Get Inspired

Need to clear the forest after a windfall? Are there trees affected by the bark beetle? One profitable solution is to saw damaged logs into more valuable lumber for homesteads and sale.

When the Model T Ford Club of America decided to build a museum dedicated to “the car that put the world on wheels”, Richmond, Indiana seemed to be the perfect fit. A town lost in time, Richmond is one of the birthplaces of the early jazz movement, where jazz giants like Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, and King Oliver’s band with the young Louis Armstrong on the horn performed and recorded some of their first songs.

With the help of Wood-Mizer LT40 sawmill Herbert Butterfield built a small barn out of white pine and ash on his family farm in Charlotte, Michigan. In this barn he made a sugarhouse for maple syrup production.

Thomas Orderud, owner and operator of DesignIce, started harvesting ice from a local lake in Southeastern Norway about 15 years ago. Today Thomas can supply “everything from ice cubes to ice hotels” from his frosty 400 square meter workshop. Even in the winter he keeps the temperature at a steady -5 degrees Celcius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) so his 500-600 ton stock of ice blocks stay frozen solid.

Brampton Woodworks is an English carpentry workshop that specializes in building wooden footbridges and footpath signs. Recently, the number of orders from local authorities was increasing and they needed to purchase a new sawmill which would increase capacity and boost productivity. After thorough research they settled on the new Wood-Mizer LX450. “We found that the LX450 offered us larger capacity, we can put larger saw logs on,” says Robert Jeffrey, owner of Brampton Woodworks.

The Rocks company from the Netherlands provides extravagant ice sculptures, ice blocks, catering, and more for prestigious events, clubs, restaurants, and hotels.

A self-proclaimed homesteader, Nathan Brown was tired of powder-post beetles destroying the lumber he laid out to air dry, so he decided to build a solar kiln.

A German family purchased a Wood-Mizer LT20B sawmill solely for their own needs to restore their property; however, a year later, the family has a steady source of income thanks to their new customers.

In June of 2017, due to an unusually dry summer a devastating fire quickly spread engulfed the area around the village of Knysna, South Africa. The fire killed seven people and destroyed over 1,000 homes and businesses, leaving at least 10,000 citizens without a place to live. Daniel Hennessey, owner of Timber Village Furniture Manufacturers in Knysna, was among those affected by the fire.

In the East Coast region of Malaysia, in the State of Kelantan, just outside of the town of Kota Bharu, Mohd Nazmie lives with his family. He’s a schoolteacher. And he’s a woodworker and sawmiller. He salvages trees that otherwise would have been burned. He produces and sells live-edge furniture for friends and local clients. Thanks to a daring investment in an LT15 sawmill, he has opened up a whole niche industry to himself.