Customer Stories

“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.

Spinelli Palanca Services has more than a century of experience in logging, clearing, pruning, and felling of trees. The family company was founded in 1912 in Castagniers, France, and has been developed over generations, constantly adapting to customers’ requirements. In 2014, Sebastien Spinelli took over the business to continue the family's legacy while preserving the optimal quality of service.

In 2023, the annual Wood-Mizer Customer Days were held at the Oak Frame Company in Saint Asaph, Northern Wales. Simon Belfield, a passionate sawmiller and company owner, specializes in making oak and larch products. “I have always enjoyed working with wood,” says Simon. “Wood appeals to everybody. It has so many end-uses. It’s a phenomenal product at the end of the day.”

A Slovenian farmer talks about life in his mountain village, why he decided to buy a sawmill, and how the sawmill now helps the local community.

Alongside building quality log cabins for the shepherds, Aleksander Salicis, a carpenter from Plan du Verdon in the French Alps, uses local wood to provide carpentry services and products for his customers. Aleksander operates multiple Wood-Mizer machines for his sawmilling and woodworking company, Salicis Charpente.

By investing wisely in sawmill equipment, an Indonesian door manufacturer has improved lumber quality, optimized productivity, and increased yields of valuable tropical timber.

Large logs are often inexpensive but more difficult to handle; only some woodworkers can process them. However, these difficulties did not stop Jan Narten, a young woodworker from Germany who cuts large-diameter logs and makes unique wooden furniture.

“My name is Serge Jourdan. I own a portable sawmill in the Haut-Verdon valley in Beauvezer, in the French Alps. Why did I choose the LT70 sawmill? Because it’s easy to move around. I work in a mountainous area, and when I go along the mountain passes and forest tracks at 2400 m altitude, I can always manage my sawmill. This machine is running virtually every day of the year!”

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

“The LT40 is a fantastic and useful machine. It works well in every weather. It does a great job in contract sawmilling in the mountains. It is simple to operate, and I can transport it to the sawmilling site when it is attached to the car as a trailer. I don’t have to carry heavy logs to the stationary sawmill anymore. I enjoy working on my LT40 sawmill,” says David Jones from Wales, a user of the LT40 and one of the thousands of happy owners of this legendary machine.

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.

What is the best sawmill for working in mountainous areas? Sawmilling in the Alps requires much character and determination from the local sawmillers. Towing sawmills up mountainous roads can be challenging, even for the most experienced sawmillers. Apart from the skills and practical knowledge about wood, they also need the proper sawmilling equipment to do their job well.