Peterson Mill Owner Stories

Petersons have thousands of happy customers operating mills in every corner of the globe. Here is a selection of owners so happy they shared their stories with us.

Click on an image to read the fascinating stories of Peterson Sawmill owners worldwide. If you own a Peterson and would like to share your story and promote your business on our website, get in touch with us.
We also have a selection of pictorial pdfs you can view here.

Anton Nemia

WPF · Niue

A self-sufficient community purchase a second WPF to add to their inventory and expand businesses.


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Mohaka River Farm

2x WPF · New Zealand

A self-sufficient community purchase a second WPF to add to their inventory and expand businesses.


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Ben Scott

WPF · United Kingdom

Ben has been milling logs since the age of 15 and at 18 had the opportunity to purchase a second hand WPF.


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Samaritan’s Purse

ATS · Nepal

Samaritan’s Purse successfully managed the milling of 15,000 cubic feet of wood at an altitude of over 10,000 feet above sea level.


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MJL Contractors

WPF + DWS · New Zealand

Mark discovered his love for milling wood at the age of 15, when his first job introduced him to running a portable sawmill.


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Glenn Marquette

ASM · Wisconsin

Bandsaw vs Swingblade..
Glenn, was previously only aware of bandmills, but a conversation with a friend put him onto swingblade mills.


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Kemp Fine Woodworking

DWS · Missouri

Kemp Fine Woodworking has found a niche cutting wide slabs as part of their woodworking / sawmill business.


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Hikurangi Enterprises

WPF · New Zealand

Hikurangi Enterprises has taken the initiative to enable people to build their own homes.


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Nathan Waterfield

WPF + ASM + JP · New York

An arborist by trade, Nathan brings new meaning to the term ‘living life to the fullest’.


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Robert Mansell

WPF + DWS · New Zealand

The Rotorua based sawmiller has created an enviable lifestyle of doing exactly what he wants – that is working with wood.


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Zane Rous

JP · New Zealand

“I’d like to build cabins and big sheds with my own cut lumber, and possibly even a house one day”


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Rustic River Creations

WPF · Tennessee

A full-time woodworking business producing artistic pieces of furniture, custom exterior shutters and decorative brackets for houses.


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Greg Gianas

WPF · Washington

War Veteran, teacher, and writer Greg Gianas never thought his life would involve woodworking of any kind..


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Scot Postle

ATS · Ohio

Back in 1996, Scot and his wife purchased her family’s 150 acre farm which contained 60 acres of mixed hardwood.


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NZ Army

Multiple WPF · New Zealand

Whatever the army requires they are able to simply cut it up on the mill, but mostly they use them for survivability tasks.


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Mike Hillard

WPF · United Kingdom

Mike was an academic researching the Environment and then finding ways to minimise our impact on Planet Earth.


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Owen Burns

WPF + DWS · Australia

Owen founded his business ORB Timbers using his Peterson 10” WPF and DWS sawmills.


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Craig Kennedy

WPF · Canada

Craig saw an opportunity to work with local communities to get them into small scale milling.


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EcoMadera

ATS · Ecuador

EcoMadera finds sustainable harvesting success with Peterson.


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Bill Iverson

WPF · Alaska

Bill comes from a long line of carpenters, but it wasn’t until later in life that the wood bug finally caught him.


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Basher Family

Oldest Peterson in Operation · New Zealand

Gary purchased the family’s Standard Frame Peterson in May 1990, it was only the 33rd Peterson mill in production.


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Gordon Adair

WPF · New Zealand

Ex Navy veteran Gordon wanted his own sawmill so that he could cut timber in any desired dimension.


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Georg Dettmer

WPF · Germany

Georg helps to run a custom sawing business, serving local customers by milling their trees into valuable timber.


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Russell Bee

WPF · New Zealand

80 year old Russell had been a commercial fisherman and farmer, and it was while farming that he decided to turn his hand to milling.


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Northwood Forestry Cooperative

ATS · Minnesota

A sawmill cooperative with likeminded people is a popular option to spread both the initial cost and workload of milling.


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Alan Coyle

JP · New Zealand

Alan, a Woodmizer LT15 bandsaw mill owner puts the Junior Peterson to the test.


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Pellett Family

WPF · Canada

With pine, oak, maple and poplar trees on their land north of Toronto, Robin, Fawnda & son Matthew are using their 10″ WPF to build a new house!


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Kevin Jensen

Early Peterson 10" Production Frame · New Zealand

Kevin Jensen bought a Peterson portable sawmill to build his dream home.


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Bellbird Timber

WPF · Australia

Steve bought a 8” 24hp WPF to mill his own timber, and to also do some mobile contract work based in New South Wales.


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Jack Lyford

Early Peterson Giant Killer · New Zealand

Jack Lyford has built his dream house with all the timber except the roof trusses and the piles sawn by himself.


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Kevin Bran

WPF · New Zealand

Kevin Brain worked for the NZ Army, as a project engineer involved in identifying a portable sawmill to take overseas and use in remote locations.


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Horst Puff

JP · Canada

Ex BP gas station manager, owner-operator log-haul trucker to solely focusing on making a living with wood


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Guy Jackson

WPF+DWS · New Zealand

Guy has been using his WPF and DWS mills in perfect tandem since 2019


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Rob MacDonald

WPF · Waiheke Island

Since purchasing his WPF in 2003, Rob’s career has evolved into a full-time lifestyle business as a professional sawmiller.


