This paper described the experiences of a project to introduce small portable sawmills, known as 'wokabaut somils', into Vanuatu, set up by the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP) working with the national Department of Forests. Four years into the project only three of eight distributed mills were operating, due to several resource and institutional constraints. The project responded by changing from wokabaut somils to chainsawmills, smaller and cheaper and therefore suitable for individual operators. Distribution of chainsawmills was accompanied by short courses in sustainable forestry, which subsequently led to village workshops and local participatory planning.