I've only toured one saw mill, but it seemed to me that most of the bark
was
removed with high pressure water...
i wonder if the home version pressure washers will remove bark? it would
be
cold work sometimes of the year, but what a savings on your back! when i
used
a draw knife, it took quite a while to clean a 20 foot log and the work was
easy because
the log was fresh fallen, but you did have to do a lot of deep
bending/kneeling. maybe
all that could be avoided by putting the log up on saw horses, etc. on some
species
you could probably peel away some of the sapwood with a high pressure
washer.
and by wetting down the log you could probably help prevent some
checking...at the
lumber mills i've been to they use sprinklers to keep the logs wet or float
them in ponds.

Do lumber mills cut off logs to standard lengths before sawing them into
rough boards?
if so, then that might be a source of turning wood.
rich