Our family has many happy memories of working together with Daddy sawing on his mill before he passed away. Thank you for the joy this TimberKing has brought to our family. It’s brought us family time. Daddy loved running the mill. Momma would go up and help him pull lumber or sticker it. I would go and help, whether he was sawing for himself or others. I remember showing the mill to my little grandson and asking him to show me all the different controls.
Big plans until life threw us a curve
He bought this TimberKing sawmill the year after Hurricane Katrina. We had big plans for sawing for our own use and for the public. Then life threw us a curve: Dad passed away in 2009.
It’s taken me and my brother a while after Daddy passed before we could get back to running the mill. It brings back family memories that really touch us.
Do-it-yourself family
I was born and raised in this little community in Lincoln County, Mississippi. My parents and grandparents lived on a farm and did what they needed to do – they raised a garden, did carpentry, and basically did things for themselves.
My dad retired at 62 and did some sawing with friends who had a sawmill. He had fun with it and cut lumber for a local preacher. After Katrina, there was a lot of timber down at his place. He’d talked about getting a sawmill and in 2006 he bought a TimberKing 1220 mill. He never was a fancy guy, never wanted the fancy stuff. He’d buy just the basics, just what he needed, so the 1220 fit him fine.
If Dad could get a log on the mill, he’d saw it
My dad started cutting and he loved it. If he wasn’t doing anything else he’d be down on the mill sawing. If he could get a log on the mill he’d saw it. He cut an old chinaberry tree and made some of the prettiest lumber I’ve ever seen.
He sawed boards and built a little cabin by the pond where he lived. He sawed the wood for the flooring in his house. He sawed it right on the site. He sawed all kinds of wood and cut his own beams, framing lumber, siding, interior trim, and more.
Now my brother and I have started sawing. We both work in the oil fields, working seven days and home seven days. We have the mill at my mother’s place and saw for our own use, not for the public yet. I’m cutting cedar for jewelry boxes and other keepsakes. I’m cutting oak to make boxes. And I cut treated pilings and build Adirondack-style rocking chairs. I’ve made probably 15 or 20.
Dad looked at a lot of mills and shopped around. He’d worked for Frito-Lay for 40 years and was really meticulous about things like that.
Making something beautiful out of nothing
Now I’m using Dad’s TimberKing and I love it, I really enjoy it. You take a log, no matter what kind, and put it on there. You saw it, cut it into cants, you see the grain of the wood come out. You plane it, build something, poly it, and it’s just a good feeling. You make something out of nothing and end up with a beautiful product.
I guess I like the ease and portability of the mill. It’s simple. Your bigger sawmills probably cut more than the 1220 but there’s not much that can go wrong with this one. It’s simple – no hydraulics or electric feed, just simple.
I don’t have much spare time but I’d eventually like to have a little sawmill business for myself. No specific plans but I’d like to get my name out there and your name gets passed around. For example, I made a chair for myself and took it in to work. People got asking me if I’d build them one, one after another. A man who’d had back surgery said this was the most comfortable chair he’d ever sat on. Since then, I’ve built chairs for four others. When you have a good, well-built product, people like it and want it. Just word of mouth.
Work with a mill owner for a couple days
My advice? Have fun with sawing. Whether you’re doing it for yourself, part-time or full-time, or planning to build up a business, just have fun with it. There may be times when it’s aggravating or frustrating but just have fun. If you want to start sawing, find someone who has a mill and work with them a day or two and make sure you enjoy it. Then you’ll have fun.
The TimberKing company has always helped with answers for any questions we’ve had. They’ve always been helpful and treated us well. Service after the sale makes a company and they have that down pat.”
— Russell Abrams, TimberKing 1220 Owner, Lincoln County, MS
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