After his retirement from a career in the US military, Bob Manaugh of Lexington, Indiana bought a TimberKing 2000 sawmill and a Woodmaster 725 with the goal of starting a new career. Not long ago, Bob gave us an update…
“With a TimberKing and a Woodmaster, we’re adding value and making more money at every turn. We are now fully operational taking standing timber from logs to trim and flooring utilizing Timberking and Woodmaster equipment. Your staff has been very helpful over the past three years as we have developed and built our facilities and operations. Will, Matt, Mike, Jimmy, and Jake have been especially helpful. Please pass my thanks on to them.
Bob had a working man’s wish list
When I retired from the US Military 10 years ago, I had a wish list: to live in the country, enjoy four seasons, work outdoors, have good health, and enjoy what I was doing. The Good Lord has provided!
Today, I run a complete wood material business, Maple Grove Mill. To make it possible, equipment became a priority. I did a lot of research and TimberKing rose to the top. You had a promotion, ‘Go tree to trim with TimberKing.’ We took your idea and added some twists. I bought TimberKing and Woodmaster equipment based on their features, warranty, and price.
We have a TimberKing 2000 sawmill, a Woodmaster 725 Molder/Planer, and a TimberKing Nyle dry kiln. I have not been disappointed.
I talked with Will Johnson, president of TimberKing quite a bit. He was very patient! He always sent me his best pricing. I got the 2000 mill with hydraulics, log turners, toe boards, and deck extensions. Everything was at better prices than other mills. There are two bigger model TimberKing mills but, for what we’re doing, the 2000 is perfect. And the price was right.
Niche sawmill business adds value with a Woodmaster Molder/Planer
We’re a mom and pop operation and we do what larger companies just can’t do.We buy standing timber and fell it, skid it, then saw it on our TimberKing. That gives us a lot of flexibility rather than having to work with what another sawyer has sawn. For example, we can make bookmatched lumber. We do custom work. We can give people quantities of lumber of the same species and color. We can make live edge boards. We take slash and saw truly unique boards out of tree crotches up to 32 inches wide. We get burls we sell to turners. Some customers are cabinetmakers and craftsmen. We make replica beams up to 30 feet long for folks who’re restoring 1800s homes. We sell to builders, contractors, custom home builders, too.
We sell some boards green but we add value by processing most of them further. We sticker and air dry them to about 18%, then load them into our TimberKing Nyle kiln and dry them down to 6%. Then we have a sanitation process that kills any bugs and larvae.
“Woodmaster adds value to every board we put through it”
From here, we move some of our lumber straight from the kiln into our studio area where customers shop and pick the boards they want. Right now, our studio area has 30,000 board feet of lumber in it!
Then we put our boards through our Woodmaster to turn them into flooring and trim. We stock these products and also do custom work – a customer will pick out boards and we’ll make them into his flooring.
We call another part of our business ‘Cradle to Grave.’ We go to customers’ location, log it, transport logs to our facility, saw it, dry it, custom mill it, then build a barn for them using lumber from their trees.
We could not have built this business without TimberKing and Woodmaster equipment and the assistance of their staff. They were right in there working with us to put this all together. Woodmaster and TimberKing machines do everything the way they say they do..including adding value at every step.”
— Bob Manaugh, Maple Grove Mill, Lexington IN — TimberKing & Woodmaster Owner
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