Second Chance Sawmill

About Second Chance Sawmill

Second Chance Sawmill is a sawmill in Stephenville, Texas, in Erath County. It turns old or downed trees into live edge slabs and furniture grade lumber, and it buys logs too. The owners put their purpose this way: "Giving old or downed trees new life." It buys and cuts most Texas native trees and names pecan, cedar, blackjack oak, black walnut, cypress, elm and mesquite. It does not buy oak unless it is blackjack oak. Logs can be up to 54 inches wide and 7 to 12 feet long, with 8 to 10 feet preferred. Trees should be fairly straight, with a slight curve at most, and the trunk cannot be hollow. Small branches and leaves must come off before the log is brought to the mill. The price paid depends on size, species and rarity. The mill says it does not haggle on price: "We do not haggle with pricing." When stock is full, buying stops and there is a waitlist. A lumber share works differently. You bring the tree, they cut it, and you keep half while they keep half. Milling is billed by the hour, at $75 on the TimberKing for smaller logs and $125 on the Woodmizer for logs over 15 inches, each with a two-hour minimum. Hitting metal in a log adds a fee. Toby Beyer owns the business, and Sam and Ben Heizer became partners in January 2024. It suits a landowner with a few straight, downed or aging trees of the species listed who wants them milled or sold as logs, and who is ready to work within posted rules rather than negotiate price. From secondchancesawmill.com, read 18 October 2026.

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