Having owned a TimberKing 2220 sawmill, this literally has to be the best investment for TimberKing sawmills I’ve ever seen! I’m also working on many other (top secret) bolt ons that will make the TimberKing cut flat lumber, just like the WoodMizer LT70 and other WoodMizer sawmills do from the factory.
TimberKing is a great mill, and of course we can’t forget, it’s made in the USA, encase you haven’t seen or heard, but so is Woodmizer. It’s heavy, tough as heck, and overall, a very good sawmill, and as many say, it’s built like a tank. Like everything else nowadays, it’s overpriced, but what isn’t…right?
On the flip side, TimberKing has not stayed up with the competition on many different things. One being, not having some type of factory automated blade lube system. At least some type of “GOOD” dripper valve, instead of the cheap plastic one they stick on these $30,000 and up machines. And that goes for the cheap plastic shut off valve for the water/lube tank. And no blade guides to ensure for flat cuts. These mills do NOT cut real flat wood the way they are set up from the factory, and that is exactly why I did what I’m about to show you that I did to my TimberKing 2220 mill to get perfectly flat lumber and cut faster than any TimberKing mill out there…hands down!!
Here is why the WoodMizer LT70 and other WoodMizer sawmills cut so fast and very flat lumber. See picture below of the blade guide blocks that keep the blade stable and stops it from moving around in the logs, or cants.
As the pictures above show, the blade is literally sandwiched in between these blade guide blocks and it makes for a much flatter cut, and I mean much flatter!! An important fact, these blade guide blocks does limit the width of the cut a little bit, but would you rather have a wider cut, that in all honesty, you probably don’t use the maximum cut of your mill that much, or would you rather be able to cut fast and flat? Time is money, so I’m sure you get the point. For me, I’d much rather cut flat lumber…and be able to cut fast if I want and still have good quality, flat lumber. Wide is everything, but quality cuts are!!
So what I did to my TK2220 was a similar deal, but not as fancy and through testing and finally figuring it out, my mill finally started cutting really flat lumber, log after log after log. My blade stopped taking dives and dips and made much nicer lumber. So, I’m now working on building similar blocks as mine, but much better, kinda like the WoodMizer ones shown above. This is exactly why the WoodMizer mills that have these blade guide blocks cut such flat lumber, and do it faster than any other mill I’ve on the market!
Another HUGE improvement to cutting flat lumber with the TimberKing sawmills, is having the widest and thickest blade the mill will accept. Of course there are many that will argue this point, but you have to evaluate and ask yourself, are they sitting behind desk arguing this point, or are they actually out there milling lumber on a daily, or weekly basis? Opinions are kinda like rear ends, everyone has one. My TK2220, I upgraded to larger guide rollers and went to the 1-1/2”x .050 thick, and then went to the thicker .055 x 7degree blades. As mentioned, with these improvements along with my advanced “LubeKing” automated lube system, my mill cut fast and flat.
The automated system shown the picture above only comes on when you turn on the blade switch and shuts off when you turn off the blade. The good needle valve has a sight window that allows for fine tuning your drips/lube to the blade. The plastic one that came factory on my TimberKing was either to much or not enough lube to blade, and got tired of wasting my time messing with it and all the unnecessary steps back and forth to mess with it.
Above are the new style systems I’m building for other TimberKing owners. I just shipped out 3 more of these today. Once I have the “secret weapons” built and ready to go out, I will post them here and on our Facebook page. I will also do a YouTube video sharing the parts, install and importance of this complete system.
All of this took my TimberKing 2220 to a whole new level. Of course there will always be those that say these things are not needed and they will also say, it’s ruff cut lumber. And yes, the mills will cut ruff cut lumber without all of this, but wouldn’t it be in your best interest to cut high quality lumber that is flat, and not have to plane it if you didn’t want too? I don’t sit behind a desk all day…and there is nothing wrong with that, but I actually mill logs into lumber, and may not do it every single day, but I cut a lot.
If you need to improve your TimberKing sawmill, then reach out to me. You cannot get any of this from TimberKing. They don’t build it, or sell it, which is why I decided to do something to improve my mill, and now I’m helping others improve theirs.
You know what would be cool? A side by side test using same logs/cants, same blade lube with my highly modified TK2220 or even a TK2520 vs the WoodMizer LT70 wide super hydraulic sawmill. Do you know who the winner would be? I do…lol.
So what is the best investment for TimberKing sawmills? If you’ve read this post and viewed the pictures, then I would hope to think your common sense kicked in and told you.
Always do your best,
-Mike Pilcher
MPE LLC – Pin Oaks Farm
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