The Secret Sauce

Have you ever bought a barbeque sauce that was just mouth watering tasty? Then looking on the back of the bottle it just looks like some regular ingredients just like the rest of the sauces out there; but it doesn’t taste like the rest. That is what we call ‘Secret Sauce’ because there is something the manufacturer is doing that can’t be determined just by looking at the ingredients.

Blades are like barbecue sauce because while most of them lookalike not all of them perform the same and when it comes to blades we believe we have the ‘Secret Sauce’

Here at Cook’s saw we have been around the sawmill industry for nearly 50yrs and done many things (see article page ‘We will build it for you’ in this issue) but one of our specialties has always been with saw blades.

Tim and I have been working on saw blades literally since we were boys. Our Dad Kenneth (now 81 and suffering with Parkinson’s disease) taught us how to think and work hard and figure things out. He grounded us in the Christian faith and that has been our guiding principle in our business and I believe in our success. We have been blessed so many ways and are just very thankful to be in this industry and able to provide quality machinery and blades to you. We are so happy that we relate so closely with so many of you in your sawmilling. We understand the good times and joy of making wood products as well as the struggle of keeping things going in hard times. We like to say we were raised with sawdust in our blood and in our underwear. As sawmillers I’m sure you get this.

We grew up trying different things to make a living. Most have been in the sawmill industry and we are really glad that we have been able to settle in this industry and serve people that are so much like we are.

One particular thing that we have been successful in has been saw blades. We have sharpened hammered, tensioned, bought, made, tipped welded and just about anything else that can be done to and for blades for years and years. With so much exposure and ‘intimate’ working with blades you are bound to learn many things about blades and what makes them work well.

We have shared many things to help sawmillers through the years and are happy that we have been able to do that. One thing that we are very proud of is that we have introduced the special angle of SuperSharp into the industry. We spent much $$$ working on a patent and for whatever reason (many of you have probably experienced the patent struggle---gov’t) we haven’t been able to get the patent. We have been copied now by some of the largest blade MFG’s and one even claims to have come up with the profile and have twisted our story and claimed it for their own. While this is painful, I guess imitation is a form of flattery. The only thing is that flattery doesn’t put food on the table and pay the bills and pay the good people who work with us producing these excellent products.

Well that is life I suppose and we all do use ideas that were often there before we thought of them so we are enjoying the success that we have earned from SuperSharp and other ideas as well. With that said I hope and think we have become wiser and more careful in how we handle business and how we share ideas.

We still come up with new ideas and are able to test them through our large customer base and find what works the best and what doesn’t. Through our many years we have come up with a few things that we have had to keep secret and this has allowed us to keep an edge in the market. With the band blades it sometimes seems almost magical why some will work and the next one doesn’t. We have developed some proprietary electrical machines that affect and change the steel in the teeth and blade so that we can run longer than any standard blades on the market. So if you are having problems or needing to run just a little longer to finish a shift or maybe just a little faster to reach the production you need, we can nearly always help. Give us a call and talk to our friendly staff. They are always courteous and friendly and we can discuss your needs and help you solve any problem you might have.

There is a lot more to blades than just welding them together and getting them shipped. This is an art as much as it is a science and with some of our in house blade tuning machinery, and we believe dollar for dollar we can outperform anyone’s blades in the industry. You see buying blades is not so much about price per blade as it is price per board foot. Sometimes people sell cheap blades but they end up costing the buyer more per board foot than if they would have spent a little more and cut down their board foot cost.

We never intend of being the cheapest because we don’t sell ‘cheap’ blades (as in quality). We offer premium performance even in our lowest priced blades. With nearly everything in this physical world, cheap price usually means cheap product. Often paying a little more per blade will get more production and more board feet from the blade. Also, service and help can be as important as price as well.

We have many 1000s of happy customers and friends and hope you will become one too. So I ask you to give us a try and see how you like our “Secret Sauce”.

Thank you for your support. Now let’s go makes some sawdust, dream big and have fun.