The Jackson Wood Shaving Mill^® produces wood shavings similar to the by-product of a lumber planer. Loose shavings are light and fluffy, with a typical green (undried) bulk density of 5.5 to 9 lbs./cu.ft. (88 to 145 kg/m³).

The raw material may be round wood, pulp wood, low-grade logs, slabs, and other similar waste wood. It is not practical to use short end trimmings, tie butts, or croppings. Softwoods or the softer hardwoods (such as aspens and poplars) may be shaved, green or dry, with or without the bark.

The primary use is bedding for poultry, horses, and other animals, but there are many other applications.

(Our Shaving Mill Specs are a little further down on this page.)

What's Better About Jackson Wood Shaving Mills^®

We began development in 1961, and in 1966 were granted U.S. Patent #3,286,745 for the first successful double-head wood shaving mill -- over 55 years ago. In that time, we've built over 350 wood shaving mills!

From then until now, we've found a number of things which work well, and many things which do not. Our shaving mills reflect these refinements in design, with heavy-duty construction made to handle the rugged conditions common in the timber industry.

They are designed for continuous operation one to three shifts per day, year after year, for decades. Typical service life before major overhaul is 60,000 operating hours.

• Bedplates are all Blanchard-ground for excellent flatness.
  It's an extra step others don't bother with, but it results in better production.


• Bedplates and centerplates of all current machines allow bolt-in replacement.
  Besides this, we also carefully designed this feature so it can also be applied as an upgrade to all older machines. This preserves the owners' investments in existing equipment, which we think they will like.


• The sides of the bed are 3/4" thick cold-rolled steel.
  Some others use "C"-channel, which has a thin web. They are also not as true and straight.


• Our frame is welded together in a full-length jig.
  This jig has heavy cross-members with machined surfaces, which have been laser-aligned. This keeps the bed straighter than building on sawhorses.


• Cross-channels under the bed are heavy 6" x 18# Ship & Car channel.
  They are a lot beefier than the regular "C"-channel some others use.


• Frame structure and legs are built of heavy-wall rectangular tubing.
  This gives better strength-to-weight ratio, compared to the thick flame-cut flat plate some others use.


• Head bearings are heavy-duty Fafnir-Timken "O"-series.
  These have the wide inner race, and are purposely chosen to strike the right balance of cost and service life. We don't use the light-duty or standard-duty flange units used by some, nor the expensive pillow-block units used by others.


• Heads are powered by our unique serpentine V-belt drive.
  For each pair of heads, this allows the bulk of horsepower to be drawn by the head that is cutting, based on direction of travel. Doing the same thing with two separate motors would require each to be 80% of the horsepower of our single motor. (One 75 HP motor on ours does the same job as two 60 HP motors on theirs.)


• Heavy-duty cam rollers are used for the box travel wheels.
  These are specifically designed for such applications, with a double set of tapered roller bearings which are easily greased.


• Box travel wheels run on bolt-in wear rails of cold-rolled steel.
  This material is uniform size, with crisp edges and smooth surfaces; and allows for easy, economical replacement when needed.


• Hopper box is driven by a hydraulic cylinder.
  It's simple and robust, and provides infinitely adjustable travel speed. Unlike others, equal speed in both directions is accomplished without any flow control or "diverter" valves, which heat up the oil significantly. (We switched away from chain drives over 30 years ago, though there are others still making shaving mills the old way.)


• Hopper box speed is consistent from beginning to end of stroke.
  This is completely unlike the jack-crank drive used on some machines, which makes it impossible to get a consistent texture of shavings. (The old chain drives were one step better -- at least they provided consistent speed end-to-end.)


• We have a quick-change Knife Cartridge System^™, U.S. Patent #5,163,490.
  It doesn't take half a day to change knives in one of our machines. Just loosen the gib screws, knock the gibs down out of the way with a brass punch & hammer, slip out the old Knife Cartridge^™, blow out any debris, slip in the fresh Knife Cartridge^™, re-tighten the gib screws, and re-torque; then move on to the next slot. Later in the workroom, Knife Cartridges are disassembled, knives removed & sharpened, then re-assembled and set to desired depth of cut in a jig, ready for the next change-out.


• All of our machines are available in a modular multiple-box arrangement.
  This means there is no limit to how big of a shaving mill we can build -- if you need over 500 yards/hour, we can do that. However, ours have the ability to stop one box for knife changing, while the other box(es) remain(s) running. This feature cuts lost production during knife changes in half (or less), and can pay for itself in less than two years.


