Just west of the town of Port Able on my layout there is (or will be) a small to medium sized sawmill. I’m basing it (loosely) on the Discovery Bay Sawmill on the Seattle and North Coast. I’m using the Walthers Mountian Lumber Company (cut down to fit the space available) for the mill and associated buildings. I’ve got the scenery base in place including a portion of a log pod.
My problem is, before I get serious into doing the scenery in this area, I need some good looking logs for my log pond.
I want realistic looking logs and I need a lot of them. Any suggestions as to what to use?
The same question bugged me for a while. I could find plenty of small branches from trees that would be perfect from size point of view, but were not great from the bark/texture feel I was looking for. I would always keep my eye out for possible natural foliage that I could use to represent logs with the right sort of bark texture. After moving into my current house I found a tree where the branches grow in relatively straight lines, were the right dimension and the bark texture was pretty close to perfect. My neighbour told me it was a “mock orange”. I’m not sure whether that is the correct name but it sure does look like they could be used for a “cedar like” log. I suppose the point of this reply is to keep your eyes peeled and hopefully you’ll find something suitable. anthony
I found the roots of trees and bushes, when cleaned up, make great logs. Different trees make different logs. Everytime I dig or see a stump or a root I look. When I find a good looking root I cut a bunch. I have some great logs, though I do not know what kind of a tree or bush they came from. If you have access to a place where you can dig, go out and dig some stuff up. You won’t hurt the trees and you might surprise yourself.
Try different types of BUSHES, not trees, all my logs are from the area, I can’t tell you what specific bush types they are but keep looking and you will find proper logs, by the way, the branches and it’s bark are exact miniatures of the full grown bush or tree. Another hint: larger trees(logs) have a distinctive line break @ the middle of the log, this is the line left when the tree falls as the chain saw cannot cut all the way through on large logs, knock away a small amout of bark from the ends from hauling.
It’s getting close to Christmas season. This Christmas, get yourself a Southern White Pine (“real”) Christmas tree. After enjoying the tree for the season, let it lay out in the back yard for a couple weeks for it to dry some more. The small branches can then be cut with a pruning shears and they make really nice HO logs. These are the branches from the trunk out until they branch small and have the acutal needles on them. You can get a nice assortment of log sizes off of one tree. I’ve kept some “extras” in a zip-lock bag for years and they don’t seem to dry out or degrade.
In Australia, i have used twigs and sticks fallen from my trees in the front garden. As they are dead, use them for trees or logs, el natural, or paint them. They are from trees, so they look authentic. Hope this helps. Aussieian.
I cut ours out back. The hard part is to find them straight. Branches will tend to curve. I cut them and bring them in to dry. Some have better wood grain than others. Since fir, hemlock, alder are common in the Pacific Northwest.
These are logs from our property. I cut them; scrub them with soap and water; let them dry; and cut them to length. If I don’t like them they become firewood.
Rose Bushes: ( Log deck) Plaster Castings Made From Carved Dowels: ( Log Pond) 
