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by Acres of Timber
We cover the business and marketing side of the woodworking, sawmill, tree service, furniture making, Urban Wood, and woodworking industry. If you're a woodworker, sawmill owner, or any other entrepreneur and/or business owner in the wood industry, you need to check out this podcast. Each week, we interview business owners, large-scale companies, entrepreneurs, makers, and designers while also offering marketing and business advice that will help you grow your business and increase your profits.
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The first barn Bill McDonald bought whole taught him an expensive lesson. The crew smashed it down as fast as they could, half the beams broke, and he got half the wood he expected for the same price. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Bill McDonald of Reclaimed Michigan, a reclaimed wood business in Metro Detroit. It started in his backyard. Bill couldn't find reclaimed wood for a mantel at home, bought some from a barn teardown an hour away, and sold the extra in an hour. He and his next door neighbor each put in $500, flipped load after load, and put every dollar back into the business. About ten years later they run 18,000 square feet plus an outdoor yard. You'll hear how they moved from selling boards to building doors, shelves, mantels and tables, and why they narrowed to a core product line when custom one-offs weren't paying. Bill explains why they now buy material from the dismantler instead of buying the barn. He photographs barns before they come down so customers can hang the picture over the mantel, and says about 95 percent of what they reclaim was coming down anyway. He's also honest about what's changing. Until about two years ago, most sales were reclaimed wood sold by the board to DIYers. Now roughly 70 percent is custom work for designers and builders, foot traffic has thinned, and the partners are asking whether they still need all that space. Fewer sales are bringing in the same money. Bill closes on what he sees as the key to their success: local owners, local barns and a local community. Chapters 00:00 A Barn Teardown and an Online Ad 04:03 Five Hundred Dollars and a Neighbor 08:05 From a Storage Unit to 18,000 Square Feet 11:15 The Story Behind Every Barn 16:44 Narrowing to Doors, Shelves and Mantels 23:47 Never Buy a Whole Barn 28:19 When Custom Work Flipped the Sales Mix The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Reclaimed Michigan at: https://www.reclaimedmi.com/ https://www.instagram.com/reclaimedmichigan
California is one of the biggest users of wood in the country, and it imports 80 percent of its solid wood products. Meanwhile its forests are burning and its small family sawmills are struggling to make a living. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger goes solo to answer the question she gets asked most lately: what is the California Wood Supply Group? Many listeners know Jennifer from Far West Forest Products, which specializes in urban, salvaged and reclaimed wood with a documented backstory, and from her work across forestry. A California forest restoration nonprofit asked her to help bring together everyone in the state processing sustainably sourced, documented wood, and together they built the group. You'll hear how it works. The California Wood Supply Group is a vetted network of sawmill owners and millwork manufacturers who follow shared standards for sourcing, processing, drying and grading, and who list their inventory in one database. That lets the group combine several small producers to fill a larger order. Jennifer shares what architects, designers and specifiers told her over a year of meetings. They love the idea of local wood, a lower carbon footprint and supporting family businesses, but they can't call 30 or 40 small producers to find it. They need an easy button. So the group became one point of contact: it knows who is milling what, suggests California species that can stand in for imported ones, and gives more realistic lead times when it's brought in early. Jennifer also covers how a board's backstory helps win projects, from trees removed on a building site going back into that same site to wood recovered after a wildfire. She closes with a challenge for architects, designers and builders: in the next six months, pick one project where California grown wood can go into a California build. And if you run a sawmill, she explains how to join as a supplier. Chapters 00:00 What the California Wood Supply Group Is 02:13 California Imports 80 Percent of Its Wood While Its Forests Burn 03:46 A Vetted Network of Small Producers 05:47 What Buyers Need: An Easy Button 09:34 Bring Us In Early 10:59 The One Project Challenge 11:52 How Suppliers and Buyers Can Join The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with California Wood Supply Group at: https://www.cawoodsupply.com/
When Tony Welp lost his father unexpectedly, nothing was in writing. The sawmills, the tools and the log home they had built together out of an old one room schoolhouse were all headed to auction. Tony bought the equipment back piece by piece, hoping to build a business that could save the house. