A tangle of trunks, stumps and large wood slabs are piled outside Branch and Bark Urban Sawmill, located next to the JIF plant on Midland Place and a stone’s throw from the intersection of Winchester Road and Midland Avenue. Local arborists and tree services know to call Branch and Bark if they have trees coming down for construction purposes or being felled due to disease, infestation or otherwise, and to drop them off at the sawmill.
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Branch and Bark pays them for their time, and eventually this collection of discarded hardwoods—which would have otherwise been destined for the landfill or wood chipper—will be cut, kilned and transformed into flooring, cabinets, countertops, mantels, doors, furniture and other goods.
Branch and Bark owner Luke Lilley has an inherent passion and talent for woodworking. “My dad was a builder and a carpenter, and I come from a long line of carpenters,” he said. Lilley began working with wood as a youth growing up in Lexington and worked as a carpenter for various builders after high school. He realized he had a viable woodworking business on his hands in 2014, when more and more customers inquired about the beautifully crafted farmhouse tables and other furniture he was making on the side.
David Hollingsworth was one of those customers. He and his wife, Paula Hollingsworth, M.D., had commissioned two coffee tables from Lilley. “Other stuff was added, and as it was added he talked about his desire to have a sawmill,” Hollingsworth said. “As it went on, I told him to get some numbers together.”
Lilley presented the Hollingsworths with a spreadsheet, and together they formed a business plan. A partnership was formed. David Hollingsworth’s background includes 15 years’ experience in business management, followed by a return to school for a master’s degree in social work and a leadership position with The Shepherd’s House. Although Hollingsworth says he envisioned his role as more of a silent partner in his retirement, most days he’s at the sawmill helping customers, answering the phone and providing business support.
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David Hollingsworth, left, was a former customer before he and craftsman Luke Lilley, right, partnered to open Branch and Bark Urban Sawmill.
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Branch and Bark Urban Sawmill takes in trees from local tree services and arborists. The materials are cut and kilned into lumber, or otherwise transformed into custom furniture, cabinets, mantles and other projects.
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The sawmill, located at 325 Midland Place, also includes a showroom where work by Lilley and other craftsmen is displayed for sale.
In mid-2017, Longwood Antique Woods moved to Delaware Avenue from 325 Midland Place, and Branch and Bark moved into the 10,000-square-foot space, signing a three-year lease with an option to buy the building. Today Branch and Bark has new equipment, including a large Wood-Mizer brand diesel-powered saw, two lumber-drying kilns, and a variety of woodworking tools.
In addition to warehousing and processing facilities, the Midland Place property also allows space for a showroom that’s open six days a week. There are also several well-equipped workshops where Lilley and his crew make cutting boards, countertops, bar tops, bookcases, desks, mantels, tables, slab doors, barn doors for interiors and other custom projects. Branch and Bark can also produce custom milling projects, such as beadboard ceilings and tongue-and-groove flooring.
Branch and Bark saws and sells hardwood lumber to customers locally and as far away as Georgia and Florida. “The Southern states don’t have the hardwood trees we have up here; it’s a hot market,” Lilley said. Pine and cypress are common in those states, but Kentucky has an enviable supply of hardwoods for furniture, including cedar, cherry, white oak and bur oak. “Black walnut is a big hit around here,” Lilley said. “It has a nice tone to it, and it sells quick. It’s the best of the best.”
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Owner Luke Lilley cuts out, stains and places a wood-engraved plaque for a hostess stand Branch and Bark made for the Thoroughbred Club of America.
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Lilley also has a contract with the University of Kentucky’s arborists for downed trees on campus and at UK’s hospitals. “We saw it up and give it back to them for use in their woodworking classes,” Lilley said. “To have anything to do with the University of Kentucky is an honor.”
And for homeowners who place sentimental value on a felled tree in their yard, Branch and Bark Urban Sawmill can turn the tree into lumber and then into a piece of furniture. “It brings the story full circle,” Lilley said. Recently a customer brought in a large, weathered beam from a 130-year-old barn that had stood on her grandfather’s farm, which Lilley and the Branch and Bark crew crafted into a beautiful mantel for her home. “She teared up when she saw it,” Lilley said. “We all did. She said ‘you don’t know how much this means to me.’”
The personal connections that arise as his team works closely with clients throughout the creative process to help produce exactly what they’re looking for is especially fulfilling for Lilley. “We make them a part of it,” he said.