Reputation, specialty work keeps L&L Custom Sawing buzzing

Leroy Blancher has owned L&L Custom Sawing for 26 years, after he and his dad, Len, purchased the sawing equipment together.

Blancher was born in Great Falls, spent some time in Chinook, then lived in Helena from the 6th grade on. He and his wife, Linda, met and married in the Marine Corps more than 37 years ago. As they were getting ready to leave the military, he traveled back and forth to Montana for two years trying to find a job.

When nothing worked out, he and Linda moved to Omaha, where her family is from. They spent almost 11 years in Omaha, where he was a mechanic in a pasta factory owned by Hershey. "They call it maintenance engineer. You fix all the machines, you put in the new machines."

They continued to seek out opportunities to move back to Montana.

"Actually, my father called me up one day and said, 'I seen a portable saw mill come through town,'" said Blancher. "Course, they knew we wanted to get back up here, it just had to be the right thing. So we started that with my father and stepmother."

The name "L&L" first referred to Leroy and Len, but now refers to Leroy and Linda.

With all the work coming into the saw mill, Blancher doesn't take the saw mill out much anymore. "I'd say the last ten years, I've maybe been out twice," he said.

Blancher's work comes primarily from orders coming in and from people who bring their logs to the mill for specific cuts.

Specialty work can cover a variety of different projects. "People bring in logs to two-side for their log homes. You slab off the top, you slab off the bottom, so they can just stack them," said Blancher. Another project is to create lap siding using a machine that attaches to the mill to create a beveled look.

"The normal person doesn't realize this saw mill can also cut finish size. It's still a rough cut, but it's a finish-size wood. My cuts are full 2x4s, 2x6s, full inch. What you get from the store, it's 1.5x3.5. It's still rough cut, but it's smooth," said Blancher, noting that the cost difference for full cuts vs. finish size can be considerable, since the wood is charged for by volume.

One of Blancher's favorite projects was working on cutting wood to be shaped into cellos. "A guy brings in spruce and we have this box, because the wedges have to be back and forth so he can work the cello faces into it. We had to figure out how we could do that and get him the wedges he needed and still not take too much time to produce it," said Blancher.

The main building on the property was built entirely from pieces cut on the saw mill. It's a two-story building with a three-bedroom living quarters upstairs, and a shop and office downstairs. Blancher said it took about two years to build. In the living quarters, they used different techniques to be able to share with customers. "We did different stains. We were trying stuff on our own stuff so we could tell people how it worked and what it looked like," Blancher said.

While he used to work seven days a week, Blancher said he's cut back to spend more time with grandkids and family. For the future of the saw mill, he doesn't see it staying around forever. "I don't want to pass it on to the kids, because of the work load and what it doesn't bring in for a family," added Blancher.

Blancher notes that saw mills in the area have been closing down in the past few years. "There have been many mills in this area over the years. In the last two years, we've lost four mills within 100 mile radius, at least. We had one up just south of Helmville. He quit and moved. We had one on Birdseye, in Helena. He quit and moved. Arnie Brown, quit and moved, he sold it. We do have Big Sky that popped up, between here and Great Falls. But it seems the mills are going away," said Blancher.

"The biggest thing is what you make selling from a mill is pennies on the dollar to what stuff is sold in the stores. But the specialty stuff is what keeps a mill going," Blancher said.

"This business, while it's not easy, it's fun. You're outside. It's hard, but you make a good project and the people appreciate it. Most of this was built on word of mouth. Even now, even this last week, somebody told somebody, 'Where can I get this?' 'Go to Leroy.'"