Father and son know that sawing BIG LOGS requires A BIG, BIG TIMBERKING SAWMILL!
“By trade, I’m a utility integrity inspector. I travel to utility ‘digs’ all over the USA to make sure crude oil and gas utility systems are safe and regulation-compliant. My son, Ryan, is 25 and works construction. A few years ago, he worked on an industrial sawmill operation.
I’m 62 and will be retiring in a couple years. Ryan and I got talking and thought running a sawmill business could be a good fit for the two of us. We got a TimberKing 2020 sawmill and have started sawing part time. We plan to go full time when I retire.
We eyeballed all the sawmills out there and came across TimberKing. We liked the design and the way they’re built with steel, not aluminum. It’s all heavy construction. If you know equipment, you know the difference between quality equipment and junk.
Why TimberKing? MADE IN USA, heavy construction, high quality
It’s very important to me that TimberKing’s built in the USA, right in Kansas City. Not only is it high quality, USA-made equipment, we get USA customer service, and easy availability of parts. As a matter of fact, the way TimberKing’s built, you can get many parts right at your local NAPA store.
TimberKing’s customer service is awesome, too. I call and they know me by name. I order and – bam – parts are here in a couple days. Blades, too. I’ve tried other blades but I’m sticking with TimberKing’s. We got one of their sharpeners and sharpen our own blades.
Big logs call for a big sawmill with hydraulics
We initially bought a TimberKing 1600. Ryan drove down to Kansas City and towed it back. We put it to work and realized that for the big logs we’re sawing, we needed a BIG mill with full hydraulics. I called TimberKing and they had a 2020 ready to go. Ryan got back in the pickup, towed the 1600 back to Kansas City, and came back home with our 2020.
There’s a big size, capacity, and ease-of-operation difference between the 1600 and the 2020. There’s a big price difference, too, but we find it well worth it because the 2020’s features are upgraded for increased productivity and ease-of-use.
Real quality time working with my son
It’s totally awesome working with my son. We work well together and he takes care of his old man. We work hard, put in a nine or 10 hour day, then go out for dinner and a couple beers. This is real quality time.
Ryan’s the brains and numbers guy. He knows just how to cut logs the right way. For my part, I got everything set up, all the paperwork and planning. And I sharpen the blades.
Our TimberKing pays for itself easily
It’s a part-time, weekend business until I retire, and business is great. We get as much work as we can handle and have even turned some work down. Even just working weekends, we’re earning enough right now to make our TimberKing pay for itself easily.
We custom-saw whatever the customer wants. Hardwoods, softwoods, beams, slabs, 2×4, 2×6, and so on. We recently sawed out a 38” diameter white pine log! We trimmed it down with a chainsaw so it’d fit through the 2020 saw’s throat. We also saw out materials for concrete construction. We make and sell stakes by the pallet .
Everybody around here has trees. This is Minnesota where it’s heavily wooded with aspen, white pine, white oak, walnut, Norway pine, spruce, and more. For most of our sawing work, we tow our mill to the customers’ site, though some people drop off logs at our 25-acre farmstead where we have a big barn we converted to a sawing shed.
We give customers quality lumber, cut to their spec, lower cost than Home Depot
Our goal is giving our customers quality lumber, cut the way they want it, for lower cost than at Home Depot. On a good, 8-hour day, we can saw out 1,700 board feet. Of course, you never know what you’re going to get when you show up at a customer’s place. I do try to steer clear of ‘yard trees’ that can have embedded nails. I tell customers if I hit a nail, I’ll add the cost of the blade to their bill. And they’re fine with that.
If you’re starting a sawing business….
Choosing the right TimberKing comes down to what you’ll be sawing. We started with a 1600 TimberKing but soon realized, as a sawing business, we needed to go with the bigger 2020 mill with full hydraulics, nothing less.”
— Paul Thibeault, TimberKing 2020 Owner, Bemidji MN
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