A Phoenix sawmill plans to repurpose trees knocked down by the recent Tempe microburst. Wine Glass Bar Sawmill says these trees will be converted into usable wood and potentially furniture.
On a visit to the sawmill Friday, manager William Hemphill cut through a piece of wood collected from one of the Tempe trees with a horizontal bandsaw.
Hemphill said a massive number of trees were knocked down in the storm, and the sawmill took in about 300 logs.
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is repurposing trees knocked down in a Tempe microburst.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
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The Wine Glass Bar Sawmill in Phoenix is repurposing trees that were knocked down in a Tempe microburst in October 2025.
Ignacio Ventura / KJZZ
“And after a storm, we'll get some trees. But this was a lot more than usual. This was probably like two years worth of trees in about a week," he said.
Hemphill says it’s satisfying to create.
“And doing that in a very sustainable, community-based way is important, I believe," he said.
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