TIMBERKING BLOG WWW.TIMBERKING.COM YOU CAN’T BUY 2″ THICK WOOD SLABS AT HOME DEPOT…so I saw my own! “I’m a retired businessman but I’m busier now than ever. I’ve had a lot of mechanical experience. I ran a plant that manufactures big agricultural equipment. I’ve done a lot of woodworking and metalworking. I’ve done welding, sales and marketing, and I’ve run a restaurant. I’ve flown planes and even sung opera! Ed Ferguson is retired but busier now than ever with his TimberKing sawmill. He told us, “Owning your own sawmill opens up all kinds of woodrworking possibilities. What you can do is endless!” You can’t walk into Home Depot and buy a 2” thick table top. I wanted a sawmill to turn logs into wood products and materials you just can’t buy — you have to make them yourself. Everything in commercial lumberyards or big box stores is plain and generic. You can’t buy lumber with the fantastic figuring you get when you saw your own. Owning your own sawmill opens up all kinds of woodworking possibilities. What you can do is endless! Best design, higher than some, less than others I wanted a new sawmill, not a used one with someone else’s problems. I looked at all the mills out there and bought the TimberKing 1600 (now upgraded to the 1620). My decision wasn’t totally on price: TimberKing is priced higher than some and less than others. I decided TimberKing offered the best advantages. You can stand in one spot to operate everything. You don’t have to walk beside the cutting head as it moves down the log. And I believe TimberKing’s 4-post head is the best design. And I like the hydraulics, too. Ed sawed the 10″ x 10″ beams the crew is assembling for his new home LEARN MORE NOW I drove to Kansas City to pick up my mill — more than 600 miles each way. It tows and handles lickety-split on the highway. Ed’s new. home is quite a showplace! Beams like these can cost thousands of dollars apiece…but not when you saw them yourself as Ed did Ed makes furniture, timbers, veneer, much more I don’t do any commercial work. I make furniture like half-log benches, standard benches, river tables, and more. My work is rustic. I’m not a finish carpenter by any means but I have a Woodmaster Planer and a Woodmaster Drum Sander. I build things of pine, oak, ash, and elm. All are readily available around here. Also, I sawed all the timbers for my new home. I sawed 20’ timbers into 10” x 10” beams. I sawed our interior half-log stair steps. I cut 5/8” oak veneer to panel a 60’ long support wall in our basement rec room. I’ll mount the panels right to the studs with the planed side out. Ed turns out handsome, rustic, live-edge furniture like this bench. He saws the slabs with his TimberKing then processes them further with his Woodmaster Tools Planer and Drum Sander Slabs And what do you do with slabs you cut off while milling wood? You see big piles of slabs wherever there’s a sawmill. I turned some of mine into a privacy fence 7’ tall and 95’ long. I used my red pine slabs mounted to pressure-treated stringers. I use my oak slabs as firewood. Good fences make good neighbors. Ed’s 7′ tall x 95′ long fence is a clever and effective way to recycle slabs from the red pine he saws Wood disks turn into $100 bills I made an attachment for my saw so I can crosscut logs into disks. I give them to my son who’s an artist. He has frame shop and a laser engraver. He’ll laser-cut a bible verse or saying, urethane them, and sell them in his shop. He turns a simple disk of wood into a $100 bill! I only wish… Money-wise, I’m really happy with my mill. But there are always instances where you wish you’d gotten a bigger mill. For example, I sawed up a 30” diameter log that was 100 years old. I wish I’d bought a bigger TimberKing. The 30” cutting width on the 1600 can be a restriction. (Editor’s note: the TimberKing 1600 has been upgraded to the 1620 which takes logs up to 39” wide.) TimberKing is far and away the easiest sawmill to use. It’s not the cheapest but I’m very happy with the mill, the access to parts and pieces, and the customer service.” — Edward Ferguson, TimberKing Sawmill Owner, Fargo ND LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more Tom’s sawmill success plan: diversification, low volume, high margins When Texan, Tom Brueggen, got laid off from his engineering job, he started building a business of his own with a TimberKing Sawmill TimberKing owner, Tom Brueggen has many irons in the fire. “I’m always