When a majestic, high-value tree stands in the way of new construction, it’s unceremoniously knocked down and ends up as trash in a landfill. Adam Scardamalia, Scardamalia Builders, is doing his part to reverse chronic devaluation of Nature’s bounty with his TimberKing sawmill. He’s stopping waste and adding value in a true American “trash-to-treasure” story.
“Watching huge logs being hauled off to landfills – I found it sickening, seeing all that beautiful wood just being wasted. We have a lot of enormous oaks, pines, cypress, and more in this part of Alabama. They’re hundreds of years old, massive, and just beautiful. Occasionally, these high-value trees must be removed but we make it our business to be the ones who get them before they’re taken to the dump.
We’ve made connections with the city, with landscapers, and the Department of Transportation around here. When big trees are being cut, we get the call. Somebody’s taking down a huge tree? We drop what we’re doing and go and salvage the logs before they go to the landfill.
We salvage live oaks, pine, red oak, white oak, cherry, cypress, juniper, walnut, pecan, hickory, and more. I just sawed up some spalted magnolia – it’s just gorgeous.
I started Scardamalia Builders in 2006, right after Hurricane Katrina tore things up here in Alabama. There was a lot of work to be done rebuilding homes, renovating, remodeling, and doing new construction. I’ve done a lot of custom building all through the area.
Turning trash to treasure
What really inspired me was the chance to keep massive, centuries-old trees from ending up at the dump. The opportunity to make something beautiful, something that will last forever, from those trees is the dream we’re following. It’s what makes our business so unique.
I began milling salvaged trees into lumber with a chainsaw with a 72” bar. But a chain saw’s big kerf wastes way too much wood and it wasn’t long before I graduated to a portable bandsaw mill. That was in 2011 but I still use the 72” chainsaw to cut slabs from really big logs of live oak.
These days, timber frame construction is my passion. I’m working on big projects using all wood joinery rather than hardware. Everybody has heard of mortise and tenon joinery with pegs but that’s just one kind of wood joinery. It’s amazing how many timber frame joinery systems there are.
Besides timber framing, I will make just about anything people want me to make. Furniture, kitchen islands, slab countertops, storage sheds, tongue and groove flooring, shiplap siding, trim, casing, solid wood doors, even windows – they’re just gorgeous.
Bringing wasted trees to their highest purpose
My company is growing in the direction of environmental consciousness. This is not a big stretch – I was raised in a family that revered artistry, aesthetics, and environmentalism. We’re changing and growing in the direction of woodworking, not general remodeling. Our focus now is on salvaging trees, sawing them into lumber, and building beautiful high quality structures.
Here’s my vision. When someone’s clearing land to build a house, we come in and mill the trees into lumber for their home or barn or sheds. People usually don’t think of doing that. They’ll have land cleared and the trees get hauled to the landfill. Instead, we’ll mill the landowner’s trees right on-site. They’ll have lumber from their own trees to build their home. It’s amazing how much lumber you can get from a single tree! We can get all the wood we can saw, so we’ll continue to sell slabs and lumber we mill just as we’re doing now.
I drove to Kansas City to see TimberKings in action at the Factory
I started looking at mills while my wife was pregnant with our first son. This was a big decision with a baby on the way! We decided to go with TimberKing because of its heavy construction. First of all, it has a 4-Post Head instead of a single cantilever arm. Second is the quality of the customer service. I drove to Kansas City and watched the TimberKing staff demonstrate the mill. That was a great experience. I chose the 2000 because it has full hydraulics.
They make the mills right in the USA, right in Kansas City. So if I need repair or service parts I know exactly who to go to — the same people who sold me the mill. Everybody we dealt with at TimberKing was just great. I’m proud to own a TimberKing and thankful to be part of TimberKing’s family.
A man’s power equipment is like his garage…
I do the heavy lifting in the family business but my wife, Haley, is totally involved, too. She wants to learn to run the TimberKing mill by herself. She’d like to do that and is willing to learn. We have two young sons but they’ll be in school soon and she’ll be ready to start sawing.
I’m very happy with our TimberKing 2000. Of course, a man’s power equipment is like his garage — you always wish you’d gone bigger. So if you’d like to send me your biggest 2500 to demo for you, I’d be happy to have it!”
— Adam Scardamalia, Scardamalia Builders, Spanish Fort AL — TimberKing 2000 Owner
Visit Adam’s new website, new business name (under construction)
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