First step, pick out the materials. This is my first time to a saw mill. Similar to your first trip to Disney World, just that you may lose a finger, but definitely super cool. The owner while showing me all the types of wood kept saying "Now this heres yer poplar which is a kissin' cousin to yer white oak, which is a kissin' cousin to yer".... I've never heard that. Again, Oklahoma, teaching me things.