About

Nestled in the heart of Northern Michigan, Magnum Lignum is the home of craftsmen dedicated to creating unique and amazing things from selectively harvested hardwoods.  Magnum Lignum was created by Marty Lagina, a quiet, wood-loving man who prefers to keep a low profile.  A self-described wood nerd, Marty has a number of business interests, and he operates them all using environmentally sound decision-making processes.  This extends to the tree harvesting policy that we use at Magnum Lignum.

All of the wood that we use in our shop comes from trees that have been selectively harvested.  We apply a 3D approach to our harvest:  dead, dying and down.  For instance, in the early 2000’s, the emerald ash borer arrived in our forests.  Since that time, the ash borers have decimated the standing ash trees.  Many of these trees have fallen, and many are still standing.  Marty walks his properties and selects ash trees for harvest before they begin to rot.  A similar situation has occurred with beech trees.

Once the trees have been felled (or found already on the ground) our crew cuts them into workable lengths – typically 12-16’.  The logs are then separated for use as slabs or disks.  With a sawmill capacity of up to 66” wide, we can turn almost any log into lumber - and that is exactly what we do!  Once the logs have been cut into slabs or disks, they are carefully book matched, stacked and stickered and placed in one of our barns to begin the drying process.  To be sure, we not only use the trunks of the trees for our lumber, but we use the branches to create live-edge shelves, charcuterie boards and other items.  We currently have a small kiln, and are expanding our drying capacity with the addition of a couple of solar kilns.