ar cr TREVOR JOBB, co-owner of Kermode Pro- Cut Wood Products, stands next to the band saw, v, the: main piece of equipment in his small sawmill. He and partner Larry Smaha have been in business together for two years. Small sawmill success ‘By MARGARET SPEIRS OUT ALONG East Kalum Road, tucked" behind the: trees in a clearing, stands Kermode Pro-Cut Wood Products, an open building with a view of Sleeping Beauty mountain that housing developers would kill for. ° Here, under a bright sun and: clear blue sky, is Trevor Jobb’s : workplace. Do Jobb, a former wood supervi- sor, and partner Larry Smaha, a former contractor, started their sawmill, Kermode Pro-Cut Wood © Products, two years ago after their jobs evaporated with the demise of Skeena Cellulose. , “We like it. There’s something ‘to be. said for that. You have to: - work at something so if you enjoy it and can better yourself and see it grow, (you gain) personal satis- faction,” Jobb says. The company specializes in custom cuts, such as 10x20 or 6x6sthat'arén’t available in stores.: Eighty per cent of their orders ship to Vancouver where they go’ to other parts of Canada, the US, round; Jobb says. . Australia and New Zealand. The other 20 per cent of their: business is local sales. | At capacity, Jobb says the mill “.can produce 600,000 board feet annually. Last year, it, produced 500,000 board feet. The mill; «and other small -sawmills, cut cedar, a softwood, although a few do specialize in “hardwoods like birch. He says operating a sawmill re- quires a structure, primary equip- ment like a band’ saw, and support equipment like a bobcat or forklift to load logs: Some companies like Kermode , also have an edger, which cuts : boards in. different sizes, such as: chopping a 2x12 into two 2x6s. ' -Leftover edgings and slabs are given away for firewood. Sawdust is given away as animal bedding - or garden mulch, which elimi- nates most sawmill waste. The company works “Production drops in: December and January: but picks up from February on. Kermode purchases logs from - Sawmills, year. “MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO small business loggers, wood log owners, beachcombers and ‘large sawmills. Log supplies have al always been challenging for the small sawmill - owner, he says. Log sellers want to sell an en- tire sort, which is too expensive for one small sawmill to buy. Small sawmills work together _ to purchase an entire sort. “It’s kinda like you want to sell a dozen eggs and I can only afford to buy three. As a group, we can afford to buy the whole dozen,” Jobb explains. The company works with three other sawmills, Coastal Milling, Blackfish Sawmills and PNG . to buy logs, market. ‘products and to lease'a separate piece of Crown ‘land where all four mills will move to “take ad- vantage of their synergies.” Jobb :says this means that ail, four.companies will share equip-. - ment;