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Henry C Johnson

ATS · Arkansas

Henry grew up on a 30 acre farm in the foothills of the mountains with Pine, Red Cedar, Black Walnut and Oak all around.


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Will Koski

ASM · California

Will Koski reached retirement age several years ago, however he is not showing any signs of slowing down.


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Grant Steven

WPF · New Zealand

Grant has been teaching natural and light earth building techniques for many years.


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Korovatu & Skreds

ATS · Fiji

This project was started in an effort to make the village self-supporting and generate money to improve their standard of living.


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Mike Candy

Early Standard Frame Peterson · New Zealand

In 1996, Mike purchased the Peterson Standard Frame sawmill because he saw it as “the most cost-effective way of playing with wood”


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Baraboo Woodworks

WPF · Wisconsin

Baraboo Woodworks shows just how successful custom milling with a Peterson Sawmill can be.


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Ulf Stühmer-Jacobsen

WPF · Germany

With his WPF, Ulf saws the necessary planks, frames and paths to make a once famous ketch sea worthy again.


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Pacific Green

WPF · Fiji

PG were instrumental in discovering the properties of coconut timber. Setting up the world’s first factory dedicated to coconut palms.


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Andy Harvey

WPF · United Kingdom

It's Andy's aim to cut and store 100-200 cubes of European Temperate Hardwoods over the next decade.


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Max Cody

Early Production Frame · New Zealand

Eco-sawmiller and logger Max Cody, uses his Peterson sawmill to mill selectively felled trees for specialist projects.


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Bryce McIntosh

WPF · New Zealand

Whether it is tree felling, sawing timber or making furniture, Bryce has been doing it for almost 30 years.


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Rich Thompson

WPF · North Carolina

Rich owns a 25-acre tree farm with white pine and a variety of hardwoods. He believes the savings on his barn alone have already paid for his mill.


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Earl Schuk

ASM · Canada

Earl worked as a logger before semi-retiring in British Columbia 25 years ago.


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Gord Reid

WPF · Canada

In 2016 Gord Reid decided to clear part of his section and build a holiday home for his family.


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Mike Savill

WPF · United Kingdom

Mike discovered his passion for woodwork when picking up a piece of Black Mulberry to make a table for his father.


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Robert Wells

JP · North Carolina

As a true homesteader, Robert wanted to be able to produce lumber from the trees on his property.


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Summit Log and Timber Homes

WPF · Canada

Summit was founded in 2002. Their work is highly visible throughout their homes in stairwells, ceilings, banisters and other features.


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Ted Isaacs

JP · Alaska

Ted Isaacs had no experience with any type of sawmill. But that didn’t stop him trying something completely new.


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Rob Bjorklund

WPF · California

Rob was well equipped having sold smaller mills for a career but needed something that could really handle the big jobs.


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Dennis Hoover

WPF · Connecticut

Dennis slices thick, quartersawn slabs of beautifully grained wood from a once-stately sycamore tree.


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Lonnie Green

WPF · Washington

Lonnie's neighbour asked if he had looked into the Peterson mills so he did just that, and never looked back at any other mill!


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Gandep Training Centre

WPF · Papua New Guinea

Making the most of local assets, they are milling mainly large logs of Kwila (Intsia bijuga) to use on the building project.


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Russ Wilkins

Early Peterson Production Frame · Iowa

We’ve all seen the TV episodes of hoarders, rite? Well our old friend Russ is a log hoarder.


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Mike Law

40' Early Peterson · New Zealand

Mike purchased a complete second set of tracks which all joined together. In this manner he often cuts 40′ long beams to order.


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Craig Blake

ASM · Massachusetts

"It became obvious that I had some beautiful logs out there that I wanted to build the barn with."


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Stan Ceglinski

Early Production Frame · Australia

Stan Ceglinski is so passionate about timber that you’d think he has sap running through his veins.


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Contact Peterson Mill Owners

If you’re researching a sawmill purchase, the best people to speak to are those who operate the machines on a regular basis. The millers on our Owner’s Network Map below, have made themselves available to you to ask questions by phone or email, and some of them even offer private demos and open days at their milling sites.

Use the map below by moving and clicking it with the mouse to see if there’s a miller near you.

If you can’t find anyone, please contact us with your location and we’ll have a look in our records for you, as some owners prefer not to publish their details.

“Our customers tend to be those who have done their research. They’ve read information from different manufacturers, they’ve watched videos online, seen photos, read articles, talked to other buyers, compared results and even visited mill owners. Their sawmill is an investment and business, as well as a lifestyle choice. It’s important to them to get the right machine, once. And they don’t suffer hot-air sales pitches.

That’s why, when they’re ready to purchase, they’ll call us. Because they know by now that Peterson doesn’t oversell. We’re totally honest, we send you to an owner for the ‘real’ feedback, we don’t speed up operating videos, and we don’t boost unrealistic cutting speeds.

We’ve got the superior product that’s as efficient as it is robust, and after-sales assistance that’s more of a friendship than a service.”

– Kerris Browne, CEO Peterson Portable Sawmills

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Petersons export worldwide from our factory in Rotorua, New Zealand.
Encountering fluctuating freight, raw materials, currencies and export costs, therefore we have tailored pricelists pertaining to each country. We also have over 40 different mill options to suit all applications, so it often helps to call and speak to us about your particular needs.
If you would like to recieve a copy of our digital Info Pack and Price List, please click here.