Kennedy Sawmill was started because of two major events that took place during Mark’s previous employment.
The first occurrence was on a job site where several large mature, healthy, pecan trees had to be removed and were fated to be burned. Knowing this, he asked the demolition contractor not to destroy them, but to simply push them over and let him cut out the main trunk, which he could then take to a sawmill. The trees were saved, but when he called around to the big circular sawmills, he discovered they wouldn’t touch “urban trees” for fear of hitting metal and jeopardizing an employee, or damaging an expensive blade. Momentarily defeated, he ended up cutting those trees into firewood!
The second major event occurred during a job involving the removal of a large timber trestle bridge. All of the dimensional beams and boards were sold for repurposing, however, nobody wanted to mess with all the large, round, timber pilings - they were headed to a landfill! These amazing pilings were date nailed 1934, making them 70 years old, and were made from 100 year old trees. He couldn’t bring himself to demo them. He then detoured them to a place where they could be stored until he figured out what to do. After researching various sawmill types as well as blade designs, he found a mill that allowed him to take those pilings and turn them into something that would last another 70 years in a barn or outdoor structure. Even today, retired from construction, he still searches for trees going to waste and turns them into something useful and beautiful instead of letting them go up in smoke or becoming wood chips.
The first occurrence was on a job site where several large mature, healthy, pecan trees had to be removed and were fated to be burned. Knowing this, he asked the demolition contractor not to destroy them, but to simply push them over and let him cut out the main trunk, which he could then take to a sawmill. The trees were saved, but when he called around to the big circular sawmills, he discovered they wouldn’t touch “urban trees” for fear of hitting metal and jeopardizing an employee, or damaging an expensive blade. Momentarily defeated, he ended up cutting those trees into firewood!
The second major event occurred during a job involving the removal of a large timber trestle bridge. All of the dimensional beams and boards were sold for repurposing, however, nobody wanted to mess with all the large, round, timber pilings - they were headed to a landfill! These amazing pilings were date nailed 1934, making them 70 years old, and were made from 100 year old trees. He couldn’t bring himself to demo them. He then detoured them to a place where they could be stored until he figured out what to do. After researching various sawmill types as well as blade designs, he found a mill that allowed him to take those pilings and turn them into something that would last another 70 years in a barn or outdoor structure. Even today, retired from construction, he still searches for trees going to waste and turns them into something useful and beautiful instead of letting them go up in smoke or becoming wood chips.
