Woodmaster 725 | Woodmaster Tools : Testimonials

“My wife, Amy, and I left 6-figure careers to start our own hardwood products business with Woodmaster equipment. We both worked in the insurance industry – I was a Class A General Contractor doing insurance restoration and Amy was a director of marketing. We got tired of making money for other people and wanted to start making money for ourselves.

The Biglers put 3 Woodmasters to work. This one’s set up with the 3-Side Molding attachment. It shapes 3 sides in 1 pass – tongue, groove, and back relief.

Being in this industry for over 30 years, we know all kinds of contractors and subcontractors. And we know what they need for flooring, molding, casing, and all kinds of hardwood products.

Amy and Robert work side-by-side. Here’s Amy with a big load of hardwood flooring they shipped out recently. Note the Woodmaster in the background.

For example, we have a business associate who deals in hardwood flooring. He’s told us he’ll buy all the hardwood flooring we can make. And he’s a man of his word. We told him, ‘Get ready, we’re going to bury you with hardwood flooring!’

3 Woodmasters, 3 work stations. Though the Woodmaster can be set up to perform 4 different functions – planing, molding, sanding, ripping – they prefer to leave each one set up in a single-function, “dedicated” mode.

The phone’s blowing up

We planned our move for two years and got our equipment all set up. Then we gave our notices. Business is great and the phone is blowing up! The future is looking rosy. We took a leap of faith to start this business but we believe in Woodmaster’s products and in each other. We’re both very self-driven and have a lot of grit. We work at home and there are times we work until midnight. There’s something very good about being your own boss.

We really don’t do any advertising. This is taking off by word of mouth. For example, we supplied hardwood to a contractor we knew and he loved it. He told another project manager an he’s started calling us now.

After 30 years in home restoration, the Biglers knew that duplicating original molding would be a valuable service to offer. They send a section of original molding to Woodmaster and Woodmaster makes molding knives to duplicate the original perfectly.

3 Woodmasters…may add another

We have three Woodmaster Molder/Planers: a 25” 725 and two midsize-models. We keep the 725 set up as a dedicated planer. One is set up as a dedicated molding machine. And another has the 3-Side Molding System attachment on it. If business grows, and we think it will, we may add another Woodmaster. We also have a TimberKing 1220 sawmill!

We love the Woodmaster’s 3-Side Molding System. To make our flooring, for example, we’ll put a hardwood blank through the machine and it cuts three sides in one pass: the tongue, the groove, and the back relief cut.

With the Woodmaster we have set up as a molder, we have Woodmaster’s high-production C2 molding head and we make crown molding, baseboard, chair rail, and more. We have Woodmaster’s helical Spiral Cutterhead, too. It creates a really smooth finish and it runs quietly. It doesn’t chatter and it works very efficiently.

Planed 1,000 board feet of hardwood in 4 hours

We have a couple of nephews on standby for weekends and evenings when we get really busy. And our daughter, Courtney, comes in and helps, too. We had a big order recently so Courtney and Amy planed over 1,000 board feet of random width hardwood in about four hours.

Robert adjusts his TimberKing sawmill to saw boards he’ll turn into molding, casing, flooring or other hardwood products. Both he and Amy run this mill.

I’m one who believes bigger equipment is better. For us, the 12” Woodmaster isn’t wide enough. We got midsize Woodmasters because they’re bigger, wider, and heavier. I like the 725 because it’s got the massive, farm-rated, 7.5HP motor. Amy and Courtney planed 14” wide boards with it and it all went through like butter.

Woodmaster guys are great

The sales guys at Woodmaster have been great. I have to tell you Jake has been incredible. I can’t say enough good about him. We’ve developed a personal relationship so when I call and talk with him, he gives me tips and tells me how to fix things.

Bomb-proof

Woodmaster’s equipment is bomb-proof. It just lasts and lasts. It’s all strongly built. And because Woodmaster and TimberKing are sister companies, they have the same customer service policy – they both take care of their customers. If someone asked me, I’d recommend their machines because they’re so well built, the customer service is excellent, and they’re made in the USA.

