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Tennessee Hardwoods Still Strong

Emmet Vaughn Lumber Co.'s lumberyard may be long gone, but it is still dealing in millions of bd. feet of hardwood as demand for Southern Appalachian hardwood remains high.

The Vestal, Tn., operation is part of the bustling hardwood environment of East Tennessee, where timber is being cut, milled and shipped out for furniture, flooring, moulding and pallets.

Emmet Vaughn Lumber Co.'s 1l employees work the phones from its Vestal offices selling between 35 million and 40 million bd. ft. of hardwood a year.

Vaughn Lumber brokers only in hardwood, purchasing 90Vo of it from Appalachian states. In addition, Vaughn only sells to U.S. companies, instead of getting involved in exporting.

"We're the only company of any size that I know that doesn't export," said Emmet "Buck" Vaughn Jr., chairman and c.e.o. of the company founded in 1957. "I believe in keeping American jobs, and we're not big enough to where we have to go overseas."

In the past, 9O7o of Vaughn Lumber's sales were to furniture companies, but that has dropped to 4O7o in recent years.

Nearly half of the company's sales are now to manufacturers that make specialty products like molding, doors, cabinets and millwork.

Vaughn Lumber routinely ships $100,000 orders to customers, according to Vaughn, who said it's becoming a "very competitive business."

The biggest impact on the U.S. hardwood business is the flight of furniture manufacturing to countries like China, Vietnam and India, where labor costs less, said Matt Bennett, Vaughn Lumber senior v.p.-special operations.

The most recent report on the state's timber business showed 105.6 million bd. ft. were removed from 27 East Tennessee counties from 1989 to 1998. It also showed that the forest products industry contributed $18.2 billion to Tennessee's economy in 1997, up from $15.5 million in 1996.

Then the industry hit a wall for a few years, but has since rebounded.

Manufacturer Oak Ridge Hardwoods, Knoxville, Tn., has seen some steady business recently despite the national slump and is considering expanding.

"The whole strength of this business is to get as much out of each log that you can," said Chris Keziah, president of Oak Ridge Hardwoods. "For us, business has been steady. It hasn't been great, but it hasn't been horrible. We've been able to sell everything we've cut."