Lucky Nelson’s sawmill was started in 2016. Prior to that, I had been working for my father’s tree service company. I was trying to figure out something we could do with the trees that we removed instead of sending them all through a chipper or cutting them into firewood. It was around that time that I saw my first live edge table. I fell in love with the natural look of the table and knew that I could make a business out of it. I knew that my past experience as a Union Cabinetmaker and woodworker, in addition to all of those years working for my father’s tree company, would help me do well with this new endeavor! It’s been quite a ride since then and I’ve loved every bit of it. Being able to take a tree from someone’s yard as the rawest form of material and turn it into lumber to be used in the making of beautiful furniture (sometimes in that same person’s house where the tree was) is extremely fulfilling and it’s the most enjoyable work I’ve done in my life. Urban lumber is an amazing concept. We don’t have to knock down forests to supply us with the wood we need to build the things we need and want. From railroad ties for a coal mine to horse fencing at a farm, or of course beautiful one-of-a-kind furniture, we’ve done these things and so much more!