In 1978, two inventors, Don Laskowski and Dan Tekulve, joined forces to manufacture their wood-working products. These inventions soon provided enough capital to develop and sell the Laskowski/Tekulve brainchild —a thin-kerf portable sawmill. With this innovation in 1982, the partners made converting logs to lumber a safe, one-person job.

The company sold more than 1,300 sawmills in its first three years. More models were built and features added like hydraulic log handling was introduced in 1987. To bring the mills closer to customers, Wood-Mizer opened its first branch in 1984 with others following shortly after. Blades manufacturing was introduced in the late ‘80s, and the first ReSharp facility was opened in 1995.

Today, Wood-Mizer has earned the reputation as the world’s largest manufacturer of portable bandsaw mills having sold more than 100,000 units worldwide. The company, headquartered in Indianapolis, has multiple locations to serve customers in the United States and Canada, and dealers throughout the world. European customers are served through the Wood-Mizer Europe Headquarters in Kolo, Poland.

Wood-Mizer’s product line is not just limited to portable sawmills. By listening to the needs of customers, Wood-Mizer makes and sells industrial mills, blades, material handling equipment, edgers, resaws, and kilns.

In 2004, both of the company founders sold their stock to the employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which is a qualified trust that benefits the retirement of the Wood-Mizer employees. 100% of Wood-Mizer is now owned by its employees, meaning that each employee at Wood-Mizer has a personal stake in the work he or she does - so you can expect the best performance from us every time.

World Class Manufacturing

Modern manufacturing guarantees premium quality sawmill and woodworking equipment at an affordable price – anywhere in the world. By shortening the road for customers with Wood-Mizer owned and operated manufacturing locations in North America and Europe, we are able to improve product availability, reduce delivery time, and manufacture specialized equipment for local needs. With decades of manufacturing experience, Wood-Mizer employees have been manufacturing premium quality Wood-Mizer products for global markets since 1982 in the USA and since 1990 in Poland. For every Wood-Mizer product, sales of parts and blades, service, and support are readily available online, by phone, or in person through your local, experienced, and friendly Wood-Mizer representative.

Wood-Mizer’s production process is always improving to become more efficient and produce the highest-quality products while keeping prices as low as possible for our customers. Wood-Mizer products are built to last with premium materials and the highest quality components that are paramount to the Wood-Mizer product line. Stringent quality control and constant innovation are implemented in every step of manufacturing, from initial conception and development to final assembly of every individual product.

Rooted in tradition, Wood-Mizer has grown out of a small company that focused on making a positive difference in the environment and in the lives of others. With strong faith, our founding fathers were committed to doing the right things for the right reasons. Today we continue to donate our time, services, and at least 10 percent of our profits to help thousands of people and organizations throughout the world so that they can build better buildings, economies, and futures with wood. Over the years, millions of dollars in Wood-Mizer funds thousands of volunteer hours have been directed to local communities and impoverished nations to support many different kinds of projects. These efforts are just one way we're trying to improve lives the world over, because we believe that even the smallest action bringing goodness to world is the right thing to do.

At Wood-Mizer, our workers truly believe in doing the right thing for the right reasons. Since the company's beginning, Wood-Mizer's shareholders chose to donate a portion of the profits that the company made. Over the years, Wood-Mizer's 10% tithe has benefited Indiana schools, and schools as far away as Africa and the South Pacific. Locally, the corporation annually contributes to dozens of projects- construction of a new YMCA, volunteer fire department funding, expanding a church camp, and sustaining the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, zoo, and museums, just to name a few.

Millions of dollars in Wood-Mizer funds have been directed to impoverished nations for a multitude of good works:

Most importantly, we've offered our hearts and plenty of hope to the children of those nations. What begins with kindness, ends in hope. Our mission trips are just one way we're trying to improve lives the world over. It's just part of the Wood-Mizer philosophy.

Read our full history here.