Woodmizer Film

Woodmizer story page: 

“I feel like I’m more creative. If I see that there’s a demand for something, you know, let’s figure out a way to try to make it happen.” –Woodpecker Sawmill owner Kenny Batchelor

Deep in the heart of Georgia, the small town of Covington is sometimes called “the Hollywood of the South.” Home to over 50 movie and television series shooting locations since the 1950s, Covington has developed a reputation as an ideal background for the silver screen.

Kenny, like many residents of the town, got his start in show business at a young age. “I started working in the movie industry whenever I was 18 years old. We built movie sets for TV shows and movies,” he recalls. “I did construction, so we did everything from building the walls to building the stages.”

Before long, Kenny realized there was an unfulfilled opportunity that he was uniquely qualified to fill. “They were always looking for rough cut lumber and from there, that’s when I got the idea that there’s a demand for the sawmill industry,” he says, “so I started looking at sawmills. I noticed Wood-Mizer had their open house event, and I went. I’d never seen a sawmill in person.”

Kenny walked away from the open house knowing he wanted to be in the sawmill industry. Lacking the funds to purchase one, however, he had to get creative. “I started looking at designs and ideas, and I ended up building my own sawmill. After working 12 hours, I’d go home in the evening and work an hour or two on it. And about 30 days later, I started cutting wood,” he remembers. In that moment, Woodpecker Sawmill was born.

Designing and creating his own sawmill was an incredible feat of ingenuity and determination, but eventually, Kenny knew he wanted to upgrade. “After a year or so, I bought an old 1995 Wood-Mizer,” he says. Having expanded out of the movie industry and into general sawmilling, Kenny’s business began growing exponentially. He moved the mill out of his backyard and into a 4000 square foot barn, and once word got out about his business, the phone calls started flowing in.

Things haven’t slowed down ever since. Over the past eight years, Kenny’s business has continually upgraded sawmills and he’s now on his seventh and eighth mills (an LT70 and LT50, respectively.) In describing his experience with various sawmills, Kenny says, “We bought a Timber King 2000 and we had the LT40 and the Timber King set up side-by-side. We ran each for about six to eight months, and we realized that the Wood-Mizer was just easier to operate and more user-friendly. I started seeing the difference of Wood-Mizer versus all the competition.”

As Kenny’s business grew, so did his space: he now operates out of a 12,000 square foot warehouse running his LT70, LT50, and an EG300 Multirip Board Edger. In addition, he maximizes his lumber to the full capacity. “We get our lumber cut to length. There is zero waste here. All our chips we haul off for erosion control, and all our shavings from motors and sawdust get sold to the local horse farms,” Kenney exclaims.

Though they’ve largely left the Hollywood business behind, Kenney still helps on occasion. “We’ve cut wood for The Originals, Vampire Diaries, and Stranger Things. There’s a list of them all. We’ve got different products for the movie industry. Having a sawmill here that’s close by, right in the middle of Georgia, means people come from all over,” he says.

So, what’s next for Woodpecker Sawmill? They continue to grow and find new business, and that likely won’t slow down anytime soon. Several local businesses are built with lumber supplied by the Woodpecker mills. After a moment’s thought, however, Kenny explains, “I feel like my favorite part of the job is just being able to wake up and have another day that we get to go out here and enjoy what we do: cutting wood, meeting different people, just being able to help people out.” He continues, “I enjoy working with my family. My dad, my sister, my wife; we’ve created a stronger connection.”

The family aspect of Woodpecker Sawmill is integral to what they do. Kenny’s dad is the unofficial mechanic who keeps the lumber moving. His sister is the face of the company for incoming phone calls and visits. His wife handles all the billing.

Starting the day at 8am, they head down to the mill. From then until lunchtime, they’ll cut and load logs all day long (outside of a short lunch break.) When the sawmills are finally shut off for the evening, they’ll have processed anywhere from 40-60 logs.

As the day ends and the noise of running sawmills is replaced by a chorus of chirping insects, Kenney will often stick around to savor the moment. “I’ll just walk around and ask myself how we can make this better. Each day, we’re constantly growing and getting better.”