---
title: "Sawmill Recovery Rate: Benchmarks and How to Improve Yours"
description: "Lumber recovery factor benchmarks — around 38% in EU hardwood mills, 48% in softwood, 50% global average — how overrun differs, and the levers that actually raise recovery."
image: "https://nestingcalc.com/og-default.png"
url: "https://nestingcalc.com/guides/sawmill-recovery-rate/"
locale: "en"
---

# Sawmill Recovery Rate: Benchmarks and How to Improve Yours

Lumber recovery factor benchmarks — around 38% in EU hardwood mills, 48% in softwood, 50% global average — how overrun differs, and the levers that actually raise recovery.

## What recovery rate means

Recovery (lumber recovery factor) is the sawn lumber volume out divided by the roundwood volume in, times 100: a mill cutting 100 m³ of logs into 48 m³ of lumber runs at **48% recovery**. Everything else leaves the saw hall as slabs, edgings, sawdust and chips. The FAO global average sits near 50%; European softwood mills typically run 46–50% and hardwood mills 36–40%.

## Recovery vs overrun — don't mix them up

Overrun compares the lumber you actually cut against a log rule's estimate (Doyle, Scribner, International); recovery compares volume out against volume in. A mill can show a +30% Doyle overrun and still run a mediocre 45% recovery — overrun measures the rule's error, recovery measures the mill's efficiency. Use the rule when buying logs and recovery when judging the saw line; [Doyle, Scribner and International Log Rules Compared](https://nestingcalc.com/guides/log-rules-doyle-scribner-international/) explains the rules, this page the efficiency side.

## Benchmark table

Published ranges worth calibrating against:

| Mill type | Typical recovery |
| --- | --- |
| EU hardwood sawmills | 36–40% |
| EU softwood sawmills | 46–50% |
| FAO global average | 42–60% (mid ≈ 51%) |
| Tropical meranti, Malaysia | 55–57% |
| SE-Asia small mills, band saw | 50–54% |
| SE-Asia small mills, chainsaw | 37–41% |
| Vietnam tropical mills, typical | 35–55% |

A mill persistently below 35% almost always has a kerf, sawing-pattern or grade-mix problem worth auditing before buying new equipment.

## Where the other half goes

A typical softwood mill splits the log roughly: lumber 48%, chips 30%, sawdust 15%, slabs and edgings 7%. The saw kerf alone — 2 to 5 mm per cut — removes 8–12% of log volume in a common softwood pattern. Whether the remaining half costs money or pays depends on residue markets: chips feed pulp and MDF, sawdust feeds pellets and bedding, and slabs sell as firewood or biomass.

## Five levers that raise recovery

In order of payback: (1) sharpen more often and cut a thinner kerf; (2) match the sawing pattern to each log class — cant sawing beats random sawing on small logs; (3) optimise placement with scanning, even at a basic level; (4) cut for grade, not for volume — one clear board beats three knotty ones at the same volume; (5) measure recovery per shift so drift is caught the day it starts. [Sawmill recovery](https://nestingcalc.com/sawmill-recovery-calculator/) computes recovery from volume in vs out and flags the benchmark band your mill falls into.

[Sawmill recovery](https://nestingcalc.com/sawmill-recovery-calculator/) [Open the linear cutting calculator](https://nestingcalc.com/linear-cutting-calculator/)

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