looking for business opportunities and running them through my head to see if they’re a play I want to make.” He’s made a lot of plays and runs several small, successful enterprises. Here’s Tom with an Osage orange log ready to go onto his TimberKing 1220 Success key? All Tom’s endeavors support one another Tom does excavation work and land clearing. And he’s on call to remove nuisance beehives. These jobs give Tom access to timber he saws into high-quality, very marketable lumber with his TimberKing 1220. His wife, Katie, is a one-woman, do-it-all cabinetmaker who uses Tom’s wood products in her business. Here’s their business plan: diversification, integration, flexibility, quality, low production, high margin, and a sharp eye for opportunity. “We’re both engineers and we both got laid off,” Tom told us. “We had great jobs but working in the corporate world can get boring doing the same thing every day. We decided to go off on our own.” Tom writes, “Whooped myself and my mill with this 24″ x 16′ pine log with a funny S-curve. I was going to knock it in half and just make boards but realized I could slab it and capture the curves.” Tom knows opportunity when he sees it. “Commercial lumber is very expensive right now. So people are looking for rough-cut lumber. On one of my first sawing jobs, I got some good timber and sawed the logs into boards. They sold instantly.” Adding value adds profits “Around here, I see high-quality hardwoods being sawed into low-value railroad ties,” says Tom. “I went after some premium white oak logs, straight as a string. I tried to get the logger to saw them for me but he sold them to a pallet mill instead.” Tom saw opportunity: controlling more of the supply chain would add value and profits — so he saws hardwood logs into high-quality boards with his TimberKing 1220. LEARN MORE NOW Low volume and high margin “I realized you can be a high-volume business with low margins, or a low-volume business with high margins,” Tom tells us. “I chose low-volume with high margin.” And his margins are great with fees ranging from $70/hour to $150/hour. That’s why Tom’s 1220 TimberKing fits his business plan. “It doesn’t have hydraulics so it’s less expensive than bigger mills. It fits the work I do and I’m very happy with it.” Tom’s got big plans for his future sawmill shed. “I drew this in Google Sketchup. It’s simple, easy, and free!” Tom shares his business savvy “General ads, like ‘I’ll saw your logs,’ don’t get attention,” he says. “But when I advertise specific lumber products and wood species,” he says, “I get all kinds of calls.” “I don’t chase the slab market,” Tom tells us. “I specialize in hardwood boards, 1” and 2” thick. Hickory and oak are great, but the market’s real sweet spot is walnut. It’s hard to find good walnut down here, though, maybe 1 tree per 100 acres.” And Tom’s very active on Facebook’s TimberKing Owners Group, posting photos, videos, and updates on his sawing experiences. Watch how Tom coaxes a straight 6 x 6 beam from a VERY curved cedar log Flexibility is key Tom’s customers are custom woodworkers and folks building new homes or renovating older ones. Business is booming around Houston, says Tom. “The boom never ends. Houston’s always growing, more and more houses.” But flexibility is key. “I’ll sell a lot of wood mantles then that market dries up and other products like boards or beams get big.” That’s where being nimble pays off for Tom’s diverse, integrated businesses. Some sawyers who sell direct-to-customers stock large inventories. Tom takes a different path. “I don’t want to get tied up with a lot of lumber inventory,” says Tom. “I show samples and people order from them.” That keeps his business nimble and his overhead down. 4-post durability Tom’s little helper will probably become a sawyer some day! Tom shopped around. “I looked at a competitor’s sawmills but I don’t trust their cantilever head, it just makes me nervous. I like the durability of TimberKing’s 4-post head. And their customer service is great. I just drop an email, or call Mike or Matt at TimberKing. What’s next for Tom? “We’re installing a big vacuum dry kiln that’ll handle 4,000 board feet of lumber per load.” Besides drying his own lumber, he’ll diversify by custom-drying lumber for other sawyers throughout eastern Texas. “We’ll load it and leave it. It’ll add value and profits while we work on other projects.” — Tom Brueggen, TimberKing 1220 Owner, Shepherd TX LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more Why I started the TIMBERKING OWNER GROUP on Facebook GOT LOGS? John saws some BIG ones on his TimberKing 1600! John Guehlstorff III “If I had nothing else to do, I’d be milling lumber on my TimberKing sawmill eight or nine hours a day. But I have a lot going on. I’m a farmer, a sawyer, a woodworker, a commercial grower, antique and gift store owner, a father, and a husband. And I started and manage the TimberKing Owners and Users Group on Facebook! Facebook forum for sawyers, timber folks, woodworkers I started the TimberKing Owners Group on Facebook as an information exchange for sawyers, timber folks, and woodworkers. People thinking about getting a sawmill tell me this group helps them, too. It’s a labor of love but, honestly, I started it for selfish reasons. I knew there were sawyers out there who knew a whole lot more about sawing than I ever would. I wanted to learn from them and I still learn a lot by reading their posts. SAWYERS POST questions, answers, comments, photos, and more on the TimberKing Owners Group John started on Facebook. The Group’s not sponsored by or affiliated with TimberKing in any way but we think it’s great! What a beautiful stack ‘o lumber John sawed. Black walnut, we suspect Today, the group has about 2,000 members from all over the USA and more than a dozen countries around the world. The group is not for socializing, really. We keep discussions focused around logging, timber, lumber, milling, and such. There’s no advertising or business promotion. It’s all very friendly. People join by registering themselves and are welcome to join any discussion, ask questions, give answers, post photos or videos of their work and their equipment. Started sawing earlier than planned I worked as a medical illustrator, then in the corporate world designing and selling custom kitchen cabinetry. Then I was an art director for a Nebraska newspaper. Along the way, I bought my TimberKing sawmill and figured I’d saw lumber in retirement. Then, my job got restructured and I retired early. I realized I’d be sawing sooner than planned! LEARN MORE NOW John’s making this walnut-top table for a customer. Rock solid! Love the hydraulics I looked at all the sawmills out there. The ‘cantilever’ style scares me. I’m no engineer but I really liked TimberKing’s engineering and how it’s put together. I went to the TimberKing factory in Kansas City, test-ran some of their mills, and bought my 1600. That was a dozen or so years ago and they’ve since upgraded that model to the TimberKing 1620. I love my mill’s hydraulics but I’d have liked a bigger model with computer setworks. John made this flooring for a customer. It’s acclimating to the home before installation. Among other things, John makes outstanding walnut mantles. This one’s 4″ thick x 15″ deep x 12′ long. He’s selling it for $600. I can’t think of another company with better service than TimberKing. Nothing against other sawmill manufacturers but I have friends who own Wood-Mizers® and they’re amazed you can call up TimberKing and talk to the tech guys for one-on-one, knowledgeable advice. And they ship parts fast. Real people at TimberKing The people at TimberKing impressed me as ‘real people.’ That really attracted me. When I went to the factory, I met and spent an hour with Will Johnson, the company’s president. I’m loyal to TimberKing and I like the whole picture: the way they build their mills and the way they treat their customers. I don’t know if I’ll ever buy another sawmill but if I do, I know what brand it’ll be. We have a 150-acre farm outside of Omaha, Nebraska. There’s a lot of high-value black walnut trees as well as oak, cedar, Siberian elm, and more. I fell the trees, saw them into boards, and air-dry them in our barn. I have a friend who runs a landscaping company and he brings me logs. I came home one day to find a 24’ walnut log, 38” diameter, in my driveway! “I can’t sell the farm” You never know what you’ll find out in the woodlot. John writes, “How do you forget a rifle in the crotch of a tree? Glad I didn’t come across this while sawing maple logs!” Right now, I have 40 oak logs stacked and waiting for me to saw. I do custom sawing — customers bring me their logs. I saw for myself and my woodworking and building projects. Some of this is for fun and some is for income but It all keeps me busy! Some of my retired friends tell me I ought to sell our farm