I started Midtown Logging and Lumber Company for two reasons. First, as a custom woodworker, I love to use native hardwoods in my work. Second, as a conservationist, I'm interested in seeing natural resources put to good use rather than waste.

A couple years ago (2001) I had a 30" diameter Sweet Gum tree come down in my yard during an ice storm. The only chainsaw I had at the time was a Craftsman consumer model but two spark plugs and countless sharpenings later I managed to set aside two 12' logs.

Finding a sawmill in Memphis to turn these logs into lumber proved impossible. The closest mill I could find was in Red Banks, MS but it wasn't portable and I had no way to move the logs. So I decided that someone in Memphis needed to have a portable sawmill and it might as well be me.

After a lot of research on the web, I decided on a Woodmizer LT-30. It was light enough to pull behind my Toyota pickup but tough enough to handle anything Memphis could throw at it.

Me (Scott Banbury) sawing a Willow Oak
My cousin and expert log handler, Austin Scott
My daughter and chief log grader, Brighid Magnolia My son and shop supervisor, Robert "Kade"
The LOML, Amy Stewart-Banbury, pictured here telling me to quit talking and get back to work.

Amy has her own business as a certified midwife, delivering healthy babies to discerning parents across the Midsouth.