“Greetings to all! My name is Tim, owner/operator of North Country Trail & Kayak Campground in Jonesville, Michigan. Welcome to my world.
Tim’s long-time dream – owning a sizeable chunk of forest land
I’m retired military. I was in the Marine Corps, then the Army, National Guard, and ended in the Air Force. I was in construction – concrete work – for 12 years. And I was a cop for a while. Now I’m retired and I bought this 33-acre riverside property in Hillsdale, Michigan. It’s a dream thing I’ve always wanted: a sizeable chunk of forest. I’ve turned it into a private, rustic, backwoods campground. We’ll build a home here someday.
My campground is dedicated to backpackers and kayakers. It’s on the Saint Joseph River and the North Country Trail , the longest hiking trail in the US. The trail runs from Vermont, through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, into Michigan, all the way to North Dakota. It meanders through the most rural parts of America.
I’m all for capitalism but there comes a time…
I don’t charge people anything to camp here. I’m not against making money but I’m not starving. The property’s paid for, and there are enough people out there busy making money. I figure if someone’s hiking across America with a backpack, why not help him out a little bit? We have cabins I’ve built with my TimberKing, or people can camp in tents. But no trailers, no noisy crowds. Very rustic.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for capitalism. But there’s a time when you’ve got to set the dollar aside. I’m a big fan of charity. When you do good work, it always comes back to you. It’s good karma.
Don’t burn them; saw them and start building
Because of the Emerald Ash Borer, the ash trees on the property were dead or dying. That was a lot of firewood, more than I could ever use. So I thought, ‘Why not get a sawmill and put this wood to good use?’ So I got a mill, started sawing boards, and built shelters for campers. I’m getting firewood out of this, too. When I cut a tree, if I can reach my hand all the way around a limb, I use it for firewood. Anything bigger, I put through the sawmill.
“Your imagination will kick in — it just happens”
When it comes to tools of one sort or another, I know a lot of very capable guys who’d say, ‘What would I do with a sawmill?’ Well, when it comes to TimberKing, here’s what I tell them. You don’t know what you’d do with one until you have one and then your imagination will kick in. I thought I’d use it just a little bit. But when you have it, ideas come to you. If you have a creative mind, if you’re a creative person, it just happens. And the trees come to you, too. There’s always somebody who wants to get rid of trees.
TimberKing’s his “go-to” mill
I’ve got several types of sawmills including chainsaw mills and other bandsaw mills. They have their uses, but my ‘go-to’ saw is my TimberKing 1220. No bells, no whistles, simple to use. Suits me fine for what I do. Along with the trailer package, you’re mobile.
I first bought a Hudson sawmill. It’s not really portable and sawed boards only up to 12” wide. I got a chainsaw sawmill – a Logosol. It did alright, did what I wanted, was good for little stuff like fence posts, but you couldn’t lift a big oak log onto it and it was very expensive. Not my dream saw.
Durability and best price
I told my wife that with the work I was doing, I needed a really good saw. I shopped around and became aware of TimberKing. I wanted the best price but, above all, I wanted durability. And I wanted to do business with a reputable company that had been around awhile. TimberKing fit that bill. There were others I liked the looks of but they had some plastic parts. I’m a big fan of metal parts like TimberKing has. Metal’s better than plastic.
I wanted a manual model, not one with bells and whistles. Just a simple, basic, solid saw so I chose the TimberKing 1220. I like that it’s manual. I like the manual crank that moves the cutting head through the log. I don’t want to have to do a lot of maintenance or fix bells and whistles. With this manual saw, I can get parts I need at a hardware store. I’m not in the sawing business; I’m not cutting all day long. But it’s got a wheel kit and I can move it where I want it. If I wanted to make a business out of it, I could.
4-Post Head keeps the blade and cut straight
TimberKing’s 4-post head is a big plus, too. My Hudson mill I had a welded, 2-by-2, L-shaped head. It was manual – you’d push the head. But with that L-shaped head, the blade wandered up and down through the wood and left an uneven cut. TimberKing’s 4-post head keeps the blade and the cuts straighter.
Here’s my advice for others who’re interested in a TimberKing. If you’re thinking about it, if the idea of sawing sounds good to you, if you heat with wood, if you’re in the woods a lot, get one. If you’re a guy like me who likes working with wood, the smell of sawdust, and being outdoors, I frankly can’t imagine why you couldn’t use a 1220.”
— Tim “Mac” McCormick, TimberKing 1220 Owner, Michigan
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