and get a nice little home someplace. I can’t sell it — I like being busy and I love working with my hands. I’ve sold a lot of walnut in the last couple years. Live-edge lumber is very popular right now and I’m sawing a lot of it for new houses, mantles, shelving, offices, kitchens, bar tops, and more. I’m sawing logs to build tables, too. Get a mill you can grow into If anybody’s thinking of getting a sawmill, I’d say decide what you want to do with it and get one you can grow into. Figure what you want to do and buy as much mill as you can afford. As for me, if I won the lottery, I’d probably own all the TimberKing mills and Woodmaster Tools equipment they make!” — John Guehlstorff III, TimberKing Owner, Pony Creek Sawmill & Woodworking , Council Bluffs IA LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more How to Build a Timber Frame Home With Cordwood Siding Allen Piepenburg built his own timber frame home with his TimberKing sawmill “I’ve been in the construction trades most of my life. Up until I retired 10 years ago, I was an architectural manager for a large home building company. Now I am nearly finished building my retirement project, my own timber frame home. Allen’s been in the construction trades most of his life. Now he’s nearly finished building his own home. It really showcases his skills — big, open spaces, handsome timber frame, cordwood siding. And he did it himself! Great satisfaction in literally building your home yourself When people say they built their home, it usually means they were involved with the planning but paid someone else to build it. I’ve done that a couple of times myself. When I say I built this home, I mean I’ve literally done it myself with a little help now and then. There’s great satisfaction in that – it’s hard to put that satisfaction into words but if you’ve built things yourself you know what I mean. Designed in his mind I mentally designed the house quite a while ago. Three years before I retired, I bought a 3-1/2 acre farm. The house on this farm had burned down but the barn and the Quonset were in good shape. I had the location for my vision. When I retired, my wife and I took a long international trip. While traveling, East Texas had a serious drought and there was a lot of bug-killed southern yellow pine throughout the area. They became my source for the lumber I would need. So when we returned home I bought a TimberKing sawmill. CLICK HERE – see BUILDING PHOTOS step-by-step! Having time to spend in the area of the farm, I found an old friend whom I had worked for years earlier. He had a lot of bug-killed pine on his 200 acres that I was welcome to take for the felling. Eight years ago this past September, I started felling and stockpiling logs. By April, had 550 logs ready for milling. LEARN MORE NOW He got hundreds of “bug-killed” trees for free and put them all through his TimberKing sawmill. He sawed his own timbers ‘cause retail prices are way too high I got a TimberKing as a means to an end. I wanted to build a timber frame home but if you buy timbers, you pay dearly for each one. Timbers are way overpriced – even $3,000 apiece. Here’s his sawn lumber, stacked and ready to go Sawing THOUSANDS of board feet of lumber I sawed thousands and thousands of board feet of southern yellow pine, eastern red cedar, oak, elm, and more. The first load I put in my solar kiln was forty-eight 12” x 12” x 20’ timbers. That was in 2015. After drying, I laid them out to match them up and decide where they’d go in the house. Then a tornado came along. It took down the barn and heavily damaged the kiln! I lost half the kiln’s wood due to weather. I estimate that the first kiln load was 11,500 board feet of lumber. Over time, I sawed out beams, framing, siding, trim, everything including quarter-sawn red oak for the fronts of our kitchen cabinets and master vanity. Edging with a TimberKing sawmill Not having an edger, the sawmill had to do the final sizing of all the studs, joists, and rafters. To make edging easier, I purchased 3” x 4” x ¼” angle iron. Using J-bolts, I mounted one piece of angle iron to the bed with an edge against the cant stops. I set another piece of angle iron so it could be moved freely by the log dog. The angle iron kept the framing materials steady and perpendicular to the blade. Allen rigged up a way to edge boards on his mill. TimberKing owners are creative like that Cordwood siding the TimberKing way My wife loves