10 minute read
LUMBER 411
from BPD - Dec 2022
LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT: JACK PINE
------------ BY JEFF EASTERLING
A SPECIAL SERIES FROM
OVER THE LAST three years of Lumber 411 columns, we’ve shared information on every single wood species under the purview of the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, with the exception of one. It’s time to talk about jack pine.
While the species name certainly sounds like that of an international spy, jack pine is also known as Banksian pine, black pine, blackjack pine, gray pine, Prince’s pine, scrub pine, and even pin gris if you’re in French Canada.
Jack pine is a scrubby little medium-sized (and sometimes small) evergreen with a noted ability to grow in poor soils. With top heights reaching 35-50 feet, the species is one of the most cold-hardy and drought-tolerant trees known.
You might see it used as a windbreak on farms, or as part of a watershed management plan, but jack pine is also used as pulpwood, construction lumber, fence posts, timbers inside a mine, railroad ties, telephone poles, and even Christmas trees. With so many uses of the species possible, the hard and heavy jack pine is a very important species in Canada and the Great Lakes region.
Remember back when we discussed Norway spruce, we learned about how the Civilian Conservation Corps planted the trees on unused farmlands following the Great Depression to keep the land from going to waste? Just like the Norway spruce, the jack pine is frequently
JACK PINE FUN FACT!
When exploring your typical jack pine stand, it’s possible to see as many as two million seeds per acre stored in unopened pinecones. How to open the pinecones? Fire is the only thing that will melt the resin sealing the cone closed, thereby releasing the seeds.
planted on land around mines as part of the rehabilitation process.
The jack pine cones are special in that they traditionally point forward along the branch and sometimes circle it. It’s not uncommon for the cones to remain unopened on a branch for up to a decade.
By age 75, most jack pines are on their way out; it’s rare to find any within a stand over 200 years old.
As we’ve shared, jack pine is one of 10 species included in the SprucePine-Fir south (SPFs) grade grouping, joined by red, black and white spruce; Norway spruce; balsam fir; red pine; Engelmann spruce; sitka spruce; and lodgepole pine. The SPFs grouping covers various commercially important species, with the “s” designating the lumber as originating from logs grown in the United States.
Where Does It Grow?
Jack pine is mostly found in the Great Lakes area of the U.S. and up into Canada. The major portion of this growth is found in Canada from the Northwest Territories all the way cross country to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Further south in the States, jack pine is found in Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, the northern part of New York, and Wisconsin.
How Much Is Used?
Over the most recent years, the volume of jack pine used has continued to decrease, primarily due to jack pine budworm outbreaks.
– For more information on jack pine or other New England/Great Lakes wood species, visit www.nelma.org.
JEFF EASTERLING
Jeff Easterling is president of the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, Cumberland Center, Me. Reach hi at info@nelma.org.
The latest additions to our high-performance fasteners.
NEW Wafer-Head Construction Screw NEW Finish Trim Screw
Deck-Drive™ DSV WOOD Screw
Deck-Drive DWP WOOD SS Screw
Strong-Drive® CSV CONSTRUCTION Screw Deck-Drive DCU COMPOSITE Screw
Fascia Screw
Strong-Drive SDWS FRAMING Screw
Strong-Drive SDWS TIMBER Screw (Exterior) Pan-Head Marine Screw
Complete your lineup with the new Finish Trim and Wafer-Head Construction screws
from Simpson Strong-Tie. These high-performance fasteners are designed for a wide range of applications — framing, cabinetry, trim, outdoor furniture and more. The Finish Trim screw’s low-profile head makes it ideal for finish work, while the Wafer-Head Construction screw offers high pull-through capacity for strength. Both feature our unique SawTooth® point, which eliminates the need for predrilling and makes driving easy. And with our Quik Guard® coating, they’re suitable for interior and exterior jobs. To learn more about our entire selection of Simpson Strong-Tie® fasteners, including the new Finish Trim and Wafer-Head Construction screws, visit go.strongtie.com/fasterfinish or call (800) 999-5099.
Mead Lumber Co., Omaha, Ne., has purchased four-unit Teague Lumber Co., Kansas City, Mo.
