We spoke recently with John Biers, who’s run his own heavy equipment business for over 40 years. Now John’s taken up sawing in his spare time. He’s getting part-time assistance from his grandson, John III.
“I started sawing for my own repairs and maintenance with help from our grandson, John III, 18 years old. He helps me saw. He’s good with a chainsaw and he can run this mill with ease. Working together gives us good, quality time. It keeps him interested and out of trouble, too!
My wife, Laurie, and I started our contracting company 40 years ago — property-maintenance and excavating. We have a lot of heavy equipment including excavators, loaders, dump trucks and more. But I’d never done any sawing.
Then I got interested in sawing. I got a TimberKing mill and started using it. Compared to the other equipment I own it’s not that big an investment. I have a 2017 Peterbilt that cost $200,000. I have loaders that cost about the same. My TimberKing 2200 was a little over $50,000. Don’t get me wrong; it’s still a lot of money but nothing near other equipment.
I love that darn thing
I love that darn thing. I live on a farm and I saw a lot of boards, beams, and siding for repair and maintenance right around here. We have big, 4-story barns and I just replaced the roofs on a couple of them. I rebuilt some and others need more work.
I’m not sawing as a business, just for my own use. Earlier this year I built a new 50’ x 100’ pole barn with green lumber, straight off the mill. I use it to keep my machinery under cover.
Pine 40” diameter x 20’ long
I got logs by logging out a big piece of land. Later, I started buying trees from a tree maintenance guy – a tree contractor. I get pine and red oak at a good price. Some of it is 40” diameter pine, straight, 20’ long. I’ve cut logs 22’ long with my 2200 and it’ll cut up to 35’ with extensions.
My dad had a sawmill though I never cut any wood on it. Later, as I got interested in sawing, I started looking at them. Laurie and I have a 40’ RV and we go to logging shows and woodsman’s days, that kind of thing. I looked at a lot of different sawmills — Baker, Wood-Mizer, and others — and TimberKing is a far better value.
TimberKing seemed to be built better than others. I liked the way it was built and the way it functioned. Mechanically, it’s great. I know equipment and I’d have found weak parts and I haven’t found any. They use good quality steel and they put time into prepping it before they paint it.
My 2200 has a Kubota diesel engine. I like diesel better than gas — diesel engines have more power than gas engines. And Kubota engines last a long time. The engine runs up to about 2,900 RPM but I throttle it down to 2,000 or 2,100 RPM. That’s where the performance is best for me and what I’m sawing. I can saw a lot of lumber on the same blade.
I’m happy with everything about the mill and the company. Talking with the sales guys, the delivery, the machine itself – everything’s good. I know I got what I paid for.
Ready to go at a moment’s notice
In my business, I have a lot going on all the time. I might get a phone call at any time and I’ve gotta go take care of somebody’s problem, like a broken water main, for example. Or snow removal. What’s really nice about the TimberKing is that, when I do get time to use it, I go out and turn the key and it starts. And everything works like it should. That makes my day.
Oh, I clean it, grease it, maintain it, keep it fueled and under cover. But other than that, when I fire it up, it goes. When I’m ready to go, it’s ready, too.
I have a lot of advice for others who’re thinking of sawing. Sawing’s a lot of work and you have to like doing it. But it’s good, clean work, and there are ways to make it easy on yourself. For example, I have lots of equipment that helps me manage my lot. For example, I cut slabs and load them right onto the forks of my loader. Then I move them and stack them out of the way. I’ll cut a cant 12” wide and cut 15 boards out of it. Then I pick them all up, move them, and stack them all at once. I have a big chipper and chip the scrap. Basically, I keep everything clean and neat. And I keep my equipment under cover.”
— John Biers, TimberKing 2200 Owner, Feura Bush NY
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