• We rate our machines' production conservatively.
  If we figured production like one shaving mill manufacturer does, we'd say our 30D10HL makes 120 yards/hour, and our 36D10HL makes 200 yards/hour. Sure, we could do that; but how happy will the owner be, if that's only achievable when shaving tightly-stacked, fresh-cut green cants from a sawmill, with razor sharp knives? We think it's better to under-promise and over-deliver.


• We don't rate our machines' production in tons per hour.
  Your profit margin depends upon minimizing the weight of wood required for each cubic yard of shavings, while still getting the texture of shavings your customers want. (If you want a lot of tons per hour, a big tub grinder would probably work great, though!)


• All electric motors for heads and box drive are included.
  At least one other manufacturer requires them to be purchased separately.


• Complete control panels are available.
  We can provide enclosed panels or complete motor control centers, with breaker disconnects and soft-starters; as well as operator control consoles with either discrete devices or touch screens. Complete control panels can be UL, cUL, or CSA certified upon request. We can also provide plant-wide SCADA control networks, or integrate seamlessly with existing systems.


• Our warranty covers our materials and workmanship too.
  We've heard of one other manufacturer where the "warranty" consisted of shipping painted pieces of steel for the customer to weld in themselves, in response to poor design and workmanship.


• We build more than just shaving mills.
  We also build whole shaving plants -- by now, over 100 of them -- as well as most of the equipment that might be desired. No one else in the world that we know of has built, or helped build, as many shaving plants as we have. There is simply no substitute for experience. (In fact, we are regularly asked to do consulting work at plants which have competitors' equipment.)

Standard Units and Specifications

Here is a list of standard units we manufacture, with specifications (custom-length and metric models also available, but not shown). Note that multiple units can be ganged together if desired to make one larger machine. Scroll to see all sizes if necessary:

Characteristics of Wood Shavings

Wood shavings should not be confused with wood chips, since they are manufactured by an entirely different process. Our machines cut the wood lengthwise, with the grain of the wood, to obtain thin, curly, fluffy shavings rather than the hard, chunky texture of chips. A wide range of product characteristics can be obtained with different machine settings, with corresponding variations in production rates.

There are several reasons why wood shavings are preferred over other materials for bedding:

1. Shavings have excellent absorbency properties, so they take up moisture quickly and also dry readily.


2. Bedding is softer and more comfortable, which makes for healthier, more contented animals.


3. Cleaning of livestock pens and stalls is easy and economical, since bedding can be sifted with a manure fork and reused.


4. Shavings are relatively thin, so they decay more readily when spread on the land after use.


5. Nuisance growth from spreading plant seeds on the land is eliminated.


6. By drying the shavings with heat, very low levels of bacteria and other microorganisms may be achieved, providing much peace of mind for those facilities concerned with cross-contamination.

Applications and Markets

In addition to bedding, here are some examples of the wide variety of markets served by present Jackson Wood Shaving Mill^® owners:

• Nursery stock mulching


• Weed suppression for gardens and landscaping


• Ground cover at fairgrounds, circuses, rodeos, race tracks, livestock show rings, and machinery expos


• Wholesale packing of frozen meats and other merchandise


• Manufacturing of oriented-strand board for building construction

Wood shavings can be transported and marketed by several methods. Bulk shipments are usually made with either moving-floor transport trailers or spreader trucks, usually around the local area (within 100 mi / 160 km) because of the cost involved. Many poultry businesses order shavings "by the yard," where the price is quoted per cubic yard of bedding. Smaller customers and retail markets generally use compressed bags of shavings, with bag sizes ranging from 1.2 ft³ (34 l) to 5.8 ft³ (164 l), compressed. When shavings are packaged in bags, a drying system is necessary to prevent molding and mildewing in the bags.

Some shaving mill operators sell bagged shavings directly to stables and other local customers, some operate plants producing exclusively for large retail distribution and pet store chains, and some service local poultry barns and other bulk users. There are also producers which serve various combinations of the markets mentioned.

It is important to note that shavings should always be sold by some bulk measure, never by weight. This is because when solid wood is processed into shavings, a significant expansion in volume is realized. A typical ratio is 2:1, although this varies depending on species of wood and machine settings. If the shavings are dried, there is also a significant loss of weight due to moisture evaporation.

Our Experience

The Jackson Wood Shaving Mill^® is the product of extensive research, and unparalleled experience in the field. Since its introduction on the market in 1961, it has proved to be the best machine available for producing shavings. There are others who make "shaving mills," but there is no substitute for experience. Our machines have proved their durability and performance throughout the United States and around the world.

Put simply, our shaving mills are the best that money can buy -- just ask around.