Business Ideas & Best Practices

Located in Michigan, family-owned and operated Wilson Enterprises has provided high-quality wood products for home décor, construction, and craft projects since 1985. Recently, the company invested in a Wood-Mizer WB2000 industrial sawmilling system to process logs to finished products all in-house while offering their wood products in close to 5,000 retail stores throughout the United States.

“The lumber they sell at hardware stores is costly, so people look for ways to buy it cheaper. They call me, and I make all sorts of things for them – flooring, walls, and roof paneling, even some specialty moulding for historical houses. For these quality products, I use logs from 200-year-old forests,” explains Hans Larsson, a sawyer and carpenter from the Swedish town of Vansbro.

Slovenian carpentry enterprise owner Jože Moric shares essential knowledge from his 40+ years of woodworking experience. "If you are blessed with a passion for woodworking at an early age, it makes it easier to enjoy what you do all your life," believes he.

Located in the Dutch village of Lutten, Bob Otten runs his own sawmill business, The Otten Sawmill. There is no finer wood than oak for this craftsman, who is deeply passionate about his work. Oak is perfect for crafting authentic haystacks, rustic barns, traditional roof frames, and other products. Bob Otten oversees the entire process — from felling the trees, sawing, to construction.

Balmoral Castle has been the residence of the Royal Family in Scotland ever since it was acquired by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1852. The castle’s construction was completed in 1856, and since then, Balmoral has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family. The tradition is that each successive owner of the Estate takes a close personal interest in running and improving it. Balmoral Estate recently purchased a Wood-Mizer LT40 WIDE Mobile sawmill to efficiently maintain the forests and green areas surrounding the Castle.

Nathan Shewchuk accomplished his lifelong dream of building his own home with eight years of hard work and dedication, along with a few helpers and a Wood-Mizer portable sawmill.

“Scotland is beautiful with its landscapes, numerous castles, and unpredictable weather. Travelers going north of Edinburgh get to Perth, where they might think it’s the last bastion of civilization, but over the mountains, there is Inverness. With its microclimate and fertile grounds, this surprisingly warm little section of Northern Scotland is perfect for growing good timber,” says Ronald Munro Ferguson, the owner of Novar Sawmill.

Wood-Mizer sawmills can be found in some of the most unusual places in the world, such as the peak of a mountain in Slovenia at 1220 m above sea level, where the Catholic Church of St. Anne is located. The church was built more than 700 years ago and is a holy place for many pilgrims, as a shrine - a sculptural image of a dark-faced Madonna - is kept here.

Approximately 50km northeast of Rome, Stefano Chini's grandfather started a family business in 1929 selling hand-split railroad ties. Stefano's father was raised in the woodworking industry, and through his hard work, he built a successful firewood company. Stefano began managing the business full-time in 2007. As the third-generation owner, he is already thinking about his own son’s future with the family business.

Based in Minnesota, USA, Nelson Wood Shims is the largest shim manufacturer in North America, producing high-quality woodworking products for nationwide distribution. The company recently invested in a new sawmill system to maximize log yield while minimizing investment and operational costs.