“Without my TimberKing Sawmill’s mobility, I wouldn’t have the full-time business I have today.” — Norm Miller, Norm’s Custom Sawing
“Portability is my key business advantage. A lot of guys have sawmills around here but I’m the only one who comes to customers’ places with my ROAD-TOWABLE TimberKing sawmill. Many of my customers find it’s cheaper to have me come to them than to have their logs hauled to a mill.
Norm started driving log skidders at 15
I started driving a log skidder at 15 and I’ve been logging for 22 years. I was making a good living but there are a lot of days you can’t get in the woods due to weather. I wondered what work I could do in my downtime. My brother has an older B-20 TimberKing sawmill and he told me I could make good money sawing.
Norm taught himself sawing AND how to own and run a successful business
So I got a TimberKing 1400 sawmill and started sawing part time. But it was hard to schedule part-time custom sawing. I decided I could make it sawing full time with my 1400. I call my custom sawing service ‘Norm’s Custom Sawing.’ Nobody taught me how to saw lumber or run a business. I figured it all out on my own and it’s going great. This year is the busiest I’ve ever had.
I got my 1400 with TimberKing’s ‘Computer Setworks Plus’ package. It controls cutting thickness precisely with six of the most popular pre-sets. If you’re going to do custom sawing, you need computer setworks.
On-site custom sawing with his 1400 TimberKing Sawmill
All my work is custom sawing and I get lots of jobs. I tow my mill to my customer and saw at their places. Some jobs take a few days, some a few weeks. A typical job is 4,000 or 4,500 board feet.
I’ve sawed out lumber for barns, timber frame houses, pole buildings, and a huge number of 1” boards. Right now, I have five jobs lined up.
Sells for 1/3 the price of commercial lumber
I can sell lumber way below lumberyard prices. These days, an average price for 2×4’s is $4 to $5 apiece. I can saw and sell them for $1.60 apiece. In three days, I sawed out 3,900 board feet for a customer. He did the math and figured that was less than half the price of commercial lumber.
I advertise in Facebook Marketplace, a local weekly newspaper, on Facebook, Instagram, and word of mouth. I recently got a contract sawing lumber in the Muskingum Watershed for the Army Corps of Engineers. This year is the busiest I’ve ever had.
Norm’s business outgrew his 1400 TimberKing Sawmill
My 1400 is a good mill but, given the volume of wood I’m sawing, it’s really a little small for my business. It’ll put out 1,400 board feet in a day. But I need to get more jobs, bigger jobs, and bigger logs. I need to double that output to 3,000 board feet a day.
That’s why I’ve ordered TimberKing’s 2020! It has a bigger throat, more horsepower, plus full hydraulics that drive key hydraulic features like board return, log turners, clamps, toe boards, and more.
Cantilever-style sawmill? No thanks
I shopped around for a bigger machine and initially ordered a cantilever-style mill in April 2022. It was supposed to arrive in July 2023. Then they postponed until October 2023, then January 2024. I cancelled the cantilever mill and I’m glad I did!
I didn’t like that cantilever mill anyway. The head runs on a single rail, and it bounces up and down so boards come off the mill ‘wavy.’ Also, that mill’s electric-over-hydraulic system scared me. There’s so much that can go wrong and it’d take an electrician to fix it.
So I ordered a 2020 TimberKing and I look forward to getting it. It’s much bigger than my 1400, with hydraulics to handle the volume and size of logs I’m sawing. I’ll be able to get more jobs sawing bigger diameter logs.
Take the fall
Here’s advice I have for others who’re thinking about starting a business like mine. Work hard but smart. Make sure you’re producing top-quality lumber. Build your reputation and don’t cut corners. And if there’s a misunderstanding about the price of a job, assume it’s your error and take the fall. It’ll pay you back in the long run!”
— Norman Miller, TimberKing sawyer, Norm’s Custom Sawing, Bolivar OH
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