Customer Stories

Converting Illegally-Logged Timber into 146,000 School Desks in the Philippines

After confiscating ten million board feet of illegally logged timber, the Philippines Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources salvaged the logs to produce thousands of desks and chairs for schools in desperate need.

Making Major League Baseball Bats From Forest To Field

Why swing with an old bat, when you can swing with a Young one. In the mountains of North Carolina, the family-owned and operated Young Bat Company handcrafts wooden baseball bats from forest to field for everyone from little leaguers to Hall of Fame caliber players.

From Sawing Raw Logs to Moulding Finished Flooring in Scotland

Just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland, Sandy Crook has retired from his full time arborist business to spend more time with what he really enjoys, seeing timber turned into final products. With his full complement of Wood-Mizer sawmills and new MP360 planer/moulder, he can do everything in-house.

Family Sawmilling Business Producing Pallet and Grade Lumber in Northwest Ohio

The family-owned and operated L. Garbers & Sons Sawmill in Northwest Ohio was established in 1997 by Luther and Kathryn Garbers and their two sons David and Marty. What started out as a side business with a portable sawmill has grown into a full-time operation with a high-production industrial sawmilling system producing pallet material, cut stock, blocking, and grade lumber in Wauseon, Ohio.

Handcrafting Zen Chairs in Japan

At the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan, world-renowned woodworker Tak Yoshino creates custom, handcrafted chairs that promote proper and healthy posture through the practice of Zen. As a result of his chairs receiving worldwide acclaim and an increasing number of woodworkers learning Japanese carpentry from Tak, he is currently building a woodworking school with sustainably harvested timber from his own forest.

Valley View Cedar Producer Builds Sawmill Business in British Columbia

Located on two acres in Kamloops, British Columbia, Valley View Industries produces and sells a variety of cedar products including gazebos, fencing, and more to customers throughout North America and Japan.

From Portable to Production Sawmilling in New York State

On the outskirts of Buffalo, New York in the small town of Holland, is the hard-working family sawmilling business Holland Timber Company. Starting as a portable sawmill for homeowners, the business has evolved to a production mill supplying cabinetry, flooring, and pallet manufacturers throughout the Northeast United States.

Making End Grain Cutting Boards in Nova Scotia

Located on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, Larch Wood handcrafts wooden end grain cutting boards from sustainably managed and harvested larch trees. In addition to its beautiful coloring and grain patterns, Larch Wood specializes in end grain cutting boards because they are durable and feature a self-healing cutting surface.

Sawmilling and Horse Logging in Western North Carolina

Sometimes the size of a business is less important than the potential impact a company can have on the community it serves. Mountain Works’ core approach to business revolves around its function as a demonstration project seeking to bring about change in the way most forestry and agriculture is done in America.

Urban Sawmilling in Hawaii

Established in 2010 as a collaboration between an ISA Certified Arborist and a sustainable building consultant, Josh Greenspan and Alex Woodbury of Kamuela Hardwoods save logs from the landfill to create locally-sourced, high-quality, salvaged lumber for islander woodworkers, builders, and instrument makers in their Hawaiian community.