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Tony Welp of Sandhill Sawmill, just outside Donahue, Iowa. Tony grew up sawmilling and woodworking alongside his father, who bought the schoolhouse in the early nineties and turned it into a log cabin. Tony calls losing him a burn the boats moment. It forced him to commit fully and take risks he says he never would have otherwise, and it turned a family hobby into an urban wood business. You'll hear how he cuts big slabs on a custom sawmill that handles logs up to six feet wide, flattens them in the shop and has them vacuum kiln dried, with a kiln of his own on the way. His urban wood comes from local tree crews and arborists who call him before a big tree comes down. He talks about heritage trees people treat as landmarks, and mantels cut from a hand hewn 1800s log cabin that went to each buyer with a printed history. Most of his customers find him on Facebook Marketplace for now. Next, he wants to ship whole logs and truckloads to furniture makers and designers, and run a smaller mill for wall cladding and flooring. Jennifer and Tony also get honest about running a one man urban wood business: the space he is short on, the business side he would rather hand off, and how close he came to burning out on the work that used to be his therapy. Tony closes on why he sees old trees as elders, and why giving them a second life matters to him. Chapters 00:00 Growing Up Milling Alongside His Father 01:48 Losing His Father and Buying Back the Sawmill 06:34 A Burn the Boats Moment 08:57 Big Slabs, a Six Foot Sawmill and a Vacuum Kiln 11:27 Where His Urban Wood Comes From 12:27 Heritage Trees and Mantels From an 1800s Log Cabin 17:46 Plans for More Volume, More Space and Better Systems 21:06 Keeping the Work He Loves From Burning Him Out 31:21 Why He Honors Old Trees as Elders The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Tony at: https://www.instagram.com/sandhill_sawmill/
Jarvis May's first lumber was firewood. He took the cherry and red oak home from tree jobs, logs headed for the side of the road or the landfill, sawed them into slabs with a borrowed chainsaw mill, and sold them on Facebook Marketplace. Today his sawmill cuts timber frames for builders from New Hampshire down to Rhode Island. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Jarvis May of JM Timber in New Hampshire. Jarvis came out of the service with some rigging training, became a tree climber, and started sawing on the side in 2018 before going full time in 2022. Early on he stopped sawing for inventory and switched to cutting to order, with a deposit that covers the logs and the labor before the job starts. You'll hear how he runs three sawmills, one for timber frame packages, one built around timber mat production, and one that cuts timbers up to 40 feet. He plans to put the mat money into wide red and white oak for a hardwood line, and he is training two sawyers on a ladder where the guy pulling scrap can move up. Most of his customers came from cold calling, and the sawmill owners around him send each other work instead of competing for it. The conversation closes on the forest. Jarvis explains why he logs his skid trails north to south, why a landowner should know how many board feet are standing on their property, and why a timber harvested at the right time can live another 150 years in someone's home. Chapters 00:00 Timber Frames, Bridge Timbers and Timber Mats 03:47 Slabs, a Black Walnut and the Switch to Cutting to Order 09:16 From the Service to Tree Climbing to Sawing 13:49 Three Sawmills, Timber Mats and the Hardwood Plan 19:57 Training Sawyers and Building Room to Grow 26:18 Cold Calling and the Network That Keeps Wood Moving 39:20 Caring for the Forest and Its Regeneration The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Jarvis at: https://www.jmtimber.net https://www.instagram.com/jm_timber/ https://www.facebook.com/jarvismay/
Joey Cantrell bought a used multi-rip before he had a building to put it in or the three phase power to run it. He drove to Tennessee, hauled it home in a 12 foot dump trailer, and figured out the rest after. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Joey Cantrell of Longshot Premium Hardwoods in Oklahoma. Joey spent his career in steel manufacturing until a divorce ended that job and he had to start over at 40. He started a tree service on a whim, told his crew he wanted a sawmill, and bought a kiln right after. Within a few years the small hydraulic mill gave way to a bigger diesel one, because the eastern red cedar around him is everywhere and only pays at volume. You'll hear why cedar became the surprise backbone of a business with hardwoods in its name: it sells green, so it turns over fast instead of sitting in stickered stacks. Joey still mills walnut, pecan and post oak, buying from loggers who call him when they have the right log. He talks about leaning on word of mouth until he was sure he could deliver, hiring a 21 year old to set up his CRM, and sending full kiln loads to a table builder nearby to sell on consignment. His bigger idea is a shared inventory network, so every sawmill owner in it knows what the others have in stock. Rising costs are what keep him up at night, so the question is always how to produce more with what he already owns. A test run of 20 cedar logs took two hours on the sawmill, and he expects the multi-rip to handle the same cants in about eight minutes. Now the work is feeding it. The conversation closes on why he charges $250 an hour for custom milling and asks for photos first, and on the time he loses handling and rehandling heavy lumber. Chapters 00:00 Buying a Used Multi-Rip Before He Had Power for It 03:21 Starting Over at 40 With a Tree Service and a Sawmill 04:40 Eastern Red Cedar and Selling Lumber Green 08:13 Walnut, Pecan and Post Oak From Local Logs 12:04 Marketing, a CRM and a Network of Sawmills 22:30 Rising Costs and Feeding the Multi-Rip 32:32 Why He Charges $250 an Hour for Custom Milling The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Joey and Longshot Premium Hardwoods at: https://longshothardwoods.com/ https://www.instagram.com/longshot_hardwoods_texoma/
