“Nobody around here can cut 60” slabs like I can with my TimberKing
“I started doing woodworking in high school, then continued as a hobby. A friend started a taxidermy business and I started making mounting plaques for him out of exotic hardwoods. That work yielded a lot of exotic wood scraps and I turned them into small items like cutting boards.
“I wanted to go BIGGER”
Later, I wanted to go bigger so I got an Alaskan chainsaw mill and a 50” Stihl MS88 chainsaw and started building live-edge furniture. The trouble with a chainsaw mill is it can take hours to cut a log into slabs, and they cut a really wide kerf. I knew with a bandsaw-style sawmill’s thinner kerf, I could get a couple more slabs out of a big log. A couple extra slabs means I’d earn an extra $2,000 or so per log.
Over time, I watched YouTube videos and saw big, wide bandsaw mills and I wanted one. I got a Wood-Mizer® slab flattener but I wasn’t at all happy with the machine or the customer service. The machine arrived damaged and customer service wasn’t helpful. It can take them a week to return a phone call. So it was no-go on Wood-Mizer.
“I liked TimberKing’s 58” cutting width, 4-post head, 37HP engine, heavy construction”
Looking further, I checked out other brands and read customer reviews. I concluded TimberKing was the one I wanted. I liked the 4-post head and the heavy construction. I liked the 58” cutting width and the 37HP V-Twin Kohler engine on the 6000. So that’s what I got and I’m tickled pink. Blade changes are easy and I have no complaints at all. I ordered a lot of extras with the TimberKing – extra blades, extra log dogs, a cant hook, and lots more. Customer service is great, too. A switch went out on my 6000 so I called the factory in Kansas City. I had a new switch in just a couple days.
“The whole point of my getting my TimberKing 6000 was to cut really big slabs for table tops. A lot of mills can cut up to 30” or so but none around here can cut 60” slabs like I can with my TimberKing.”
I have a sycamore log 48” diameter at the butt end, 36” at the small end, and 18’ long. It’ll go on the mill and I’ll cut countertop slabs. I’ve cut 60” diameter pin oak, 36” black walnut logs 14’ long, and much more. Walnut trees are common around here. They’re more rare down south so you can get a pretty penny for walnut slabs there, though you have to make shipping arrangements.
I have a big tractor that can handle most of my logs. But, working with the really big ones, it helps to have friends with specialized equipment. I know guys with tree service businesses and others who are loggers.
I use the wood I saw to make furniture like a 44” sycamore table I built. But business is turning toward sawing and selling slabs. I can make and sell a lot of slabs in the time it takes to make one table. And I sell slabs to customers in a lot of states.
“It’s paying for itself in under one year”
Business is good. In less than one year, I’ll have made enough to pay off this mill and all the extras I bought! I’m on Facebook and Linkedin, and I get a lot of business just from word-of-mouth.
I’m a fireman by trade and I’ll retire in a year and a half. Then I’ll take care of our family, our 100 head of cattle, and do sawing full time.
“My advice? If you’re thinking about a sawmill, don’t wait. It’s amazing to saw open a tree and see crazy figured wood inside”
If anybody’s thinking of getting a sawmill, my advice is this: don’t wait. Just jump into it. Do it. You’ll have to put in some time setting up your sawing operation and learning the right ways to saw. But it’s all worth it. It’s amazing to saw open a tree and see what’s inside, like grain patterns and crazy figured wood. It’s really incredible. And you end up, really, turning trees into lumber, making something out of nothing!”
— Scott Redshaw, TimberKing Sawyer, Purdy MO
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