stone homes. I didn’t want to lay up all that stone so I put up cordwood siding instead – it looks similar to stone. I did the cordwood exterior for aesthetics – the home’s fully insulated with foam. All the cordwood is eastern red cedar and it took a lot of it to side this home. Without my TimberKing sawmill, it would have been an impractical job. The home’s clad with cordwood siding. Allen quartered logs lengthwise with his TimberKing mill, cut them into blocks, and mortared them in place. The home is fully foam-insulated so the blogs are more for aesthetics — and it’s a very handsome effect Here’s how I did it. I quartered logs lengthwise on the mill then cut the quarters into 5” long blocks and mortared them in place like you’d lay-up stone. Of course mortar doesn’t like to stick to wood so I really had to work at it. But all this has kept me busy during this crazy pandemic and that’s been very good. Here’s a closeup of some of Allen’s blocks, quartered and cut to exact length Why TimberKing…and why not other mills? I liked TimberKing’s design. Everybody mentions TimberKing’s 4-post head. I also liked that it had a stationary command post – one place where you can stand and control everything. I looked at Wood-Mizer® but you have to walk alongside as you cut and I didn’t like that. Especially because of Wood-Mizer’s ‘shin-bumper’ design: everybody complains they bump their shins on the wheel fenders as they walk alongside while sawing. TimberKing is a fine machine, very strong. I like the way it works and I have no complaints. They know their stuff Everybody speaks about how helpful the folks at TimberKing are. If you have a problem, you just call them and they honestly try to help. Mike has been there forever. He and Jason are the answer men. Everybody there knows their product. I call and tell them, ‘Here’s what’s wrong, how do I fix it?’ Nine times out of 10 they’re right. They give service with no charge. I bought this mill when I was 69. It was used when I bought it but TimberKing treats me like I bought it new. I’d love to get a new mill and if I ever do, it’ll be a TimberKing. And someday I have to go to Kansas City to see the limestone caves where they build them!” Allen Piepenburg, TimberKing Owner, Anderson TX LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook Click here read more 1,300 acres of timber and a TimberKing sawmill There’s some big timber up in the Pacific Northwest. Dan Greene owns 1,300 acres of big boys like this beauty. “Sounds like a lot of land,” he says. “But around here, that wouldn’t even get an honorable mention!” THAT’S ONE BIG LOG! The 2200’s throat is 39″. Dan says the log was 36″ — squeaked through with just a few inches to spare. “I live in a small, remote town on the most northwestern tip of the continental USA. It’s in Washington state, right on the Pacific coast. I worked in the woods in the cedar industry for many years. We’d cut old cedar logs into blocks and bolts for cedar shingle siding and roofing. In the summer, I run my commercial charter fishing boat. I take folks out fishing for salmon, tuna, cod, and more. 1,300 acres of timberland I have 1,300 acres of timber. Sounds like a lot but out here it wouldn’t even get an honorable mention! I’ve got cedar, fir, hemlock, spruce, and more. I wish I had more cedar, though. I fell the trees myself though I have help sometimes. And I’m sawing logs into clear, vertical-grain tongue and groove beams and siding. I saw construction grade lumber, framing, posts, fence posts, and more. Here’s some of Dan’s lumber, straight as a string, fresh off his TimberKing 2200. That’s beautiful Neah Bay in the background. I built a couple of big garages recently. One was 60’ x 24’ and another was 60’ x 36’. My daughter started a commercial nursery and I built a 24’ x 24’ covered pavilion for her business. My next project is sawing out materials for a 28’ x 32’ addition to my son’s cabin overlooking the ocean from a high bluff. The Cape Flattery Lighthouse is on Tatoosh Island at the most northwesterly tip of the Continental US. Built in 1857, it’s currently under renovation and Dan is doing his part by sawing and supplying beams cut to the original beam’s dimensions. I’ve also done some sawing for myself. I cut some figured maple into 1/4” thick sheets – my mill will cut wood that thin. A friend does custom marine woodwork and installed it in my fishing boat. I built my own solid wood doors and cabinets