People have to have grit and guts to make a move like this. But if you have faith and drive, you can do anything!”

— Robert & Amy Bigler, Heartland Millworks, Woodmaster & TimberKing Owners, Independence MO

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Over a period of just seven months, TJ McCain built his own log home using logs he milled into flooring, ceilings, countertops, and trim with his Woodmaster.

“Working full time over a period of seven months in 2009 and 2010, a friend and I built my log home in here in Kaufman County, Texas. Here’s how I did it.

I used my 25″ Woodmaster planer with molder, drum sander, and tongue and groove attachments to make my own flooring and ceiling boards; mold all of the trim and kitchen cabinets; plane all our kitchen counter tops; and make a 6” thick slab island bar out of black walnut.

Take a look at the ceiling detail. Live edge boards, planed on the Woodmaster, make a distinctive and handsome rustic statement.

Take a look at the rustic ceiling detail. Live edge boards, planed on the Woodmaster, make a distinctive and handsome statement.

Through the kindness of friends

Through the kindness of friends, all of the wood for our home came out of more than 200 hardwood and cedar logs I logged and milled off two different ranches.

Besides our home, I’ve built our outbuildings including a 40′ x 50’ wood shop. I’ve made so many wood projects over the years that I couldn’t have made without my Woodmaster. I continue to enjoy it today. Thank you Woodmaster for building a quality machine, made in the USA.

Here’s a 7″-thick beam being run through TJ’s Woodmaster. It takes a big planer to handle building materials this big!

I’m a Marine Corps vet and a stone mason by trade. I worked in construction until I had a back injury. Now I’m an X-ray technician at a big hospital in Dallas. We bought property in 1988 and a Woodmaster in 1999. I bought it with the intention of building our home.

I build a lot of rustic projects like an 8’ x 4’ slab table of red oak with turquoise inlay. I’ve done timber framing, built porches, greenhouses, and more. I’ve done scribe work, built fireplace mantles, picture frames, furniture; a lot of work with mortise and tenon or dowel joinery.

TJ displays his masonry and woodworking skills in this kitchen island. The thick live edge countertop sets off the brickwork nicely. And you can’t beat the one-of-a-kind stone map of Texas!

I like working with my hands

I got involved with woodworking because I like the outdoors and working with my hands. And I just like chain saws! I took a timber framing workshop and it’s grown from there. I’m basically self-taught; I learn a lot about woodworking by watching videos on YouTube.

A couple of the guys I work with have large ranches here in Texas. They cleared a lot of mesquite trees and were going to burn them but I skidded them out instead. I took 100 trees from one ranch and another 100 from the other.

Deep in the heart of Texas, TJ built himself a striking country-style kitchen.

Deep in the heart of Texas, TJ built himself a cozy country-style kitchen.

Way before construction started…

Way before construction of my house started, I knew I’d need a molder/planer. I’d planned the building for 20 years. When I got the logs, they were at 13% moisture, and that’s incredibly dry. Still, in log construction, you have to make accommodation for expansion and contraction of the logs.

I made double tongue-and-grooves in each log so each log would fit tightly into the log below it. I glued between logs and used 11” lag bolts every two feet.

The sun is so strong around here that UV light and exposure can really weather logs. So I built a wraparound porch 8’ wide so the house’s walls are always protected. It’s eight years now and the logs look like new.

I made the ceilings, floors, trim, molding, and countertops using red oak, cedar, black walnut, and more. I planed a lot of wood!

I use every bit of this machine

When you make your own building materials like this handsome flooring, you slash your building costs dramatically. Looks great, too.

I chose Woodmaster for the flexibility it offers. I can set it up as a planer, a molder, a drum sander, and a rip saw. And it’s affordable. Other machines are flexible but they’re so expensive! I use every bit of this machine and it just fits the bill for me. It’s been invaluable.

The 725 model? I liked the 25” width of it. It fit my needs, allows me to plane wider pieces. My countertops wouldn’t have fit thorough a regular sized planer. For example, I made a 25” wide mantle, a 6” thick x 13” wide island, a 4” thick x 13-to-14” live edge L-shaped island top. I like the way the height adjustment works, too.

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