“I thought the idea of getting a big sawmill to pay for itself in a single year was BS…until I owned one.” – TimberKing sawyer, Christian Young
“I got into sawing by happenstance. My wife and I lived in Washington State where we owned a home on heavily-timbered land – a lot of Douglas fir. I knew there was value in the timber but really didn’t know anything about sawmills.
I had plans to build things like shops for myself so I hired a local sawyer with his portable sawmill. As I watched him work, I realized I could do this myself.
Orange sawmill, wavy lumber
One thing, though: the sawyer I watched had one of those orange cantilever-style mills. Maybe he wasn’t that skilled, or maybe it was the mill, but he left me with ‘wavy’ lumber.
I started checking out sawmills. I contacted that orange mill’s Washington dealer but my impression was they thought of me as a ‘small fry,’ not big enough to get good customer service. I almost had to force them to take my money. Plus their lead times were way too long.
This is true value-added sawing — turning a log or two into a stack of high quality slabs
How’s TimberKing’s customer service?
I kept looking and talked with TimberKing. I’ve worked in sales, so it’s easy to see TimberKing has a whole different style of customer service. I talked quite a bit with Jason in their Sales Department, and he asked me a lot of questions to be sure I’d get the model that would be best for me and that I’d be happy with it. No pressure. He listened, too, and ended up telling me there was a new 1400 TimberKing at their dealer in Oregon. I liked the idea and knew I wouldn’t get stuck because TimberKing has a good return policy.
I got more than I expected
TimberKing’s dealer was great, too, and I ended up buying that TimberKing 1400. In the end, I felt I got more than I expected. I started sawing lumber orders for friends. Then it all snowballed and turned into a real sawing business.
I can’t say enough about the TimberKing company. I don’t have to run around for parts; I just pick up the phone, and they’re delivered quickly. I email Will Johnson, TimberKing’s president, and he emails me back.
Then I sold everything….
My business in Washington was going great, sawing a lot of Douglas fir into board-and-batten siding. Then…along comes baby #1, then baby #2 pops out. It didn’t take long for my wife and me to realize we should move back near family in Ohio. I sold my business, my sawmill, and my tractor. But I kept my chainsaw!
We moved 2,000+ miles without knowing what lay ahead. Should I start another sawing business? I took my time and talked with some sawyers where we were moving. Remarkably, they said they’d have some sawing work for me when we got to Ohio.
(As backup, I ran some ads in an Ohio newspaper seeking sawing jobs even before I replaced my first mill. I got some responses and figured it was time to get another sawmill!)
TIME TO GET A NEW TIMBERKING!
I’d already had a great experience with my 1400 TimberKing. I confess I looked at other mills while in Ohio, but I just couldn’t do it. I found a like-new 1600 TimberKing in Kentucky and towed it home. I’ve had it a year now and run it 5 or 6 hours a day. Someday I’ll get a new, bigger mill – maybe a 2020. I’ll be sticking with TimberKing.
Regional differences in a sawing business
The sawing business is different in Ohio than in Washington. In Washington, it was mostly Douglas fir; in Ohio, it’s mixed hardwoods. Felling hardwoods is different than felling softwoods. Sawing’s different, too. But my TimberKing experience gives me confidence to get things done.
One of my jobs now is towing my mill to the local sawyer’s yard – the sawyer who promised me work – and sawing right beside their orange cantilever mill. At this point, I have hundreds of hours sawing and know how to do it efficiently. The guys there have seen how I get it done and have actually stopped sawing on their orange mill and have me do it all on mine.
“Yes, my TimberKing will easily pay for itself in a year.”
I thought the idea of getting a big sawmill to pay for itself in a single year was BS…until I owned one. My 1600 will easily pay for itself in a year. Of course, it depends on what you do with it. I really put my mill to work. I can turn 3 to 5 logs to lumber an hour.
Someone who just saws as a hobby might be better off with a $5,000– $6,000 mill or give it more time to pay for itself. But, on the other hand, if you saw only 1 log a week, you could end up with $50,000 in a year. Just my opinion.
Diversification Pays Off
My business today is diversified. I’m a ‘road warrior,’ towing my mill to different job sites. I also do land clearing, and I have a license and insurance for tree work. All these services dovetail, and each one feeds the others.
Thanks, TimberKing, for doing this article on me and my sawmill business. I appreciate all you do for our sawmilling community, and I look forward to your future innovations!”
– Christian Young, TimberKing Owner, Young’s Sawmill + Woodwork, Rushville, OH
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