Success Stories
LT300 Thin Kerf Sawmill Enhances Profits at
Dunaway Timber Company
(The 2010 LT300 Sawmill is now called the WM3000 Sawmill)
Sam Dunaway, owner of Dunaway Timber Company, Inc., just began running a fifth LT300 thin-kerf sawmill for the company he has been directing for 53 years. The north-central, Kentucky based operation has three LT300 running at their headquarter location in Fordsville and two LT300 at their Round Hill location. All together, Dunaway has 13 profit centers with seven of them milling operations and “125 wonderful employees.”
One such employee is Sam’s son-in-law, Bo Brown, who has worked for the business for nearly 40 years. Sam puts forth, “Bo is a mechanical genius. He puts the mills together in the best configuration to move the material. He has a wonderful mind for this business.” Bo just finished up installing the newest LT300 and the machine is expected to produce 10,000 board feet per nine to ten hour day.
Dunaway Timber has always been a family business, started by Sam and his father in 1949. Just four years later, Sam took it over, making it his lifelong endeavor. In 2002, Sam was 75 years old and “looking for something to do” and something that would change his life. He saw a story and picture of the LT300 in a magazine and decided he would investigate the new technology; he hasn’t looked back since.
“It is an honor to have five of our LT300’s working for Sam. Each time he adds another one we know his business is growing and he considers our mills critical to his successful operation,” comments Darryl Floyd, AWMV Product Manager.
Sam Dunaway uses a three-man crew to run each of his LT300 machines. When he adds a thin-band resaw to the system, five to six men are used. Mr. Dunaway’s experience with circle mills and now LT300’s has demonstrated to him that “production per man doesn’t change a whole lot, but a much better yield is realized which was the selling point.” According to Mr. Dunaway, for every 100 trees that he cuts now, he used to cut 114 on a traditional sawmill.
Dunaway’s material is distributed to 20-30 states and consists mostly of railroad ties, truck flooring, pallet stock and lumber for kitchen cabinet manufacturers. Red and white oak makes up 75% of Sam’s production.
According to Mr. Dunaway, his operation produced 31,000,000 board feet last year and will see even more with their LT300 addition. “Our combination of people and equipment is the perfect formula for success,” concludes Dunaway.
AWMV Industrial Products supplies narrow-band, thin-kerf sawing technology and related equipment to the commercial lumber industry. The AWMV Industrial Product line includes a computerized thin-kerf sawmill (LT300), single and multihead resaw, edger, material handling machinery, and bandsaw blades. For further processing, dry kilns, moulding machines and other secondary processing equipment are also available.
To find out more, contact AWMV Industrial Products at 1.800.522.5705. For product information, visit awmv.com.