Sawing Lumber for Cabins in Michigan

Steve Kesti, the owner of Backwoods Lumber company located in Michigan, recalls first becoming interested in woodworking as far back as childhood. “Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to build a cabin in the woods,” remembers Steve. His father was a carpenter, and after taking a carpentry class in high school, Steve followed in his father’s footsteps becoming a carpenter himself. “I have been working as a carpenter until, eventually, I began building houses for other people,” says Steve.

After purchasing a plot of land, Steve realized he had the perfect opportunity to make his childhood dream come true. “I looked around at all my trees and decided – it’s time to build that cabin and fulfill that dream,” says Steve. At the time, Steve only had a chainsaw mill, and shares that the cabin took the whole summer to build. Nonetheless, the cabin build was a success. “People came and looked at it and said ‘Oh, you should build these for a living,’” says Steve. At that time, Steve realized that he could start a business building cabins and make dreams come true for others. However, he needed to upgrade his chainsaw mill to increase production, yield, and efficiency in milling. Thus, Steve made the decision to buy a Wood-Mizer LT40 hydraulic portable sawmill to jump start his business.

Steve shares that the cabin building is an interesting business from different points of view. “I can work from home, right here in the backyard, and people can come pick up their lumber and talk,” tells Steve. “They see the kids and they like that when they are buying something, it is going to the guy with a family.”

Step by step, Steve began to expand his business into cedar products, adding a Wood-Mizer MP260 planer/moulder to his operation. The MP260 planes and moulds boards on all four sides at once for making flooring, paneling, trim, and more. Steve relies on his MP260 to make tongue and groove boards and other finished products. The first year he milled cedar, he cut what he thought would be enough to make it through the winter, but his inventory only lasted until January. The next year, he cut twice as much, but that batch lasted only until October. “It’s been selling as fast as I can get it run through the planer,” said Steve.

Another benefit for Steve is that his sawmill is mobile. He built several chicken coops, made siding for the house and sheds on his property. In the heavily forested region of Michigan, the business opportunities for a mobile sawmill are endless.

To keep the sawmill running at its best, Steve sharpens and sets his sawmill blades, for which he purchased a special Wood-Mizer BMS250 blade sharpener. “I run Wood-Mizer blades. I can just have about 30 blades on hand and, as they’re dull, I just sharpen them every evening when I’m done sawing,” said Steve. “That really helps, having my own sharpening equipment. I just maintain blades for my needs.” With the BMS250 bandsaw blade sharpener, Steve keeps his operation running as smooth as possible.

Thanks to the hydraulic system, he can work alone at the sawmill even with very heavy logs. “You can just roll your logs right onto the log loading arms,” said Steve. “Lifts them right onto the machine. The customers really like that.”

“If somebody asked me if I would recommend Wood-Mizer, I would say absolutely,” said Steve. “It’s been wonderful. Fun to cut on, and it works really good for me.”

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