GALESBURG — What started as a hobby just four years ago has turned into a Galesburg business dedicated to preservation and recycling of urban lumber.

Urban Milling Co. is the creation of Justin McNaught, a longtime city of Galesburg employee and for the past 10 years the city's traffic division supervisor.

But more than a side business, Urban Milling Co. has developed into a passion of McNaught, who grew up in East Galesburg and is a 2001 graduate of Knoxville High School. 

"I picked up sawmilling as a hobby back in 2018," McNaught said. "As word-of-mouth spread that 'Justin had a sawmill' I found myself doing a lot of favors and side jobs for others.

"As the potentiality of this hobby turned to that of a business, my wife, Elvith Santoyo-McNaught, and I decided to build a new business out of it. That’s when Urban Milling Co. came into play in 2021."

McNaught is proud to point out all of the lumber he uses is collected locally in Galesburg, however Urban Milling's services range within a 50-mile radius of Galesburg.

"Trees are a natural resource that continue to give, even after being cut down," McNaught. "I love the concept of preserving and recycling a tree, and knowing that it will continue to provide in a different way. It is such a rewarding job. You literally get to be the first person to see what the inside of that particular tree looks like.

"The labor is intense, but definitely worth the effort." 

McNaught took the time to further explain Urban Milling Co. in a Q&A with The Register-Mail.

McNaught: At Urban Milling Co. we provide live edge boards and slabs from local trees, fresh and/ or dried. We offer portable sawmilling service and we will offer on-premise services once we have a permanent location for the business. The best part is that we can travel to you and mill your fallen trees/ logs into beautiful, usable lumber. 

Ex-Streak has a passion for woodworking:Check out what Elmer Dickerson is doing as a side business

Urban Milling Co. also offers lumber products for purchase. Again, live edge boards and slabs from 5-plus different species are currently available, and we hope to expand those with time. I have crafted various sizes of furniture and tables, including large dining tables, for customers and although I do not offer that service widely at the moment, I hope to also expand this opportunity with time and space.  

McNaught: We are currently working with the New Galesburg Public Library on a table project. I reached out to the director about harvesting a 100 year old oak tree that was to be removed from the new library site. I didn’t want to see this beautiful tree disposed of in another manner, so I’ll be creating reading tables from the tree to be used in the new library. 

McNaught: Urban Milling Co. started as a hobby with a small manual sawmill. I soon realized how much I loved it. My manual mill really limited me to the size and length at which I could cut lumber. So I invested in a bigger one. I drove down to Oklahoma to pick up a used Woodmizer Lt35, which was great for lumber production. But as production continued to grow I soon grew out of that mill too. In June of 2021 I picked up our Woodmizer Lt40 Wide, from Woodmizer which is located and builds mills in Indianapolis. The wide head mill gives us the capacity to cut up to 34" wide boards and 20' in length.  

Growing up, I was always around woodworking with my father and especially my grandfather. I took wood shop classes through school and I really enjoyed making items from wood. 

McNaught: With practice the process can appear fairly easy, however, the labor and intensity of each job varies with customer requests and lumber weight and size. My mill, Woodmizer Lt40, is fully hydraulic and is able to lift heavy logs onto the bed of the mill, which alleviates labor on my end and makes it a one-man job. Really, with a large sawmill like this, there is no other heavy equipment needed. Once the log is loaded, I clamp it in place and start cutting to the desired width of the customer or in reference to the appropriate use of that particular log. The end result is always a nice stack of freshly cut slabs ready to be kiln or air dried, to build into furniture or even your new home. 

As word of mouth continues to spread, I also get a lot of phone calls about particular slabs, mostly for DIY projects. Oak and walnut seem to be the most popular thus far, but we also carry cherry, sycamore, and a few other species. I have a large pile of inventory and customers pick what they want. I have also built items for customers but as sawmilling is my biggest concentration it is very rare when I do pick up a project for a customer. 

From Galesburg to Napa Valley winemaker:'From my first job in the industry I was hooked.'

McNaught: All my lumber thus far has been sourced locally, and our goal is to continue to source it in this manner. I have found many homeowners who need certain trees removed from their properties. Tree removal is very expensive and although I do not cut trees down, I do collect them or haul them away and help find a new home for them. So far this has been the majority of ways in which I have collected most of my lumber. I show up with my portable sawmill, cut the fallen tree(s) into beautiful slabs, and the gains are shared between the tree owner and myself.

I should mention that not all fallen trees are worth keeping, in this case I charge an hourly rate. I haven’t quite gotten into the tree buying process yet as there hasn’t been a need for it, but we do plan to expand into that opportunity, again, with time and space. 

McNaught: We haven’t seen a super-unique craft from the lumber we have produced and sold, but we have received many rewarding pictures from customers and their finished products. From beautiful dining tables, cutting boards, night stands, entertainment centers, and even bar tops, the lumber we are providing is going to good use.

McNaught: My wife, Elvith Santoyo-McNaught, and I are currently the only employees, and I have to say that is the best part about this business. I rely solely on my labor and efforts. Once there is more time, she will run the business and marketing side of the projects while I will take charge of producing the inventory and labor. We make a pretty good team. 

McNaught: Currently, we operate from our home address. A lot of my past work thus far has been sawmilling for others or portable sawmilling, which takes place on the customer’s premises and thus alleviates the need to have a current location. Our goal is to find a new family home with plenty of acreage and build our business there. Portable sawmilling will still be a big part of my services. 

We do currently own a vacant building, the former Carriage House — sister building to La Cantinita, which we did consider converting into a showroom/storefront for Urban Milling Co., at which we would display all our inventory that is ready for purchase. But as we know from experience how labor intensive, time consuming, and expensive it is to rebuild an old building we have thrown that option out the window for now. 

McNaught: I have worked in the Galesburg area since the age of 15 which gave me the opportunity to become very familiar with the city and the people. My mother is Nancy Eborsole and (father) Michael McNaught, who is deceased. I completed my associates in science from Carl Sandburg College and graduated from ABC Electrical apprenticeship program recently. 

I have been employed by the city of Galesburg for more than 20 years, with 10 of those years as the Traffic Division supervisor where we maintain city owned traffic signals, street lights, electrical services, roadway striping and traffic signs.

I met my wife in 2013, Elvith Santoyo-McNaught, here in Galesburg. Her large entrepreneurial heart has opened a lot of doors for us and together we own La Cantinita in downtown Galesburg. We have two boys, Otis and Jonas, and our dog Freddy.