for my home, too. The renovation’s underway. Dan’s beams help bring this historically-significant lighthouse back to its original state. LEARN MORE NOW Word gets around Word gets around and I’m starting to get requests to do more commercial sawing now. My first commercial job was sawing beams for a restoration project on the Cape Flattery Lighthouse located on Tatoosh Island just off the Washington coast. The lighthouse is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I sawed 2-3/4” x 10” cedar beams 10’, 12’, and 16’ long. The people doing the restoration couldn’t find beams like that because there’s a lumber shortage out here due to Covid. I sawed the beams and hauled some the island by boat. Others were helicoptered in. Here’s some of Dan’s cabinetry work. He built all this from solid figured maple he sawed on his 2200. BIG timber country We have big timber here in the Northwest. The big log in the photo is about 36” diameter. I had to trim and turn it to get it through the sawmill’s 39” throat. The big commercial sawmill plants here don’t want to saw anything bigger than 28” diameter. They’re just not set up for them so there’s no commercial value for anything larger than 28.” I sell logs under 28” and keep the big ones and saw them up on my TimberKing. Other mills too slow, too small, too wobbly I once had an Alaskan sawmill but it was way too slow. I had a Wood-Mizer® mill but it was too small for my logs – I had to rip them in half to saw them. And the Wood-Mizer’s cantilevered head is wobbly. That’s why I ended up with a TimberKing 2200 sawmill. I can saw big logs on my TimberKing and it really speeds things up. I can cut a lot more wood per hour than with the Wood-Mizer. And TimberKing has a 4-post head that makes cutting more stable than a Wood-Mizer. Dan’s daughter runs a nursery. Dan sawed out the timbers for this 24′ x 24′ pavilion that’s under construction right in the center of the grounds. I’ve been around equipment all my life. Because we’re so isolated up here, you have to learn to do your own repairs. Maintenance on the TimberKing is very simple and I like that. It’s simple to set up, move, and replace wearing parts. I haven’t had much downtime at all. I like TimberKing’s heavy construction, the 4-post head, and the 24’ bed. I’ve owned it for 3 years and have had no trouble with it. First-Class Delivery & Setup I went to the factory in Kansas City so see them for myself. Then I had the mill delivered. Delivery was prompt and first class. The guys completely set it up for me and took me through operation, maintenance, how to transport, everything. The tech guys at TimberKing are very accessible for questions and even helped me do troubleshooting over the phone when I’ve needed it. I think TimberKing is worth the investment, even if you’re just sawing for yourself.” — Dan Greene, TimberKing 2200 Owner, Neah Bay WA LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more How to Start a Successful Weekend Sawmill Business Vince Antonichelli is a suburban sawyer. Most weekends, he saws logs into lumber for homeowners in suburban communities within 50 or 60 miles from his home. “A good weekend is several small sawing jobs,” he says. Vince Antonicelli got laid off so he started a successful weekend sawing business that’s simple, clean, and makes good money. Customers cut their own trees and stack the logs. Vince shows up with his TimberKing, saws lumber, and drives home with a check! “I got introduced to sawmilling when I was a kid. We took logs from a farm to a mill where I watched them get sawn into lumber. It was amazing to see. Decades later, I bought my first sawmill, a TimberKing 1600. I’d gotten laid off from my job as an engineer and used my severance to buy the mill. I figured it would be something to do besides getting welfare. Later, I got rehired by the same company but I’m still running a custom sawmill business on weekends. Vince tows his TimberKing to the job site. Homeowners gather to watch Vince turn their logs into lumber. Article: you can make good money sawing lumber I read an article in Fine Woodworking that said you can make decent money sawing hardwoods into lumber for others. And I saw an article by a guy who recommended getting a mill that’s simple and easy to maintain. TimberKing is very simple, very well built. I went to an open house at a TimberKing dealer to see one in operation. I like TimberKing’s design because it’s a horizontal bandsaw run by hydraulics. It’s built like a tank and I love the simplicity of it. And working with the guys at TimberKing has been good. Vince does no tree felling or log stacking My customers include a lot of engineers, small scale home woodworkers, and people looking to maybe make a special table from a favorite tree. I don’t do any felling – my customers cut and stack the logs. I tow in the mill and saw them. I don’t mill at my home, it’s all at customers’ places. I joke with them, ‘I come to your house and make a mess and leave with a check.’ When I got the 1600, I expected to get logs only 16” to 18” diameter but I got logs 30” diameter and 12’ to 15’ long. I needed a bigger mill and traded up to the TimberKing 2000. Vince saws on-site for suburban homeowners. He gets the word out by word of mouth and ads in the area’s Pennysaver, a free weekly paper. LEARN MORE NOW $100 an hour I charge $100 an hour with a two-hour minimum. That includes travel from my home to theirs and back home again. These are ‘urban logs’ and I sometimes hit nails. I don’t nickel-and-dime customers but if I hit many nails, I ask them to compensate me for blades. There’s never any pushback on that. What do you see here? For most folks, this is just a pile of boards. But if you’re a D-I-Y’er, you’re probably thinking, “Hey, just think what I could build with material like that.” I work a regular job and a side job during the week and saw lumber for others on the weekends. A good weekend for me is a lot of small sawing jobs in different suburbs within 50 or 60 miles of my home. These are usually small jobs people can’t really take to a commercial mill so that’s my niche. I’m usually scheduling work a month out. Side business in sawblades A few years ago, the guy who sharpened my blades went out of business. So I took over his business and became a dealer for several blade manufacturers. I have 500 or so blade customers. (Editor’s note: one of Vince’s sawblade customers wrote on Facebook, “Vince, you put together a heck of a blade! Ran this one through 16 nails before it finally stopped sawing. I’ll definitely be ordering again soon!” All in a days work for Vince and his TimberKing sawing business These days, I work at my engineering job in the mornings, work on my blade business in the afternoons, and saw on weekends year round except winter. Business is growing. Future plans? It’s hard to leave a full time job with a steady paycheck. I’ll keep sawing and selling sawblades. I may get into hardwood lumber sales – logs are inexpensive these days. I do some woodworking myself. I have a Woodmaster planer, a jointer, and a small wood shop. I got an email from Woodmaster that a customer had returned a planer and they gave me a good deal on it. Find a good niche and good pricing Here’s my advice for others considering doing on-site custom sawing like I’m doing. Start small with low prices and learn where the market goes. See what your expenses are – insurance, fuel, your drive time, that sort of thing. Learn the market and find a good niche and a good price. I started at $50 an hour and worked up to $100. My customers sometimes say, ‘Now I have too much lumber, what do I do with it all?’ I tell them to put it on Craigslist. Sometimes they’ll ask me, ‘Is that all you want for all your work?’ TimberKing’s a great machine and I’m very happy with it.” — Vince Antonicelli, TimberKing 2000 Owner, Despatch Custom Milling, Rochester NY LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more Creativity Can’t Be Ignored Besides running a farm, raising cattle, cutting firewood, and sawing boards, Mike Hansen is an artisan woodworker and a very creative guy. Here’s an outstanding chest he made recently. See more pictures below…there’s something quite interesting inside. “I’m an organic farmer and artisan woodworker. I don’t do production woodworking. In 1990, I started a woodworking business but people just wanted cabinets and that’s not the kind of work I wanted to do. So in 2015 I went to a log building school and learned Scandinavian hand-scribed log building. That got my kind of woodworking going and was the start of my work with sawmills. The school’s instructor had a Wood-Mizer® sawmill but it lasted only about three months. You couldn’t cut straight with it. Then I saw a timber frame company that had a TimberKing 1220. They’d drop it on the jobsite and cut timbers on the spot. I bought my own 1220 and never looked