Sawn logs are a building material used in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, but they operate a bit differently than other resources needed for house construction. Here's how players can obtain sawn logs in Skyrim.
Building player homes in Skyrim was introduced in the DLC pack Hearthfire, where players can also adopt children and hire servants to reside in the home. In addition to the prebuilt homes in the major cities, like Honeyside in Riften or Breezehome in Whiterun, players can purchase plots of land in three other holds in Skyrim: Hjaalmarch, Falkreach, and The Pale. But to do so, players will have to start from the ground up and build everything from scratch. One material that is needed frequently throughout construction is sawn logs.
Rather than chop down a tree by hand, which might be a task in another sandbox game, players will need to visit a lumber mill in Skyrim. These are typically located in small towns dedicated to the mill, such as Anga's Mill in Windhelm and Dragon Bridge Lumber Camp in Haafinger.
There are one of two ways Skyrim players can go about acquiring sawn logs from a lumber mill. Firstly, players can buy sawn logs from the owners of most lumber mills. The fixed rate is 20 sawn logs for 200 septims, which is likely an easy price to pay for most characters at mid or higher levels. However, players can also ask mill owners or operators for permission to cut their own logs, they'll just have to sit through unskippable sequences as they watch their character operate the mill. Each log creates 10 sawn logs, so it might be a while before they have enough.
Some sawmills in Skyrim may require that the player is friends with the owner before allowing them to operate the mill on their own. The easiest way to do this is by selling them some firewood, which can typically be cut on a stump nearby. It takes 40 pieces of firewood to pay for 20 logs and a woodcutter's axe is needed, and not all mills have one lying around.
Sawn logs won't be added to the player's inventory in Skyrim. Rather, they will be delivered directly to the building site of the homestead. If the player owns multiple homesteads around Skyrim, they will be shared equally but can be accessed from any location. The sawn logs don't need to be picked up before using them; when approaching the crafting table, they'll automatically show up as if they're already in the player's inventory.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.