Do you ever wonder, Where can I get some wood around here? Check out Tardiff Sawmill, a small sawmill in Fort Kent, Maine. It was built in 1920 and has been running successfully for over 80 years. Daniel Tardiff, the current owner of the sawmill, explained how he has kept the business going over the years, saying, "Taking a while to figure that one out here. Well, started out, my dad owned it before, and then, uh, when I started the business, it was pretty slow. So I decided to start doing firewood to keep my guys busy.  And then from then on, things picked up quite a bit. I stopped doing as much firewood, and I started running the mill more. Then I got into Cedar Log Homes, selling to Moosehead Log Homes and Katahdin, and also Ward Log Homes.” He also stated that he had been running the saw mill for the past 20 years. 

When questioned about the most compelling part of the business, Tardiff responded, “The customers.” He later clarified that the most interesting part was “the local customers,” and he said he likes doing local work. “The customers are really good. Once and a while I get the time to chat with the customers and that makes my day.”  The customers usually buy lumber for building cabins and fixing their houses or little projects like that, and other customers just go to buy firewood. Some even build really nice sheds out of the wood and sell them for a lot of money. 

Then the discussion deepened into the resources at the mill, he said, “Well, if you start with the outside stuff, where I have a crane to unload logs, and I have a payloader to do the clean up with the bucket and stuff. Additionally, I have forks for it so that I can bring the logs in and out of the mill. And then I have another forklift that I used to load up the finished lumber. And then inside the mill, there's a log deck, a carriage, and the rotary saw. There's an edger which takes the bark off the edges, and then we have a planer which planes all the lumber.” Tardiff explained the types of wood he works with consist of spruce, fir, tamarack, cedar, and some hardwoods, local ash logs, and sometimes oak. They feed the wood through a huge blade that cuts it into strips. Then they pass the strips through the planer, load them on a truck, and put them out in the yard to be sold. The work is fairly labor-intensive, so good employees are key to his success. Tardiff said, “The hardest part of the job would be keeping employees; we never seem to keep them. There’s always somebody missing, or somebody finds another job. I usually need at least three people here, and it's been a struggle this summer keeping them here.” Tardiff needs 4-6 people to work there for the most part. Still, it all depends on who shows up.

When confronted about the future of the business, Tardiff responded, “It’s hard to say. Looking to sell my place. Hopefully, some young guy will take over and make a go of it.”

Ultimately, Tardiff is hoping to meet the right person to take over the sawmill. Even though times are tough, as long as a person works hard, they can accomplish anything. Business owners might sometimes feel despair, but they should fight through it and work hard to become successful, like Daniel Tardiff. Even when he had few people, and everyone was going to different places for work, it never stopped him. He kept working and eventually built his business up. He should be recognized for his hard work and effort. Come on down and check out Tardiff Sawmill; you will be met with a warm greeting and get the wood you need.