Located just a few blocks away from one of the busiest intersections in all of Sarpy County, Dan’s Custom Sawmill & Lumber is a local business many have probably driven by hundreds of times without realizing it. Part of the reason may be because the business is located on the backside of their property. Another reason could be that they’re located right off of busy 36th Street, just south of Highway 370 – where taking your eyes off the road – even for a moment – could result in an accident.
Dan and Ashley Nye are owners of Dan’s Custom Sawmill & Lumber. Dan was born and raised in Bellevue. His father was a computer programmer and his mother worked as a paraprofessional at Bellevue East. He graduated from East in 2008 and Dan loved all of his woodworking classes there. He said if it were up to him, he would have only taken woodworking classes in high school.
It can be easy to admire a person who makes a living doing what they love most. Dan has been working with lumber since he could walk. He credits his father, who was a jack of all trades, with helping foster his passion for creating just about anything out of wood.
Dan built his first sawmill when he was 15 and then another when he was 18. Every so often he would build a new one and they kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, Dan and Ashley had enough money to buy a small sawmill. According to the Nye’s, it was a hunk of junk and they jokingly referred to it as the ‘Frankenmill’. But they worked on it, welded it, and made it into something “pretty good”. After five years of use, they had finally saved up enough money to purchase a professional sawmill, which is the one they use today.
Milling is basically taking a log and breaking it down into slabs. Dan offered to demonstrate what the milling process looks like and there is a short video below featuring Dan milling a log they just got in from North Omaha on the day of the interview. They also have two large kilns on the property for drying the wood out before it’s ready for sale. Dan elaborated, “It’s a low-temperature oven with compressors and computers and all sorts of stuff. The kilns dry the wood on a certain schedule. If we dry too slow we’ll get mold and if we dry too fast the wood will crack. There are certain schedules for everything we run to put out a good product.”
The business has grown over the years and they offer a wide range of products and services including lumber sales, custom sawmilling, custom kiln drying, furniture building, slab surfacing, wood burning, and a huge supply of blanks (rectangular wood blocks intended for carving). When asked if they offer staining services, both Dan and Ashley were a little hesitant to answer. “…. We do”, Dan said. “But we have access to such a variety of woods, we can usually find a color to match what the customer wants without staining.”
“Our feeling is: Why cover up God’s beauty?”, replied Ashley.
Dan said he is asked all the time to consider apprenticeships or internships, but he doesn’t have enough time available in the day. They also are frequently asked about teaching classes and they’ve decided to explore what that would look like. “We plan on starting small – with online tutorials… fun little “How To” videos posted to a YouTube channel or on our website. If that goes well, we will probably get into some slab working classes and general woods classes down the road.”
Dan and Ashley see customers of all ages and backgrounds. They often have customers who will bring them a tree from their yard and have Dan create a table (or something similar) for them. They also have customers from all over the country. For example, they have some customers from Wyoming (because of the comparative scarcity of trees in the state) and Colorado (because they only have soft woods). They have also shipped wood to places as far away as California and New York.
The Nye’s offer pieces of wood as low as $1 and ranging up to around $1,000, though they said that most of their pieces fall in the $50 – $250 range.
Dan’s Custom Sawmill & Lumber is located on Sawmill Lane. However, if you want your GPS to find it, better to enter 11725 South 36th Street. The sawmill and lumber yard are open to the public – but Dan and Ashley ask that you call ahead before stopping by as they are sometimes out picking up trees and logs. They can be reached at (402) 980-0249. For more information, check out their website at https://www.danscustomsawmill.com/.
Dan and Ashley want people to know to not be afraid to call them up with any unusual or ‘weird’ questions or requests. “Something different that we do that not a lot of people may know about, is we cut centerpieces for weddings. This has become incredibly popular in the past five years or so. At one point we counted over 2,000 centerpieces we have cut over the years. Couples place a little Mason Jar with a candle or something in them. We actually had made some for our own wedding.”
Video Below shows Dan operating the sawmill on a log they just received that morning.
