Sawmill Business Podcast

Hey everyone, we don’t have a guest for this week, instead I’m going to update you on what's been going on in the Woodpreneur and Acres of Timber Universe.  Overall, it's been really, really exciting! I'm so pumped up right now with all of the progress happening in the wood business community. Website Launch & Woodpreneur Vision Later this month in June, we're going to do a website launch party for Woodpreneur Life! The idea is to have something like a zoom call where everybody can hop in. There are going to be some giveaways, we’ll hear from some people, and it's going to be a really good time! We would definitely like some folks to check out the website because we put in a lot of work and it has come out really well. The vision we have for Woodpreneur Life is to be like the Forbes, Business Week or Entrepreneur Magazine for Woodpreneurs and the wood business community. We have articles, all of our podcasts, links to our courses, resources, and we even have our shop on there. It is honestly som

Today on the podcast we are so excited to welcome Daniel Levin from GL Veneer. At its core, GL Veneer is a plywood manufacturing company. They got their start in 1977 when Daniel’s grandpa started the company, originally he was making cut to size furniture components for the furniture markets that were big in LA at that time.  A short time later Daniel’s dad joined the family business and spent a few decades servicing the plywood markets. Fast forward another 10 years or so and Daniel’s dad fell in love with California walnut. Not too long after that he turned his eyes towards the live edge product line. The Shift From Plywood to Live Edge Steve notes that as the company that has existed since the 70’s they must have been exceptional with adapting. Steve wonders if the shift to live edge was a gut feeling or if they noticed the trend moving that way early on. Daniel recalls that the market for slabs in the early 2000s was a lot smaller, more of a niche product line at that time. However it wasn’t fu

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, today we are pleased to welcome Cameron Porter of Cammie’s Garage! Cammie’s garage started back in 2017 when Cameron and his wife bought their home. Previous to that Cameron had graduated from the University of South Carolina with an art degree, and had a 20 year career in the animation business before he started doing woodwork.  Cameron considers himself an artist primarily and it just so happens that wood is his preferred medium at the moment. Camerons wife saw that he really enjoyed woodworking and he himself had realized there was a passion for it when he was doing his art degree. So when they bought their house, one of the reasons behind their choice was that there was a two and a half car garage Cameron could turn into a workshop. Preferred Equipment and Pieces Cameron makes mostly unique art pieces with the lathe as his primary tool. He also will occasionally do commissions. People ask him to do certain things and he considers hi

Today on the podcast we are thrilled to have Justin Larson of JML Woodcraft as our guest. Justin is a one man show and a garage workshop warrior who specializes in highlighting the natural beauty of live-edge slabs. In fact, technically Justin only does woodworking part time about 15 to 20 hours a week, but he says if you ask his wife, she'll say he’s out there a lot more than that!  The Creative Focus and Origins of JML Woodcraft Right now the focus of Justin’s company is unique serving boards and live edge slab desks and tables, but the history behind the company has been in the making for over ten years now. JML Woodcraft actually all started back in 2011, when Justin and his family bought their house and needed some furniture. As Justin says, he had the thought process, like most woodworkers, that he could just build everything they needed so that they could save some money. First he built a farm table and some shelves, then he started getting more advanced. For the first few years he was just bu

From Humble Beginnings When asked how 731 Woodworks got started, Matt says that the first question he always gets is where the number 731 came from. He explains that July 31st is his wife and his anniversary, and they named their business after that date in March of 2017. Matt explains that they started it out as a side business, so he took $100 and invested in some two-by-fours after watching a YouTube video by Jay Bates on building chairs. He started building and selling chairs and slowly built his business up from there all the while posting videos on the 731 Woodworks YouTube channel. The Power of Etsy Steve asks Matt about what kind of niche he’s developed for himself. Matt mentions that right from the start, farmhouse furniture took off for them and the YouTube channel is very farmhouse focused. He goes on to say that his clientele was very local until they managed to get their Etsy store started in late 2018 or early 2019. They didn’t start the store immediately because they were getting plenty of

Today on the Podcast we have Vic Tesolin of Vic Tesolin Woodworks! Vic has been making furniture for a number of years, he studied at Rosewood studio in Ontario, Canada, where he focused on furniture design and making while building furniture. However, Vic found it was very difficult to make a living making the type of high-end furniture that he was making originally.  Vic has always had jobs that support his woodworking. He was the editor of Canadian woodworking magazine, and also worked for the research and development department at Veritas for Lee Valley for about 10 years. This all afforded Vic the ability to travel all over the world and meet woodworkers from different walks of life, which he describes as pretty fantastic!   Eventually he decided it was time to be his own boss and do his own thing. Vic describes it as something that sort of just happened. In addition to his woodworking business he also has written two books besides his publication writing.  “This is it, this is what I do.”

