When the family moved back to Sweden ten years ago, Janne realised that it would be possible to live from the forest. He didn’t have any experience, however, and had never even used a chainsaw.
Janne Hellgren worked for many years for Atlas Copco, as an expert on the very largest rock drilling machines. The TMB type is a gigantic piece of machinery, of the same type that made the Eurotunnel. The job took the family to South Africa, but in 1995 the opportunity arose to purchase a family farm Sandshult. Most of the property is forest, 180 hectares to be precise.
“In the long run, it was not possible to manage the farm while living in South Africa,” says Janne.
Inspired by his father
The family moved back to Sweden, and Janne realised that it would be possible to live from the forest. He didn’t have any experience, however, and had never even used a chainsaw.
“My father had a little place and bought a Logosol sawmill at the start of the 1990s. I bought it from him and began sawing timber from our own forest.”
The reputation of the sawing rock driller spread, and Janne both carried out sawing at home on the farm and drove around with the portable sawmill on the roof to saw for others.
Next investment: a PH260
He soon realised that his customers ideally wanted timber that was planed on all four sides, and that the big earnings were to be made from mouldings and panels. His next investment therefore was a PH260 foursided planer/moulder.
“An excellent machine that is easy to learn to use, even for someone like me who had no experience of this type of machine,” is Janne’s assessment
