Old Wood Gets New Life with Wood-Mizer Sawmills and Woodworking Equipment
Nature Makes Us Happy – is a guiding thought for Kamil Broda, an entrepreneur from Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland. Kamil has worked in financial institutions for 20 years until he decided to make his woodworking dreams finally come true. His company OLD Mountains was founded to create furniture and everyday items from wood waste, joining it with steel, concrete, glass, and something more – the original philosophy attached to these unique products, which Kamil wants to communicate to his customers.
OLD Mountains is a small family company located in the suburbs of a medium-sized town, bordered with forests and fields, where it's fairly easy to get access to wood and where sawmillers can have enough space to install their machines. Kamil's workshop is filled with professional equipment for wood processing, mainly Wood-Mizer machines, and the stock of unique ready products awaiting customers.
"Our woodworking company deals with the design and production of state-of-the-art furniture and everyday objects, in which we combine old wood with concrete, steel, and glass. By joining such materials, we provide our customers with good-looking and original products. The wood that we source for production is a waste material, and it comes from the demolition of redundant farm buildings or the clearing of old fruit orchards. The steel is recycled from wrecked machines which have been forgotten by everyone, but in our products, we try to restore some part of their old lives," explains Kamil. "We'd like our products to remind us about past times, but on the other hand, we want to make them pleasant to look at and obviously as practical as possible."
One more thing that makes the products with the OLD Mountains logo very exceptional – they convey their owners with an original philosophy. A common feature of all products is promoting the art of "life composure," meaning life in agreement with nature, the joy of experiencing the order and tidiness found in the minimalism of the surrounding everyday objects. Such a life approach can help us achieve internal composure, safety, and happiness. The message promoted by OLD Mountains is directly connected with philosophical streams such as wabi-sabi, hygge, and lagom, which oppose chasing materialism or taking part in a rat race. Still, on the other hand, they favor moderation, functionality, and appreciation of what we already have around us. These are precisely the products that Kamil makes in his workshop. "Our products help people find the way to real happiness. They strengthen the relations among people, and with our products around, people feel easy and natural. Customers appreciate that our products are 'just fine' - which means they are simple, comfortable, and manufactured concerning nature," Kamil shares.
Kamil Broda's company has been in operation for nearly 3 years and comprises only three workers, so the division of roles is clear. Using his professional experience, Kamil deals with new product designs, marketing activities, and searching for new paths of expansion for his business. Two other team members, an older brother, and Kamil's son are operational workers dealing with the actual production. "Working with wood has been my dream for a long time. I have always admired my brother Darek's talent for making birds feeders, wooden gift cases, or garden gazebos, and now the time has come when we can join our efforts working together with wood," says Kamil.
The first months of the business activity were not easy for the family because they treated their work too much like a hobby, so they didn't count the time needed for making the products. However, when they had to calculate the price for a customer, they felt disappointed because the cost was high and the profit low. "We wanted to become independent, and we wanted to raise productivity in our workshop. That's why we decided to invest in professional machines for wood processing from Wood-Mizer," said Kamil. The first machine which OLD Mountains ordered was a Wood-Mizer MP260 four-sided planer/moulder, which allowed the operator to speed up significantly the process of wood preparation. "For us, it's important to be able to prepare the material quickly, precisely, and consistently. Otherwise, it won't be possible for us to offer our clients attractive products in a large quantity, and with a short lead-time," explains Kamil.
The MP260 planer/moulder from the Wood-Mizer woodworking line is a well-proven tool for wood processing, recommended for small and medium-size workshops. With its compact and solid construction, and most importantly, high functionality, it opens great possibilities to make final wood products simply and inexpensively. By combining several woodworking operations in one unit, the workshop saves space, lowers maintenance costs, and increases efficiency. Wood-Mizer woodworking machines can be equipped with additional side and horizontal cutter heads, sets of cutting knives, infeed and outfeed tables, and many other accessories and parts. "It's a reliable and proven machine, easy to operate and adjust, with which you can maintain high consistency of production. Before ordering my MP260 planer/moulder, I was researching online. I found out that it had been offered to the Swedish market for years, so its construction had already been tested by a demanding Scandinavian customer. Currently, it's offered by Wood-Mizer, located in Koło, Poland, so for a customer like me, it's easy to get in touch with the service, I can visit the factory and see the machines myself, or I can make an appointment with the technicians at my workshop. Today, seamless cooperation is vital in building business relations," Kamil points out.
Another machine that OLD Mountains has purchased for sawmilling is the LT15CLASSIC Mobile sawmill and the MP100 planer. It's a perfect combination of sawmilling tools expanding the workshop independence, as it allows for the preparation of material at the initial stage of production. "With the LT15 Mobile, we can mill the logs right at the spot and shape our products the way we want. For example, while clearing the old orchard from unwanted trees, we can decide about the shape of our future products," Kamil says. "My LT15 features a layout of bed cross-sections and side supports capable of holding on the bed also short logs, so it's a perfect solution for cutting the material for small-size everyday items. The sawmill has a robust, strengthened bed frame that remains stiff during operation and during transportation. The MP100 planer is an ideal solution for the primary planing of wet wood just on the sawmill bed. It can also be equipped with profile knives and used for the preparation of beams for house construction. In our case, we use the MP100 for building the original partition walls."
The LT15CLASSIC Mobile sawmill with the MP100 planer is ideal for small and medium sawmilling companies and enthusiasts working with wood. When arriving at a place for sawmilling, to prepare the sawmill, the operator needs to remove the fenders, unlock the saw head secured for the time of transportation, and level the bed. The machine is supplied with an axle and wheels, a tow bar with the support wheel, 8 adjustable legs, and a set of road lights. The standard configuration can be expanded by a loading ramp and a winch helpful in loading the logs on the bed.
OLD Mountains is an excellent example of a young, successful enterprise offering its customers a unique product while making all the team members work hard for this success with passion and involvement. The cooperation with Wood-Mizer helped this family company expand in two significant ways - using the MP260 planer/moulder helped increase the efficiency of material preparation while retaining precision and consistency. Secondly, the LT15CLASSIC sawmill with the MP100 planer enabled them to take control of the material preparation process right at the stage of milling the log. Kamil Broda admits that maintaining good business relations with Wood-Mizer is relatively easy because the company is located in Poland and cares a lot about good customer service. Anyone who has ever purchased a product from OLD Mountains must have noticed that apart from the esthetic and functional products, he also got something extra – a philosophical guideline "how to live smartly and reasonably."
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