We posted a story about Texas TimberKing Owner, Doug Caroselli, when he made the news helping his town clear flood-downed trees with his TimberKing 2000 sawmill. Today, he tells us San Marcos has recovered and his sawing business has grown 55% – 65%. What’s his secret? His TimberKing sawmill and SOCIAL MEDIA.
Doug and his wife, Natalia, run their own business, Blackhawk Mill Works. Doug handles production; Natalia does all the online advertising. Together, they’ve found a formula for woodworking business success!
“I started a welding and metal fabrication shop 14 years ago and transitioned into the sawing business a couple years ago. It’ll be three years in March.
Business is growing fast
Business is growing fast. We saw lumber, kiln dry it, and sell it as rough cut or planed and sanded. We make furniture but these days we’re making less furniture and selling more lumber to homeowners, wood turners, craftsmen, and custom furniture makers.
I saw slabs with my TimberKing 2000 2-1/4″ to 4” thick, book matched. We deal with all local, native Texas woods. Pecan, cypress, cedar, walnut, and also Osage orange – it’s also called Bodark. It’s a very dense and hard wood! I inlay turquoise in some of my projects. I get it in bulk from a place in Arizona.
I do the sawing and we have a couple college students helping on the weekends. My wife does the advertising. She posts a lot on social media and we get probably ten or fifteen sales a week just from do-it-yourself people. And we get a lot of repeat customers.
Customers spend a couple hundred to a couple thousand
Folks will drive in from two or three hours away or more. We’ve had customers from as far away as Utah and Colorado. They’ll come and spend anything from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand. They’re using our lumber to make shelving, coffee tables, end tables, big book-matched dining room tables, media centers, and more. Just the other day a woman came in and bought beautiful pecan boards, 12” by 5’, for shelving in her million-dollar home.
I originally bought the TimberKing 2000. I upgraded to the optional diesel engine. I prefer diesel. A diesel engine has more torque than a gas engine and I can store diesel fuel without worrying about it degrading like gasoline does.
There’s money to be made in sawing
Just shy of three years in business, things have grown as much between 55% and 65%! There’s money to be made in sawing. I attribute our growth to social media. We have good ads on social media with lots of pictures of our milled products. And we get great responses to our online videos.
“Business is growing and I need a bigger saw!”
Business is growing and I need a bigger saw. Between floods and hurricanes, there’s no lack of trees to harvest here. I’m buying a new TimberKing 2200. TimberKing is even helping me sell the old one. I considered getting the biggest 2500 but I just don’t need its dual log turners and log dogs.
I’ve been very satisfied with TimberKing saws and the TimberKing company. I appreciate the great customer service and the flow of information I get from the Factory. They’ve always answered all my questions!”
— Doug Caroselli, Blackhawk Millworks, San Marcos TX
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