GIBSON, Georgia – What’s the reason a given business owner stepped forward and founded a new company? Well, it might be many reasons. Philip Stevens started a sawmill business. Now, with the aid of a Kiln-Direct lumber kiln, he is producing kiln-dried Southern yellow pine lumber.
Philip had many reasons to start Cross Cut Wood Products. One was his desire to contribute to the community.
Cross Cut Wood Products, which Philip founded in 2023, is based in Gibson in eastern Georgia, the small town where his wife was born and raised and he has called home for 25 years. It is where they raised their two children. Gibson, located a little over 40 miles southwest of Augusta, has about 650 residents, no traffic lights, and it is anchored in one of the smallest counties in the state.
Philip was motivated to have a business that provides job opportunities enabling people who grow up in Gibson to stay – and sustain the community. There was more.
From left, manager Cole Stevens, his father, owner Philip Stevens, and supervisor Hunter Bradford; the company dries about 15,000 board feet of their production per week in the Kiln-Direct lumber kiln.
“My wife, who served as Superior Court Clerk for 16 years before retiring, wanted me to start a company by building a small sawmill for the kids and community,” explained Philip. When he launched Cross Cut Wood Products, he already owned and operated two other businesses, Cross Cut Controls and Cross Cut Properties.
A sawmill business would be unique among the three ventures because it would help young people to get an economic footing. And the young people included Philip’s own family members. “I’m doing this more for them than for me,” said Philip. “I’m 58. Everybody that works here is under 25.”
Cross Cut Wood Products has six full-time employees. With a Wood-Mizer sawmill and a handful of other equipment, the company is producing about 40,000 board feet of Southern yellow pine (SYP) lumber per week, of which about 15,000 is kiln-dried.
Philip’s own experience in wood products has taken him to 48 states, all except Connecticut and Vermont. “I’ve been in about 300 sawmills, traveling since age 26,” he said.
Philip served in the Air Force, working as a computer analyst. After his military service, he became a software programmer and worked on automation controls. He worked for several companies supplying technology to the forest products industry for a total of 20 years; his last employer was Timber Automation, where he was part owner. When Timber Automation was sold to USNR, Philip decided to start his own company, Cross Cut Controls, in 2017.
“We build control panels, operator consoles, human machine interface systems, PLC systems, and write programs for automation of all types of industrial sawmill equipment,” said Philip. Cross Cut Controls has three employees in Georgia and another in Arkansas.
The workhorse of the sawmill is this Wood-Mizer WB2000 industrial band mill; the company runs the sawmill two 10-hour days per week and cuts about 40,000 board feet of Southern yellow pine.
Philip built Cross Cut Wood Products from the ground up on an 8-acre site. For equipment he chose a Wood-Mizer WB2000 industrial sawmill with log deck, a Wood-Mizer EG300 multiple board edger, and a Cam-Wood planer.
Constructing a building for the mill was a team effort by Philip and his family. “We poured concrete,” he said. “We ordered trusses and cut posts out of telephone poles. We built the office. We built the dry sheds.” The company has 20,000 square feet under roof.
Philip invested in a standard lumber kiln from Kiln-direct in Burgaw, N.C., at the end of 2023. The kiln, an extra-wide model, is loaded via a side door. Its capacity is 14,000 board feet. However, Philip has been able to load it with much more. “We have had 20,000 board feet of 2-inch lumber in it,” he said.
The kiln uses natural gas for heat and dries a load of lumber in less than 40 hours. Philip chose natural gas for the heat source because the main gas line runs near the company’s location; he only had to run a line 200 feet to connect to the kiln.
All the Southern yellow pine lumber is dried to 19 percent moisture content and earns the appropriate KD19 designation. Philip operates the kiln via the Kiln-Direct wireless control system; he can operate it from his office computer or cell phone.
The standard kiln model Philip purchased from Kiln-Direct is equipped with three burners. Philip modified it to dry lumber faster. “I put in two extra burners,” he said. With the extra burners, the total heat capacity is 1,500,000 BTUs per hour.
With his deep knowledge and experience with sawmills, Philip had a good understanding of what would work best for his company. His research led him to conclude that Kiln-Direct was the best fit to supply a lumber dry kiln.
