My TimberKing is a Racecar!
“I can really fly with my TimberKing 2220. It’s a race car! Precision? I cut to within 1/32”. It’s easy to fine-tune everything for speed, precision, and production – from guide wheels, to band wheels, to blade height, to cutting speed.
I didn’t really know what career path to follow after high school. I went to college and got a degree in Wood Science and Technology. I’d never heard of it but I loved it. It was all about how to process trees into valuable wood materials and products.
My first sawmill was an old TimberKing B-20…it was a tank!
Several members of my family own their own businesses and I wanted to do the same. I put together a business plan and my parents helped me buy my first sawmill, a used TimberKing B-20 mill out of Vermont. That model’s no longer in production but it was awesome for sawing timber framing materials.
That old B-20 was a tank! I put so many hours on it the hour meter fell off. I rebuilt it several times, but as business picked up, I was getting into really massive logs — too big for my B-20.
Handling Bigger logs, I needed a bigger sawmill
I shopped around for a bigger, industrial mill. I called every major mill manufacturer. I liked some, but for the industrial-level mill I wanted, TimberKing had better pricing and shorter delivery times.
TimberKing’s service is the best
The best thing about TimberKing is the service. The tech guys there really know what they’re talking about. I had 15 years of experience working with TimberKing, especially with Mike Alexander in tech service. At this point, Mike’s like family.
Mike talked me through rebuilding my old B-20. What’s great is I could just go to NAPA or Tractor Supply for any parts I needed. Only a couple parts were custom. Parts for the cantilever-style mills have to be ordered from the manufacturer.
I can really fly with my 2220 – speed, power, precision
I can fine-tune everything on my 2220 for speed and precision. It’ll handle logs up to 38” diameter and has a 24’ deck. It’s fully hydraulic, has a board drawback, debarker, computer setworks, a 4-cylinder Kubota diesel engine, and more. TimberKing’s 4-Post Head is solid and stable. And the big, welded steel frame — well, you could never bend that sucker!
Talon Edger’s worth its weight in gold
I also bought a TimberKing Talon Edger. That machine is worth its weight in gold and I wish I’d gotten it 20 years ago. I used to edge on my mill, stacking flitches and running them through to edge one side, then flopping the stack and running them through again to edge the other side. With the Talon Edger, I edge both sides in one pass, cutting a 1-hour job down to 20 minutes.
Business grew – I’m now a start-to-finish, full-service wood materials supplier
Today, I’m a start-to-finish, full service supplier of finished wood materials. I buy logs from local loggers, I have a fully-equipped saw yard, and produce kiln-dried timbers, lumber, flooring, siding, trim — basically anything my customers want.
There are other sawyers around here, mostly smaller operations, sawing just pine and hemlock. I’m moving into higher production with native hardwoods. I’m making a lot of hardwood flooring these days.
My unique selling point? Precision sawing to 1/32″
I’d say what makes my business unique is precision. I’m fussy and picky. I buy only highest-quality logs and everything I produce is exactly straight, square, and precise. Even my 24′ long timbers are within 1/16” or even 1/32”. I’m a certified lumber grader under the New Hampshire Native Lumber Law so I’m a good judge of lumber quality.
My customers are builders, contractors, and some do-it-yourself homeowners who’re remodeling or adding onto their homes. Business comes mostly from word-of-mouth, referrals, and networking.
Typically, I’ll do a job as a complete package. I get a detailed cut-list for a building and I saw everything to precise spec, frame to trim.
Choose the sawmill that fits the materials you want to make
If someone is thinking about getting a sawmill, I’d say buy the mill that fits the scale of what you want to do. If it’s just weekend sawing, TimberKing’s smallest 1220 could fit you. Midsize, the TimberKing 1620 is probably comparable to the old B-20 I started with. And, of course, the bigger TimberKing mills are for huge logs and industrial level work.
(And, if you can find an old, out-of-production TimberKing B-20, buy it and rebuild it. It’s a real workhorse!)
— Ben Jones, TimberKing 2220 Owner, Jones Wood Products, Loudon NH Facebook
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