Our most listened episode on Spotify in 2025 is back. Nick Mooers rode the pandemic boom in home renovation into real growth at Maverick Sawmill, built a reputation on oversized walnut, and split the business evenly between raw and finished products. In this throwback episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, hosts Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger sit down with Nick Mooers of Maverick Sawmill, a sawmill that specializes in oversized walnut pieces. Nick walks through how demand surged as homeowners poured money into renovations, the projects that came with it, including a massive walnut table, and why he started building a new shop to run the operation more efficiently. You'll hear how Nick thinks about leadership, team dynamics and building relationships, and how he keeps the 50/50 balance between raw material and finished pieces. He talks through the machinery he invested in to make the sawmill more efficient, the challenges of moving into the new shop, and the trends he was watching, from epoxy projects to home and garden shows. The conversation closes on how a sawmill markets high-end builds, and why relationships carry so much weight when you sell into the luxury market. Chapters 00:00 Inside Maverick Sawmill 01:00 How the Pandemic Grew the Business 02:40 A Massive Walnut Table and a New Shop 05:19 What Makes the Operation Work 09:51 Leadership, Team and Industry Trends 13:12 Balancing Raw and Finished Products and Investing in Machinery 19:01 Moving, Future Plans and Marketing High-End Builds The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Nick and Maverick Sawmill at: https://www.instagram.com/mavericksawmill/
One figured redwood log, six feet across and solid to the core, could pay for an entire sawmill. That math is why Steven Crowningshield bought a band mill that cuts six foot eight wide, after years of slabbing with a chainsaw mill that turned half an inch of every cut into sawdust. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Steven Crowningshield of California Redwood Company, who has spent more than 30 years milling almost nothing but salvaged redwood on the California coast. His father ran the first Alaskan sawmill on that coast in 1972, and Steven learned the trade in the woods beside him. In the 1990s they pulled sinker logs off the river bottom with scuba gear, barges and winches, until a legal challenge to their permits shut it down. Today he salvages buckskins, the old growth cores loggers left behind on private land. You'll hear why he moved his operation onto a shared compound where several sawmill operators, a planer molder and a wide belt sander sit on one property, and why he set his own mill to cut forty foot timbers. He also explains the niche he has worked for almost twenty years: sinker redwood tonewood, stained purple, yellow and pink by river minerals and, he says, better voiced for it. Now he wants his best pieces going to small guitar builders instead of mass production. Steven is open about the hard years too, from paying an accountant thousands of dollars after 2008 to learn he had lost money, to a decade of furniture and a gallery that covered the rent but not his time. Marketing is the challenge now. He has old growth inventory most buyers don't know exists, and ad spend that brought him almost nothing. The conversation closes on what he calls red gold, and on his favorite part of running a sawmill: watching a client see the finished piece. Chapters 00:00 Growing Up Around His Father's Alaskan Sawmill 01:21 Pulling Sinker Redwood Logs Off the River Bottom 04:24 Salvaging Old Growth Redwood Left Behind on Private Land 05:26 Why He Bought a Sawmill That Cuts Six Foot Eight Wide 11:52 Sinker Redwood Tonewood for Guitar Builders 22:41 Losing Money After 2008 and Ten Years of Furniture 25:35 Marketing Old Growth Redwood to the Right Buyers The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Steven and California Redwood Company at: https://californiaredwoodcompany.com/ https://www.instagram.com/californiaredwoodco/
Most land clearing jobs end with a burn pile. Jason Evans gets paid to clear the ground, mills the good timber he pulls off it, and makes money on both ends. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with her younger brother, Jason Evans, owner of Rafter E Dirtwork and Land Clearing in northeast Oklahoma. They grew up in a forestry family, running chainsaws and heavy equipment around the family sawmill long before they could drive. Jason went on to work nearly every part of the family's California business, from logging and firewood to salvage and site work, and he is a California licensed timber operator. A few years after losing his home to a wildfire, he moved his family halfway across the country and started over. Rafter E takes its name from their late older brother's cattle brand. You'll hear how Jason rebuilt a network from nothing, starting with the chamber of commerce and a local church, and how the skills he brought with him did the rest once word got around. He walks through the model at the center of Rafter E: land clearing and site prep that feed a sawmill, turning trees other contractors burn into custom milled walnut, cedar and trailer decking. He also explains why knowing how to service and line his own sawmill matters when the nearest parts shop is no longer down the road. The two look back on the jobs that shaped them, from pulling giant sequoias out of steep country after a storm to doing storm cleanup out of state when the Great Recession left the family business unpaid on a major development. Jason closes with plain advice for anyone already taking trees down for a living: add a sawmill, because it will change your business. Chapters 00:00 A Forestry Family and the Story Behind Rafter E 03:55 Starting Over in Oklahoma Without a Network 06:50 Land Clearing Plus a Sawmill: Getting Paid Twice 08:53 Growing Up Where Can't Didn't Exist 13:25 Giant Sequoias, Storm Cleanup and the Great Recession 17:21 Custom Milling and Selling Lumber From a Small Town 23:19 How Rafter E Markets Itself and Advice for New Sawmill Owners The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Jason and Rafter E at: https://rafterellc.com/ https://www.instagram.com/rafter_e_llc/ https://www.facebook.com/jason.evans.79230/
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We cover the business and marketing side of the woodworking, sawmill, tree service, furniture making, Urban Wood, and woodworking industry. If you're a woodworker, sawmill owner, or any other entrepreneur and/or business owner in the wood industry, you need to check out this podcast. Each week, we interview business owners, large-scale companies, entrepreneurs, makers, and designers while also offering marketing and business advice that will help you grow your business and increase your profits.
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