Australasia's home for timber news and information

Big Timber reality series on Netflix

Big Timber follows the dangerous work of a logger and sawmill owner Kevin Wenstob of Sooke, Canada as he and his crew go to extremes to keep the family sawmill, and their way of life, alive. Sources: Netflix, Binge, IMDB, Victoria News

Big Timber follows the dangerous work of Wenstob and his crew endeavour to log a timber claim on the rugged slopes of Klitsa Mountain, the second-highest summit on the southern half of Vancouver Island.

Though the claim has a thousand truckloads waiting for him, his first goal is to get 200 loads off the mountain before winter shuts him down.

The Sooke man pointed out that he made sure to save them in retention patches when he came across five legacy trees on his claim. He believes in the sustainable part of forestry and adheres to the sustainable forest initiative.

The series was shot from September 2019 until January 2020 for the first eight episodes, and two more were filmed in mid-September.

Mr Wenstob said he’s careful on the worksite because a log pile that’s 30 metres away is connected underground. A wrong bump could make everything roll from underneath your feet, but it’s all worth it to get “wooden gold.”

Some single logs are worth up to $30,000 in value, depending on how much they can be sold for.

“We like to control our destiny,” said Sarah Fleming, Mr Wenstob’s wife.

She recalls when her husband worked cleaning dishes as a teenager and realized he never wanted to do that again.

“We’ve always been independent for the past 25 years. Occasionally, we have to deal with small issues, but it’s our world. We’re addicted.”

Big Timber has a release date in Australia of 2 July 2021. The show will be available to watch on Netflix.