Import/Export Wood Purchasing News - June- July 2022

Characterized By Consistency,
Clark Lumber Company Experiences Continued Growth
Thinking Locally On A Global Scale
By Terry Miller
Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee – When producing
48 to 50 million board feet of Appalachian hardwood
lumber annually, achieving consistency with
each load might seem impossible. However, Clark
Lumber Company, located here, has earned a reputation
for doing exactly that since it began in 1982.
Brandon Clark, the company’s vice president
representing third-generation family ownership,
explained it like this: “One of the things I always tell
my first-time customers is ‘try a load…if you like it,
send a repeat order because it is going to look just
like it the next time. If you don’t like it, we probably
just need to part ways and stay friends.’”
He also knows that today’s modern sawmills
require state-of-the-art facilities to keep pace with
current supply demands. To do that, Clark Lumber is
investing significantly in capital projects. “Two new
Hurdle head rigs will be online in August,” he continued,
“as well as another Froedge trim saw for the
stacker at Red Boiling Springs. At the Clark Hardwoods
location, there is a new Cleereman carriage
going in in August, and another Froedge trim saw
there, as well.”
He noted that much of the reasoning behind
their capital improvements is to solve current labor
challenges. “We have been trying to minimize the
heavy labor,” he explained, “so we’ve got a couple
machines—one already running and two that are
being installed right now to handle and stack all the
cants and ties and anything that is heavier than grade
lumber.”
Clark Lumber also utilizes Hurdle head rigs with
Brewco resaws and Brewco edgers at all their mills.
When putting lumber on sticks, they run a Froedge
stacker and BOLDesigns kilns, with dry lines and a
bin sorter put together by Froedge. The Clark Hardwood
mills include a McDonough Manufacturing
band mill with a Cleereman carriage, a Brewco resaw
and a Crosby combination edger with a Winston
Machinery stacker.
The company also operates a 382 Newman planer
at one location and a 282 Newman
planer at the other. “We can
surface to whatever thickness the
customer is looking for, whether
it be standard thicknesses or
metric,” Clark added. That
means they can expedite lumber
for their customers and are doing
so, said Clark, with a drying
capacity of about two million
feet per month. They accomplish
this goal—in part—by using
Pictured at Clark Lumber Company in Red Boiling Springs, TN, are Hugh Clark, President; Brandon Clark, Vice President;
and Joseph Draper, Sales.
American Wood Dryers kilns and a recently added
dehumidification kiln from Nyle Dry Kilns.
To complement that drying volume, Clark Lumber
recently added covered air-drying space. Clark
stated, “We now have about five million feet of covered
air drying to ensure minimal degrade during the
air-drying process.” They also have a reman station
on their dry lines for boards that need to be cleaned
up.
Clark manages sales along with Joseph Draper,
who additionally handles a good portion of the
logistics. They deal primarily with Poplar and Red
and White Oak. “Those three make up the biggest
percentage,” stated Clark, “with Hard Maple, Ash
and Hickory as secondaries. The fillers are our Walnut,
Cherry and Soft Maple in smaller portion. We
also do a fair amount of mixed hardwood that would
go into the frame stock market.”
Clark Lumber Company markets upper grades,
both domestically and internationally. For Poplar and
Red Oak, they produce 4/4 through 8/4, and White
Oak in 4/4, 5/4 and 6/4 thicknesses. In secondary
“One of the things I always tell my first-time
customers is ‘try a load…if you like it, send a
repeat order because it is going to look just like
it the next time. If you don’t like it, we probably
just need to part ways and stay friends.’ ”
– Brandon Clark, Vice President, Clark Lumber Company
species, they produce 4/4 lumber except for the
occasional 5/4 in Hickory. “NHLA grade is a true
random product,” noted Clark, “random width, random
length, just like it comes out of the mill. Should
a customer buy a load of FAS lumber, it’s all the FAS
that came out of that log.”
Clark continued, “We are heavy to 10-foot lengths
in our dense hardwoods due to the demand for cross
ties at this time. Instead of producing a lot of eightfoot
lumber, we elect to buy 10-foot logs and then
trim them in a way that we can get the best tie. In
Poplar, we run a little heavier to 12 foot with a good
mix of longer lengths, as well.”
Additionally, the company owns a Walnut steamer
and produces approximately 800,000 board feet of
Walnut lumber. That production has declined slightly
due to log exports. “We steam it 24 hours for every
quarter of an inch,” he said, “so if it is 4/4, it is four
days. We found that to be the best rule of thumb for
optimal consistency and to get those colors blended.”
To maintain lumber integrity and appearance,
grade lumber produced at the mills is end waxed
with U-C Coatings wax after it comes
across the stacker. Any lumber
that will be on sticks is then dipped
with Kop-Coat. Whitewoods are
placed on Breeze Dried grooved
sticks to ensure there is no sticker
shadow. The grooved sticks are
also used in the process of manufacturing
Hickory, to keep it from
having the enzymatic stain and
Continued on page 18
Mike Fleming, Chief Inspector at Clark Lumber Company,
completes a final inspection of kiln-dried lumber.
Oak lumber is shown in covered air storage at Clark
Lumber Company.
Cants are being turned for best grade on one of three
resaws at Clark Lumber.
Page 4 Import/Export Wood Purchasing News n June/July 2022