Wravor Partners With Bailey’s As North American Dealer
Bailey’s Inc., located in Woodland, CA, has been selling logging, forestry, tree care and sawmill equipment for nearly 50 years. They offer several industrial product lines from all over the world, such as Kobelco excavators, Neuson and Ponsse forestry equipment, Albach whole tree chippers, Lucas portable sawmills and Wravor stationary sawmills.
This is a 36” wide x 4” thick slab headed to the Wravor 40-160 board edger to make a 4×4.
According to the company’s CEO, Nik Bailey, “We get a lot of calls from our portable sawmill customers who said, ‘you know, I kind of like this sawmill business, do you have something on the next level?’” In 2019, Bailey’s Inc. graduated to that customer coveted ‘next level’ in the sawmill industry by marketing the Wravor line, which they introduced at a trade show.
Jim Haas, industrial sales manager at Bailey’s Inc., explained that the design of these mills is unique and robust – the amount of steel they have in their equipment and their design and durability is different from other mills in this class. The well-established Slovenian company’s desire to expand their business into the United States led Bailey’s Inc. to become, as their CEO said, “their North American dealer.”
This is the 3rd face on the 40” diameter, California Redwood, 2nd growth.
Haas iterated that Wravor “produces a wide range of industrial horizontal band mill systems in different sizes with production capabilities that are scalable from small to large production depending on how many machine centers people want to have installed in the mill, which is dependent upon the timber base.” Wravor has built hundreds of local Hardwood sawmills producing European Beech, European Maple, and European Oak (mainly French and English Oak). They also have hundreds of softwood sawmills cutting spruce, pine, larch and fir. They also have mills for the tropical Hardwoods in Southeast Asia.
This is a 6 x 8 board going through the Wravor 40-160 edger.
Wravor has recently increased their manufacturing capability and developed a larger slant carriage double cut system that they are currently installing in Europe. Wravor sawmills are known to have some of the biggest width cutting capacities for bandsaws today, their largest model having a two-meter cutting capacity, which is over six feet. In addition, they also offer both Rosserhead and ring debarker systems, complete with butt reducing capabilities, as well as complete log sorting systems. They have been building sawmills since 1976, for a wide range of remote environments, so when they install a sawmill, they package it up along with a typical spare parts kit. Haas said that, “We are excited about doing business with them and it’s going to be a lot of hard work to get the mills installed in the U.S. and getting everything running smoothly but we’re here for the long haul.”
Shown here is a 40” diameter California Redwood, 2nd growth, running through Wravor WRC 1250 sawmill equipment
supplied by Bailey’s Inc., located in Woodland, CA.
Despite the benefits of the Wravor line, Haas outlined their strategy regarding how Bailey’s tries “to standardize as much as we can with those systems, so the mills we currently bring in have a Siemens Software System in both the head rig and the edger, with a dial-in component for the factory to contact the machine center and diagnose any issues within the software. That dial-in capacity is available 24/7. The disadvantage to Wravor is that they are nine hours ahead of us.” Even though this presents a challenge, Haas mentioned that there is an advantage. “When we are asleep, they are awake, and they can dial into any of the systems and either correct a fault in the software system or diagnose it and say, ‘hey, when you come to work in the morning, here is what you need to do,’” Haas explained.
Depicted here is the Wravor WRC 1250 main mill base turning approximately a 30” x 36” center cant.
Bailey added to this by stating that “a sawmill is designed to generate money like any other investment and it will not make any in the long run if it is not properly maintained. Wravor knows the importance of that.”
In this photo, Wravor sawmill equipment is setting up on the 4th/final face of a California Redwood.
Wravor sawmills usually come complete with a log infeed system, the main rails for the mill, head rig, the outfeed system and the roll case, which has three directions for the boards to go. On the edgers, they’ve got jog chains and scanning systems available, so the edgers can have “powered infeed and a powered outfeed, which means that pushing wood through any machine center isn’t necessary,” said Haas. The designs can be as simple or as sophisticated with automated stacking, optimization and scanning available, which makes Bailey’s Inc. hopeful to get into the Eastern Hardwood market. Haas advises that a search for Wravor on YouTube will lead to a variety of videos about the size of their operations, including their finished mills, machine centers and trade shows.
Shown here is a 24” x 20” center cant.
Bailey’s Inc. was started in 1975 in Mendocino County, CA by Bill Bailey, a timber faller, and his wife and cutting partner, Judith Bailey. Their business was originally located in Laytonville, CA and, according to their son and current CEO, “They started the business in their garage like everybody does. In the early years, my dad continued to work while my mom stayed home and ran the business.” In the early 1980s, Bailey’s Inc. ventured east to Jackson, TN before creating a third branch in Albany, NY, which was consolidated into the Tennessee branch in 1993. In 2008, Bailey explained they were “forced to make a difficult decision. We had to shut down one of the two locations and we ended up terminating the Tennessee one.” In 2012, the warehouse in Laytonville, CA was closed and they moved to a warehouse in the central valley. In 2025, they’ll be celebrating their 50th anniversary.
Nik Bailey and his brother Sam are the second generation at Bailey’s Inc. and the third generation are in their 20s and they are planning to keep the business a family operated organization. Bailey emphasized that, “There is always a little luck involved and as I have always said, ‘luck is a residue of design.’ We understand what it takes to succeed, and we work hard at what we are passionate about.”
Bailey’s Inc. – A name synonymous with forestry/logging/sawmill industry.
Bailey also said, “Anything that has lasted 50 years is not a fly-by-night operation, which can be said for many of our customers, who are also second and third generation businesses.” Bailey’s employs a team of around 50 people.
Haas stated that they attend 25 trade shows a year across all their products. They have secured their spot with Wravor at the Southern Forest Products Association Sawmill and Machinery Expo in Nashville, TN, which spans August 6-8 in 2025. They will also occupy booth 265 at the Timber Processing and Energy Expo in Portland, OR, which spans September 25-27 in 2024.
For more information, visit www.baileysonline.com.
