sell some wood, too,” Nick says. “And one thing led to another.”

Parlaying Nick’s hobby into a business, they named it Stella Sawmill, honoring Nick’s great-aunt Stella.

The DeVolders do not cut down trees, but their grapple truck delivers felled trees to their shop. In addition to municipalities and tree companies, Stella Sawmill works with homeowners as well.

“We had the opportunity to work with a family whose great-grandfather planted a tree on the property hundreds of years ago, and the tree had to come down because of age,” Angie says. “We picked it up and milled it so the family could use that lumber to create something special.”

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Woodworking Wonders

At the shop, logs are sorted by species and size. Nick uses one of two sawmills to cut both live-edge slabs and 5/4 dimensional lumber.

“Walnut is very popular, and we also have white oak, cherry, ash, maple and sycamore,” Angie says. “These are all local hardwoods. Sometimes we get a unique species like willow, which we recently cut for the first time.”

Once the material is cut, it is stacked for kiln drying. Nick uses a vacuum kiln, which dries wood faster than traditional kilns while limiting cracking, cupping, discoloration and material degradation. Material is kiln dried four to six weeks, depending on species and thickness.

Once dry, wood is available to purchase at the Stella Sawmill showroom, which opened in 2022. In addition to slabs and dimensional lumber, customers will find wood cookies, the cross-section slice of a trunk, and the bargain corner, which holds their odds and ends.

“It’s a great treasure hunt area that’s very popular,” Angie says. “Folks like the Quad Cities Woodturners – which we have a great relationship with – can turn these wonky things into beautiful pens, bowls or Christmas ornaments.”

Strong relationships with local groups, businesses and customers helped Stella Sawmill grow and reduce waste.

“When a local tree company cuts down a tree, they really don’t want to see this beautiful, living thing being mulched,” Angie says. “There is such beauty in a felled tree or an old log that’s just wasted when it goes straight to a landfill. A fun part of what we do is holding on to something of value rather than seeing it go to the trash.”