Welcome to another incredible episode of the Woopdreneur Podcast with your host Steve Larsoliere, and today's guest, Nathan Logsdon of Logsdon Woodworking. This episode is brought to you by Uneeda - the leading abrasive company for Woodpreneurs. Go to www.uneeda.com and use promo code Woodpreneur15 to save 15% of any order! Currently, Nathan is on active duty in the Coast Guard and started his woodworking journey when he was stationed in North Carolina. At that point, he was separated from his wife and kids as Nathan’s daughter attended a school in Maryland that she couldn’t move from and Nathan was pretty bored as he was only able to visit on the weekends. So with the newfound free time, Nathan stumbled into woodworking. His first project was a reclaimed cooler.  One thing led to another and Nathan sold the cooler and started making all sorts of great projects, now it’s an entire side business. Nathan's day job in the coast guard is as an aircraft maintenance technician working on everything from he

On today’s episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast we are joined by Mara Harding. Mara began her journey into the wood industry when she was 41, because when her children began to reach the double-digit ages, she began to wonder what her purpose was on the planet. At the time, she owned and ran an advertising agency, and while she had several big clients she felt that it was not her calling, so she shut the agency down at the age of 40.  After that point, Mara took about four months to decide what she wanted to, and she had an opportunity to create some Christmas designs out of wood, which led to her “aha moment.” This revelation caused her some issues as she had no training, no passport, no experience, and no access to mentors in Jamaica that could teach her woodworking. Personal Journey Instagram: @mara.harding Finished Products Instagram: @maramadedesigns

The thing that put Jesse on Steve’s radar was actually an Instagram post, specifically a time-lapse of a table, and the music in the background was “KOTA the friend” and it was so cool it demanded immediate attention. After becoming mutual friends and supporting each other's businesses they finally connected and now there’s an amazing story for you all to follow here on the podcast! Burnt Brydges is based in Stratford, Ontario, Canada and has an incredible origin story. Jesse actually had a garage fire where his workshop was based. One day he woke up at 4:30am thanks to his dog sounding the alarm and he realized there was a big problem. Fortunately Jesse was able to rebuild and he used the incident as great inspiration, given he lived on Brydges street, there you have the name. Steve loves the idea of how burning bridges in business isn’t necessarily a good thing but burnt bridges in the sense of letting go of the past and moving forward and committing to the passion is an amazing double meaning.  Co

Today we're pleased to welcome James Ruij from Salvage Europe to the show! James has been in the wood business for quite some time now, and we consider him an OG Woodpreneur! From online supply hubs to dreams of the biggest lumber company in the world, you can't help but feel inspired when listening to James talk about his time in the industry.  Adapting to the Changing World With this iteration of the business through Covid, the most significant change has been the lack of regular travel to Europe. Typically James spends two months a year in Europe and has a company in Australasia, so the lack of travel has been very different.  Between his other business ventures Chene Oak and Acorn Road, James had done an incredible job diversifying his business, but even with so much on the go, he keeps a lean team. James explains we used to have fifty to sixty employees, but being an Australian in America, it isn't always the easiest to craft your way, so he liked to stay very personal and involved in the business

Our guests for today’s podcast are Christian and Lauren of Big Sky Dry located in Missoula, Montana. Currently, Lauren works full time in advertising as a copywriter, which she says helps their new business a lot, while Christian works at Big Sky Dry full time as they grow their company. When asked how they started their business, Christian mentioned how three years ago, he was working with his dad brokering financing for logging equipment and people within that industry. At that time, one of his customers came up to him and inquired about financing an iDRY kiln, which neither Christian or his dad had heard of. His father then got in touch with Jim Parker of iDRY, and they began helping customers with financing. This was their first real exposure to wood drying, and after conversations with Jim, they went to Vermont and saw how the kilns were made. Lauren recognized that people kept wanting to get more and more of these kilns and needed financing for their second and third ones. By that point, with each

Today we are thrilled to have Avery Earwood from Wild Edge Woodcraft on the show! Wild Edge Woodcraft started officially in August of last year when Avery transitioned from a 25-year corporate career in healthcare into his new full-time role as a Woodpreneur. His services include  tree removals, sawmill work, kiln drying, and custom furniture building. Wild Edge Woodcraft is located in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, known locally as The Research Triangle, or The Triangle.  From Corporate To Craftsman Avery discusses how truly overwhelmed he has been by the amount of success and the fun he's been having in this new career. He dreamed for many years about transitioning from corporate life into this new career as a Woodpreneur. He goes on to discuss how meeting all of his new clients has become one of the best parts of the job for him. His clients range from people who simply need trees removed from their property to woodworking enthusiasts looking for the perfect slab to make a riv

Today we’re excited to have Westley Campbell from Campbell Signs and Designs on the show! What started as a hobby sign business has now grown into a multifaceted company with several different specialties. In the shop, there’s a woodworking area, several CNC machines, a laser system for laser etching, and even a vacuum kiln.  Westley says he likes to do a little bit of everything. While sign making was the first step, Campbell Signs and Designs has grown and diversified to accommodate the needs of the customers. Westley notes there are a lot of maple syrup producers in his area so he’s also branched out to doing laser work on glass bottles.  Engineer by Day, Woodworker by Night Westley describes himself as a plastics engineer by day and part-time woodworker by night and weekends. Fortunately he works with robotics at his day job which lends well to the CNC capabilities as well as the laser machines.  When Westley started his company he was focusing on small home decor signs that he largely made with

