National Hardwood Magazine - September 2022

SOUTHEAST Continued
Patrick Lumber Company
Over 100 Years in Business
Est 1915
Patrick Lumber Company is a secondary manufacturer and exporter of niche
high-grade wood products sold to a network of worldwide distribution.
Products:
Doug Fir
Western Red Cedar
Southern Yellow Pine
Western Hemlock
Alaskan Yellow Cedar
West Coast Softwoods
West Coast Hardwoods
Services:
Remanufacturing
Packaging & Transport
Consultation
Procurement
317 SW Alder Street,
Suite 1050
Portland, OR 97204
503-222-9671
sales@patlbr.com
Follow us on Instagram
@Patricklumber
patlbr.com
“It’s slightly worse, but still good,” he explained. “We
slowed down a little bit from six months ago, but I mean
it’s more manageable. Before we were working, killing
ourselves. Now, we can take a breather every once and
a while, still meeting demand.”
The types of species purchased by the Alabama company
has broadened.
“We used to be 100 percent Hardwood. We’re having
to use a bunch of green pine now. We still use Hardwoods
when we can get it just more green pine now.”
Wood species used in his products are the following:
Red and White Oak, Poplar, Hickory, Cherry and Walnut.
He sells to food, chemical, steel, aluminum, automotive
businesses among others, but hasn’t heard any negative
feedback lately. He remains focused on maintaining his
transportation line.
“Transportation, supply chain and parts are getting
harder and harder. We’ve had to cancel a few orders for
customers due to they couldn’t get their raw materials
in. Just soon as they come in, then they order again.” n
WEST COAST
Continued from page 13
we haven’t had a slowdown at this
time of year. Now, we’re seeing normal
times. Of course, there’s all this
negativity in the news around us.”
He handles “pretty much all North
American Hardwoods”: Oak, the Maples,
Poplar, Hickory, Basswood, a
few softwoods and imports. His best
seller is Hard Maple. He sells upper
grades, and then No. 1, 2 and sometimes
3A Common, primarily in 4/4
but also 5/4 through 8/4. “It’s very
heavy to 4/4,” he remarked.
His customers include distribution
yards, end users, millwork shops,
cabinet shops and sawmills. “It’s
kind of weird,” he observed. “Cabinet
makers are as strong as ever. But
we’re not hearing a lot from our other
customers about their levels of sales.
“We sell to sawmills because a mill
doesn’t always manufacture every
species, and they may want the ones
they don’t make to supplement their
offerings to their customers. Lumber
is stacking up a little bit at the mills.
Some people attribute that to earlier
heavy buying, and they’re working
their inventories down and not wanting
to get stuck with too much highpriced
lumber.”
Transportation, he said, has been
“better lately with easier availability,
and prices have stabilized if not softened
a little bit. We’re also getting a
lot more calls from truckers asking if
we’ve got loads for them to haul. That didn’t happen a
year ago.”
In California, a lumber representative said, “The market’s
steady but not as busy as it was. I think the business
is still there, but there’s not as much activity as
there was. The market is a little slower than it was six
months ago.”
He handles White Oak, Walnut and Hickory in all
grades in 4/4 thickness. White Oak is his best seller.
Retail lumber yards and flooring manufacturing companies
are his customers. “Their sales are steady,” he
stated.
“Transportation is OK,” he noted.
“Locally transportation is no problem.
It just takes longer getting containers
from the mills in the Midwest.”
In Oregon, a lumberman, who
mostly sells Walnut, reported that
his market is “strong, very strong.
We haven’t seen any slowdown.”
Besides Walnut, he offers White Oak
and Maple.
Compared to a few months earlier,
“I think the market is the same,
steady with a strong pace,” he remarked.
He sells mostly higher end grades
for furniture, such as Select and Better
in 4/4 through 12/4 thicknesses.
His customers are furniture manufacturers,
casework companies that
build out commercial spaces and
higher end residential casework and
millwork companies. “Their sales are
still strong,” he noted. “Demand is
still kind of what we’ve seen over the
last couple of years. It peaked and
hasn’t really slowed down. I don’t
know if it’s regional or that we’re selling
into the upper end of the market.
Our customers made a good deal of
money the last couple of years and
they’re still doing well. I talked to a
big millwork processor in our area,
and he said his business is the slowest
it’s been in years. We haven’t
seen that at all.
“Freight is still super-expensive
and the service is terrible,” he commented.
“The freight carriers don’t
show up, or it takes longer to get products shipped.
They don’t like to ship long material anymore. A lot of our
freight is 12 feet to 16 feet long. So, we’re shipping mostly
less than truckloads. We’re shipping 300 board feet to
1,000 board feet per load typically.” n
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