When Chris Riley and Chris Hammock formed Mill Brothers Sawmill “to help people bring their projects to life,” they knew they would be offering portable lumber milling, and they knew they wanted to put their unique spin on milling here in Jamestown, but they weren’t exactly sure in what additional ways their own project would come to life. Chris and Chris spoke to the Fentress Courier recently, and Riley provided a metaphor to explain how Mill Brothers already has grown to offer a value-added product that people might be surprised to find in Fentress County:
We got into the water and we found out where the currents were taking us, so we have been swimming with the current. As we become stronger swimmers, we venture out into new waters.
One of the new waters Mill Brothers has ventured out into is taking shape at 1055 Taylor Place Rd., at the old Rogers Feed Store, where Riley and Hammock are finishing construction of their wood-drying kiln. The kiln is the center of Mill Brothers’s retail operation, where Riley and Hammock very soon will offer for sale kiln-dried woods they have milled with their trailered sawmill. The Mill Brothers expect to have the showroom floor finished and stocked with choice cuts of wood by the end of March. While they are completing construction of their kiln, Riley and Hammock have inventory scheduled to arrive from an offsite kiln in March – the first lot to arrive will include 50 walnut slabs for craftsmen to incorporate into their own projects. Live-edge slabs in a rotating variety of wood species are expected to feature prominently in the Mill Brothers showroom.
Riley had owned Campfire Coffee, and Hammock was manager at Mountain Barn Builders for 6 years before joining to become Mill Brothers.
The “brothers” take pride in sourcing slabs of endemic species from surrounding properties and farms and forests. Once a landowner has felled his own timber, Mill Brothers brings the sawmill to the logs, rather than the landowner having to arrange for his logs to be brought to the sawmill. When a recent customer brought Mill Brothers to his property to clear some trees, he pointed to a walnut tree, 30” in diameter, and recalled watching that tree grow unhurried by time for the last 50 years. All he asked is that Mill Brothers give him something from the tree that he could make something out of. Another customer, who was clearing some white oaks, used the wood Mill Brothers milled on his property to construct a bridge over the creek that runs through his property. These are the stories Mill Brothers likes to tell and the projects Mill Brothers wants to help you bring to life.
Mill Brothers’s portable sawmill is available now for your clearing project. Their kiln is nearing completion, and their showroom soon will be stocked with slabs for whatever project you have in mind. Mill Brothers can be reached by phone at 931-879-6455 if you have felled timber you want milled on your property, or Mill Brothers accepts logs at their 1055 Taylor Place Rd. site.