Kiln-direct manufactures kilns for specific purposes. It offers kilns for drying lumber, firewood,, and to heat-treat pallets. All the company’s kilns are supported by Kiln-Direct control systems. Kiln-Direct offers numerous features and options, such as hot water heating coils, steam heating coils, all aluminum/stainless steel construction, standard heat recovery on venting, plus remote access for best service and training. Recently Kiln-Direct upgraded the exterior sheeting to stainless steel as the standard option for a more durable, long-lasting kiln.
(For more information about Kiln-Direct, visit www.kiln-direct.com.)
Maury Wilkinson, a Kiln-Direct sales representative, visited Cross Cut Wood Products to consult with Philip prior to the sale. Site visits allow Kiln-Direct representatives to better understand what potential customers are doing, and how Kiln-Direct can best help them.
Smooth kiln installation is part of the Kiln-Direct service. Philip’s team prepared the site for the kiln. “[Kiln-direct] sent the kiln in on a truck,” said Philip. “It took about a day” to get it up and running.
Cross Cut Wood Products employees work four 10-hour days. Philip has a profit sharing plan for employees.
Nearly all the mill’s production – 90 percent – is Southern yellow pine, except for special orders. The company produces green timbers, 3×6 and 3×8, and kiln-dried Southern yellow pine 1×4, 1×6, 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, 2×10 and 2×12 in 8-24-foot lengths. About 60 percent is sold green to The Timbermen, a pallet manufacturing company with a plant in Camak, which is only about 25 miles away. The remaining 40 percent of production is kiln-dried and sold through a broker; most of it will be pressure-treated.
Phillip buys logs from a handful of logging contractors. In the log yard, a Gehl telehandler unloads logs from incoming trucks. Log specs are 18 inches on the top and 40 inches on the butt end, precut in lengths ranging from 16 feet, 6 inches to 24 feet, 6 inches.
Philip’s son, Cole, 24, operates the Wood-Mizer WB2000. Philip said that he cannot match his son’s proficiency with the Wood-Mizer. He speculated that, the younger generation having grown up with joysticks and gaming controls, it’s a given that Cole is so skilled when it comes to operating the sawmill, which is controlled with joysticks. Philip’s daughter, Chesnie, takes care of purchasing and receiving.
“We cut really, really pretty lumber,” said Philip. “We buy really large logs, so ninety percent of the lumber is cut on the inside” of the log.
After milling and edging, lumber that will be dried is stacked with stickers. After drying it is surfaced on four sides and trimmed. Soon they will be doing tongue and groove on some boards. Cantek up-cut saws trim the lead end of the board before the planer and then use pop-up board stops at certain increments to trim the tail end of the board. Philip did all the programming for the trim saw, pop-up stops, conveyors and jump chains.
The business is also equipped with a Wood-Mizer EG300 multiple board edger and a Cam-Wood planer, shown at right.
The mill has a vibrating conveyor line and 48-inch Precision chipper to reduce scrap material. Chips and shavings are supplied to another business to be processed into landscape mulch or bedding material for horses and poultry.
Philip and his team can handle modifications of equipment. For instance, they designed and engineered the grapple for the Gehl telehandler. They also configured and built the chains and conveyors for the sawmill and planer systems.
Philip is always thinking about ways to improve production and efficiency while maintaining lumber quality. The company currently produces 40,000 board feet per week and dries about 15,000 of that.
With an expected increase in production, Philip foresees hiring two more employees in the coming months. The sawmill needs to run at a two to one ratio to the planer mill. “We run the sawmill for two days and then run the planer mill for one day to plane the kiln-dried boards.”
Philip is considering adding a second Kiln-Direct kiln. He is weighing lumber demand and the log supply in the region.
There is a substantial market for SYP dimension lumber 2 inches thick or less, noted Philip. For maximum return on investment, it must be dried to the KD19 certification.
Some upheaval in the SYP market occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which occurred in late September 2024. Although Georgia did not experience the worst of the storm, it still experienced plenty of damage, including damage to forests. However, lumber prices have stabilized, according to the University of Georgia Agriculture Extension Service.
Philip is very happy that he decided to launch Cross Cut Wood Products. And he is happy with his equipment choices.
“Wood-Mizer and Kiln-direct – I’ve been pleased with both,” he said. “My experience with Kiln-direct and with Wood-Mizer has been very pleasurable.”
The Cross Cut name of his three companies was one that he and his wife came up with. It has a Biblical connotation. “I’m a Christian,” he explained. “We were looking for a Christian name.”
In his free time Philip enjoys going to nearby Clarks Hill Lake with his family and also traveling and hunting.
