TimberKing owner, Jay Bates, is a man of many talents. He’s a SAWER, HOMESTEADER, WOODWORKER, BUILDER,….and VIDEOGRAPER………and he SHARES how he does it all with DOZENS OF H0W-T0, HANDS-ON VIDEOS on his 2 websites
I fell in love with woodworking
“I fell in love with woodworking in my early 20s. That’s when I bought my first woodworking equipment – Skill brand tools. I’ve significantly expanded and upgraded over the years.
But Jay handles logs up to 33″ diameter
I learned a lot from ‘This Old House’ and ‘Norm’s New Yankee Workshop’ and I made furniture for my family’s use as well as picnic tables and benches to sell. When I encountered a problem I couldn’t solve, I watched a lot of how-to videos online. That’s where I learned videography and web development, too.
My first shop was very basic.
My very first woodworking shop was in an empty apartment. It was so basic, I plugged my dust collector into the range outlet. A few years later, my wife and I were able to buy a home with a two-car garage – that became my second shop.
A couple of years later, we moved to a home with a 30 x 40 shop. I upgraded it with good lighting and added to my tool collection, including CNC woodworking equipment.
Today, I do serious woodworking and homesteading and document it all in many dozens of how-to videos I post on my two websites. One is about woodworking how-to, and the other is about homesteading skills. Both have many sawmill how-to videos.
My business really took off with videos.
My home-based business started getting real traction in 2014 when I started making videos of my woodworking and posting them on my first website. It has lots of how-to information on sawing. Watch this video – the first half is about felling a huge pine tree and the second is about sawing it into high quality lumber.
By 2024, my wife and I were ready for our ‘forever home,’ and we bought 100 acres of undeveloped, heavily wooded land that has thousands of fully mature loblolly pines that were planted 30 years ago through a USDA program.
Endless supply of high-quality pine logs — time to get a TimberKing
With an endless supply of mature pines, it was time to get a sawmill, and I was able to get a 1220CRZ TimberKing. I’ve sawed out lumber to build a 40 x 60 square foot building with a 20 x 60 lean-to. Inside, 18 x 21 is set up as our living space.
TimberKing beat my expectations
This TimberKing is very robust. Its steel deck is really rugged. It’s welded, not bendable like bolt-together rails on cheap mills’ decks. The strength beat my expectations. The saw head is strong and steady on the 4-post steel head. There’s no deflection as on a single-post, cantilever-style mill. The bandsaw head moves down the log with a hand crank, or you can push it. Both ways are easy.
I have two types of log clamps – TimberKing’s screw-style clamps and their cam-lever type. I find the screw-style is best for heavy logs, and the cam type is handy for small jobs.
Because my mill is a ‘CRZ’ model, it’s on wheels and is fully road-towable. This is handy because I can tow it into our woods and saw right where I’m cutting trees.
Homesteading with a TimberKing sawmill
I made a demo video I call ‘The Trick to Better Sawmill Lumber.’Click to watch. (Start watching at 24:00 for my sawing demo.)
Owning these 100 acres and doing serious TimberKing sawing has ushered my family into a homesteading lifestyle. I’ve recently put up a new homesteading website. It has LOTS of how-to videos about TimberKing sawing.
I tell others that if you have access to trees and logs, and have the desire to utilize those resources, getting a sawmill is a no-brainer. Running my TimberKing is like running my tractor. You get a lot done quickly and with little effort. It’s incredibly fun and you get an instantaneous reward – lumber you’ve made yourself.
Someday…I’ll upgrade to a fully hydraulic TimberKing
I look forward to reaching the point in sawing volume where I can justify upgrading to a fully hydraulic TimberKing. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying this 1220CRZ mill and the exercise does my 39-year-old body good!
Thanks, TimberKing – keep true to your values and keep building 100% made-in-America mills!”
— Jay Bates, TimberKing 1220CRZ, Jay’s Custom Creations and BPo3 Homestead
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