Today on the podcast we’re thrilled to have Sami and Cory from Avid CNC. Avid CNC is an engineering and manufacturing company geared toward helping people be successful with their machine tools. The company offers a wide variety of machine sizes and different types of tools and attachments. As Cory says, the goal of Avid CNC is to provide great opportunities for people to automate some production or add precision to their workflow. The Origin Story Sami originally studied sculpture with a focus on digital fabrication, but she also got to work with her hands a lot. When she moved to Portland, she got a job as a CNC technician and a project manager in digital fabrication.  Sami describes her passions as the intersection between educating and making, so getting to teach CNC at the local maker’s space on an Avid CNC machine was an incredible start. Eventually, her journey lead her to work with Avid CNC directly. Now she has the opportunity to teach CNC every day through Avid CNCs video production projec

Today on the show we have Nolan Thomson from Nolan Built! Talking through Nolan’s story was an awesome time and we have to give a shoutout to the IG algorithms for making it happen! The power of social media marketing at work. Today we talk about everything from submarines to taking leaps of faith. It’s a great ride!  The Foundations of Nolan Built The story starts fifteen years ago when Nolan was building nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines in a job he got right out of High-School. While it wasn’t his passion, Nolan attributes this job to giving him his tool background and knowledge. Finally, when he bought his first home the love of woodworking started to emerge.  Nolan ended up buying a 10 inch Hitachi miter saw while he was doing some work upgrading his house. From there, the love of tools and building his inventory struck. Every holiday, Nolan’s then-girlfriend, and now wife would give him a gift card to a Home Hardware Store or buy him one of the tools on his list of wants. Then in 2015,

Today’s guest is Justin Ephraim from Reduxwood. Justin has a fascinating story and has been in the wood industry for over twenty-five years. From sourcing wood for Canadians from Panama, building luxury homes, and undertaking underwater excursions to check the quality of submerged woods, it’s been an incredible journey.  From the start to the end of this episode it is packed with captivating stories, wonderful successes, and big moves. Justin and his story are nothing short of inspirational. He moved to Vietnam with two suitcases and a broken panini press (well, it broke on the way, but still.) and now has a multi-national business with twenty employees and the largest inventory of his product in the world.  Continuing to Grow & How to Do So Reduxwood has grown to be an international company with an incredible team and a lifetime worth of networking, relationships, skill, and success under their belts. The inventory alone has taken about eight years for Justin to collect and grow. After doing the w

Today’s guest is Larry Smith from L&K Hardwoods! Larry is part of our iDRY Conversations series where we interview iDRY customers and talk with them about their stories and business. Investing in the Dream Larry bought a Timber King 6000, the biggest machine that the company makes. The sawmill company is based in Kansas City and with Larry’s strong commitment to supporting local business, he couldn’t think of anyone else he would want to buy his first mill from.  In terms of his biggest successes, Larry says his overall biggest success is his family, but for business, it was getting his dream piece of land to open his shop and build his investments on.  L&K Hardwoods is on the national historic registry, the very first sawmill in Jackson Country Missouri was built in 1834 on the land. People would come from as far as New Orleans to buy flour and grain and supplies. The mill was 60 feet high and all built out of locally sourced black walnut gathered from the wooded area around where it would

Today we welcome James Peglar from Lux Edge Furniture to the show. James used to work in corporate America but always knew that he had the drive and mindset of an entrepreneur. Ultimately he decided to take everything he had learned about running a business and strike out independently. Lux Edge Furniture’s start was James making coffee tables out of his garage in October of 2014. It took off from there. James did a ton of marketing, and his products ended up in La Z Boy within a few months. He’s gone from a team of just himself and his wife making a small coffee table a month to having four in-house employees, some support staff, and producing 15-20 large products every month. Lux Edge Furniture also now ships all over the world. The Beginning James wanted to make his life as successful as his abilities. He knew that working for someone else imposed a limit that didn’t align with his personal goals. On top of that, he was surrounded by people who hated their jobs, and he decided that life really wasn’t

Today on the Podcast we are thrilled to get a chance to catch up with Alexander Wikstrom of Wikstrom Interior. Alexander is based out of Sweden and has been in business now for seven years as a woodworker, authorized tool and product reseller and workshop owner.  What was the spark for the business? It all started when Alexander’s wife saw a picture of a table online. The pair was in the middle of doing some home renovations and Alexander knew he had some spare construction wood laying around. After some time in the basement, he had created an admittedly rough around the edges table, but a table non the less. Eventually, they sold the piece and the idea of furniture creation began to take shape.  Alexander spent about two years building tables in the basement while juggling a young family and full-time office job. Eventually, the waitlist for his tables was about a year-long and he knew that he was going to need to make a decision. Fortunately, he decided to build a workshop and started his own business, W