back. TimberKing’s a perfect extension of my workshop I bought the 1220 to make materials for my artisan woodworking. The 1220 was a perfect extension of my shop but I’ve had arthritis and knee surgery and soon realized my back and knees would require a hydraulic mill. So I sold the 1220 and bought a TimberKing 2000 with full hydraulics. Take a look inside Mike’s competition axe box When you participate in axe competitions, you may bring half a dozen axes with you. Mike’s box doesn’t just hold axes neatly and safely; it’s a beautiful example of his creative woodworking. (Who’s the axe champ? His son, Ben.) “How hard could it be?” I bought my 2000 used. It had an electric motor, had only 25 hours on it, and had sat unused for 7 years. I changed out the motor for a 28hp Kubota engine. I thought, ‘how hard could it be?’ Well, it was complicated but great therapy during Covid quarantining. And I learned a lot doing it. (Editor’s Note: Mike bought his 2000 used and it came without loader arms. He knew they’re important…so he fabricated his own.) Mike says sometimes a block of wood calls to him. He grabs it out of the firewood pile and lathe-turns it into a handsome bowl or vase. The guys at TimberKing didn’t care if I’d bought a new TimberKing or found one on the side of the road. They helped me with parts and generally put up with me! I got TimberKing’s log turner system – it’s a Godsend and I only wish I had two of them. I designed and built my own log loading system. “I love the life I’ve built” One of my projects is for the city of Marshfield, Wisconsin. It’s not to make money; it’s about making friends and making a life I enjoy. The city’s removing a lot of very large, old trees – red oak, cedar, pine, basswood, and more. They have value when cut into slabs and boards. I mill them and the city sells the lumber to local residents. It’s a way of giving back to the city. LEARN MORE NOW Looking down the barrel of Mike’s TimberKing sawmill — all that neat, clean lumber coming out is a beautiful thing to see I’m working my way up to woodworking as my livelihood. Right now, I’m making a timber frame woodshed for a friend. Another project is turning an old hand-hewn beam into a fireplace mantle. It’s 14” x 7.25” x 8’. Creativity can’t be ignored I love life, and I love the life I’ve built; the spontaneity and creativity of it. I was a classic guitarist until I got arthritis and couldn’t play anymore. Then I felt lost until I got into woodworking and felt the same creative fulfillment building things. Creativity can’t be ignored and it’s absolutely important for me to have a sawmill. Oak stair treads ready to go What I love about TimberKing is that I can fix it. I can weld if needed, I can pull out bearings and get new ones at the local farm store. I just grab a part from their bins and keep going. It’s a very simple mill and I don’t have to wait for parts. Built like a farm tractor I’m very neurotic about accuracy. I use a laser measurer for height to 0.015625″ — that’s 1/64”. When I used a Wood-Mizer®, the cantilever head bounced and moved around. As a farmer who uses farm equipment, I know TimberKing has a sound platform to run on. It makes all the sense in the world. There are two rails and six locations to level the bed so I have no trouble leveling it or keeping it level. I’ve rolled 30” diameter logs onto it and it hardly moved. TimberKing is quality like a farm tractor – like John Deere or Case. There are a lot of mills out there for hobby sawyers but TimberKing’s great for serious sawing. “Maybe I’ve pulled it off” My plan is to retire from farming and do a lot more artisan woodworking for retirement income. It’s nice to not be 20 anymore, wondering if I’d make it in the world. I enjoy being 57 and realizing I might just have pulled this all off! I’m all set up now. We’re closing in on 80 wooded acres up north, I have my TimberKing, a forestry winch, and a son who’s a forester. Here’s how I look at things. Enjoy what you do. Have a thirst for living. Have a ‘yearning for learning’ and keep learning. Thanks, TimberKing, for supporting those of us who love your mills but can’t afford to buy new.” — Mike Hansen, Heritage Logcraft, TimberKing 2000 Owner, Milladore WI LEARN MORE NOW HAVE QUESTIONS? 3 ways we can help you • Call us 1-800-942-4406 • Email us info@timberking.com • Visit us on Facebook read more « Older Entries Find Us on Facebook! 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