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Our story, our strengths, where we come from, and our passion.
By Carl Peterson
In 1974 a temporary stopover in Fiji became a 13 year layover on our own 500 acre jungle plantation
on northern Vanua Levu. The enforced isolation and lack of supporting infrastructure were harsh
taskmasters requiring me to refine my creative skills simply to survive. In the absence of technical
support, I was forced to refine my tinkering skills, eventually proving a design for a simple, village level
portable sawmill.
In May of 1987 when the first Rambuka coup occurred. I was outspoken against the apartheid
objectives of the coup, was arrested three times without charge, and was finally kidnapped and
savagely beaten by armed soldiers. A groundswell of public disapproval forced my release after 3 days
of confinement sleeping on a hard concrete floor, with broken ribs.
Shortly thereafter, I made my way to Rotorua, New Zealand to join my wife and family who had earlier
traveled there to ensure the safe birthing of Michael, our fourth child. Shortly after leaving Fiji,
Rambuka staged his 2nd coup, arresting both my Indian neighbors as enemies of the coup, and
holding them in prison for six months. I was allowed entrance into New Zealand as a refugee, and at
once set about refining the portable sawmill idea, using old bicycle parts in my first prototype.
My sawmill won an invention prize at the June, 1988, New Zealand National Fieldays, Mystery Creek,
Hamilton. This in turn lead to a government grant to build a commercial prototype, and the formal
issue of a bona fide residency and work permit based upon the potential of the sawmill project. In
fact, this was the beginning of an entire new industry based upon my swing-saw design. The business I
established, Peterson Portable Sawing Systems Ltd. Flourished , gaining over $3 million in sales in 1995.
My earlier company was involved in litigation against a former distributor of my products. The court
case lasted around 10 years. Besides taking most of my time and energy away from me, I lost my
business, but did eventually win the case. This was a very well known case in New Zealand as it was our
countries first supreme court hearing.
Why invent a new sawmill? Firstly, we know and love sawmills, and love to invent. What else needs to
be said? Both Jake and I have been aware of the strengths and short comings of most mills on the
market for a long time. Together, we have attended more than 100 different sawmill fieldays in
numerous countries, and seen a lot of very good equipment. We've always felt that we could build a
better mill, so we finally have.
Why is it better?
First, the frame is strong and robust, and free from sideways movement during cutting. We love the
single solid beam.
The patent pending end frames provide easy access around and to the log, and allow log-loading
access without danger to the frame.
Automatic single point rise and fall, auto blade changeover, auto carriage movement, and patent
pending auto board retrievable system.
The mill can be set up or readied for transport in under 10 minutes, with minimal manual labor
required.
The patent pending "turb-o-blade" allows a full 12" cut blade to be used with a saw kerf less than on a
standard 10" mill, allowing a 24" double cut capacity. It also allows an 8" blade that takes a saw kerf as
little as 4.2 mm.
We've always believed that swingers were the most versatile type of cutting head. And now we've
taken the best elements of a number of other mills, joined them together with our own little diamonds,
and melded it all into one very simple, very versatile, very efficient, and very fast, complete saw milling
package.
We're looking forward to an exciting and rewarding year in 2010, and would love to share our success
with you!
Best wishes.
Carl Peterson
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