Malwood Sawmills

Our Team

Dave Malcomson

Owner-Operator

Dave Malcomson is the Owner-Operator of Malwood Sawmills. Born and raised in Crystal Rock, Ontario a small hamlet centered within Prescott, Cardinal and Spencerville. This undertaking is Dave’s semi-retirement dream. His father John was a local highly skilled carpenter for his entire life. Dave proudly worked alongside him during his early years.

The sawmill promises physical and mental demands to keep not only Dave’s overall fitness level high but offers the same benefits to the employees. Malwood Sawmills is proud to employ local qualified employees from Edwardsburgh Cardinal and surrounding area.

Dave has been in the retail and service industry since 1974 and an independent retail owner since 1984. He started out with a meager staff of 13 in Elmira; in his first retail ownership. He now employs over 200 people in his Kanata location. He brings a tremendous wealth of customer service combined with successful business knowledge. He wants to be sure his customers are “knot” disappointed. 

Dave has been the Head Sawyer since inception of Malwood Sawmills in July 2020. He brought his dream to life by milling to build a 44′ by 70′ workshop/sawmill shed. His next focus was over 200 timbers for a 36′ by 54′ timber barn showroom. This is earmarked to be erected in the spring of 2021. By December 31, 2020 he had milled over 22,000 board feet of spruce and pine, honing his skills, and passing on his knowledge to employees; much like his father did for him.

Morgan joined Malwood In February 2022. 
He had completed a 4 year cabinet making apprenticeship in Ireland under the old Masters. He started as a junior in 1996. He has worked in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Before Malwood he was a shop foreman in commercial and residential shops in Ottawa. When he relocated to Iroquois he wanted to put his knowledge to work closer to home. We were so blessed to have him join Malwood. He has enjoyed the challenge seeing the entire process of logs to lumber. Morgan is so dialed in to exceptional customer service, he is constanting talking to our customers on their kiln/drying and dressing journey. Constant information to our customers empowers then on timelines etc.  

Morgan is a bit of a card. Now add in an Irish one at that! He thought he would poke some fun at us with his “The Thinker “pose. In reality he is probably saying we do not have enough room for all our kiln dried and then dressed lumber. Sadly he is absolutely correct.  We are situated on agricultural land with a diversified business. That limits us to only one hectare of land. That has created many challenges for Malwood from the beginning. We are so pleased Morgan decided to join us on our this adventure.

Morgan O'Toole

Operations Manager & Work Shop/Kiln Manager

Jim Burnie

Maintenance & Tuning

Jim Burnie and his wife, Holly Howard were instrumental in the launching of Malwood Sawmills. From the proof of concept to the building and functioning of our original sawmill a Norwood HD 36, Jim knowledge and support were invaluable.  Since then, Jim has sharpened and maintained our numerous sawblade inventory. From our Norwood HD36 to the Wood Mizer LT 70 and now the addition of our Moon 4 head resaw Jim has been a busy man. His expertise has permitted Malwood to maximize the life of the saw blades. 

Joshua has worked for the Malcomson since he was 14 years of age maintaining their yard and gardens. After graduating from South Grenville High School he attended Algonquin College for Police Foundations. During that time he worked at the Malcomsons’ Canadian Tire Store in Kanata where he was a supervisor.

In late summer of 2023 he joined the Malwood Sawmills team and became head sawyer. His goal is to grow his understanding and knowledge about running a small business and to learn about woodworking and the process of turning logs into lumber. Joshua brings a quality not seen as much today “He really cares about what he does!”We have witness first hand his growth from a young teenager to an amazing human being!

Joshua-Head-Sawyer

Joshua TeGrotenhuis

Head Sawyer

Evan joined Malwood in January 2024. he recently graduate Magna Cum Laude from Menio College Atherton in California. He is an excellent athlete. 

He has exceptional problem solving, organizational and observation skills. These are critical in one of the most demanding roles at Malwood. 

His knowledgeable in safety requirements/standards and strong communication skills are vital. His role is the glue that hold the entire production together. He is the eyes and ears overlooking the entire flow of logs to lumber. 

We have great expectations for Evan and see him running the sawmill in the months to come. 

Evan Edger

Evan Wilcox

Edger & Resaw Operator / Quality Control

Rowan Lindsay

Part Time

Rowan joined Malwood in May 2022 and is now our senior part timer. 

He is the backbone of our part time crew. He is quiet but extremely responsible. 

He works on average 12 hours per week when school is in except from January to mid March when we go into winter hours. He runs our customer pick up alone on Saturday morning. 

He works full time in the summer and has learnt many of the full time roles, returning again in the summer of 2024. He is so valuable becasue of his versatility.

He attends South Grenville High School. 

He is an all round great athlete & avid hockey player. At Malwood his sports always come first. 

Wyall joined Malwood in November 2020. He was the second employee we hired when the sawmill came to life.

He attended St. Michael’s Catholic High School in Kemptville and started at Carleton University this past fall of 2023.

He has worked part time during the school year before going to university and full time every summer. This summer will be no exception except he will rejoin Malwood in May rather than July.

He understands all the full time roles in our organizations and provides us with important flexibility when someone is sick or on holidays.

He is an excellent athlete and an avid hockey player. He is a goaltender need i say more!!

Wyatt Perras

Part Time