Founded in 2002, Teague operates a corporate office and millwork operation in Kansas City, and lumbeyards in Grandview and Liberty, Mo., and Bonner Springs, Ks.
Mead president/CEO Dave Anderson said, “Teague Lumber not only gives us our first locations in the state of Missouri, but also gives us a great opportunity to expand into the Kansas City market.”
The business will continue to operate as Teague Lumber Co. with existing staff and management, under the direction of Ron Avery, Kansas City market manager.
BFS RELOCATING TEXAS YARD
Builders FirstSource will relocate its lumberyard/distribution operations in Buda, Tx., to a larger facility in Kyle, Tx.
Construction on the new 47,000sq. ft. building is expected to begin early next year, to be completed by July. Site prep and rail spur work is already underway.
Warehouse Bursting at the Seams?
Sunbelt Rack millwork stack racks are the most cost-effective solution to free up space.
• Designed for doors, windows and more • Simple to assemble and easy to move • Constructed of durable steel • Able to triple your storage capacity • Reduce product damage • Stackable to 3 high
BACK BARS
PLYWOOD DECK (BY CUSTOMER)
44.00 (3’-8”) 89.00 (7’-5”) FORK POCKETS (FRONT, REAR & EACH END) STANDARD SIZE (94 1/2” O.A.H.) LARGE SIZE (111 5/8” O.A.H.)
To see what true efficiency looks like, check out our stack rack video at https://sunbelt-rack.com/stories.
Tibbetts Lumber Co., St.
Petersburg, Fl., acquired the assets of D&M Truss Co., Pensacola, Fl. US LBM opened a Universal
Supply roofing/siding branch in Whippany, N.J.
People’s Do it Center closed
its home center/lumberyard Oct. 31, but will continue operating its rental division and STIHL power equipment sales/service shop.
Interstate + Lakeland
Lumber held a grand opening Nov. 5 at its new two-story, 11,000sq. ft. Design Center, a few doors down from its lumberyard in Westport, Ct.
Rocky’s Ace Hardware has
reopened its Agawam, Ma., store after a near-year-long remodel. 814 Home & Hardware,
Sykesville, Pa., is adding an 18,000sq. ft. True Value hardware store with lumberyard in Brockway, Pa.
Westlake Ace Hardware is acquiring Trails West Ace
Hardware, Gardner, Ks., from Gavin Barmby, owner since 2011. The deal is set to close Jan. 15. Scottdale True Value
Hardware has opened at the former site of Pater True Value, Scottdale, Mi., which closed in June. The new store will be operated by Doug Landers, owner of Landers Hardware, Bangor, Mi., and Wolverine Hardware,
South Haven, Mi., and managed by his son-in-law, Mark Hills.
Ace Hardware is opening a 37,000-sq. ft. store in Princeton, W.V.
Duffy’s Island Hardware,
Peaks Island, Me., closed Oct. 26 after eight years.
Home Depot anticipates it will take at least three years to permit, build and open a planned store in Charlottesville, Va.
Menards has broken ground on a new store site in South Charleston, S.C.
Drexel Building Supply is
merging with 26-year-old door/ millwork supplier McMahon & Co., Jackson, Wi. The deal is set to close Dec. 31.
Culpeper Wood Preservers, Culpeper, Va., has expanded to 17 treating plants with the purchase of H. M. Stauffer & Sons of Leola, Pa.
According to Culpeper president Jonathan Jenkins, “The principles and values of H. M. Stauffer & Sons coincide with what we believe in at Culpeper Wood Preservers. The combination of these two companies strengthens our ability to provide greater value and service to our customers and expands our geographic reach.”
A fourth-generation family business founded in 1890, H.M. Stauffer started as a coal, lumber and feed supplier, expanding to trusses and wall panels in the 1960s. The company added wood-preservation capacities in 1975. In the 1980s, the company added a second component manufacturing location in Myerstown, Pa.
US LBM PURCHASES SOUTHEAST TRUSS PLANTS
US LBM has picked up two more truss plants with its acquisitions of Comtech, Fayetteville, N.C., and Georgia Truss, Gainesville, Ga.
Founded in 1970, Comtech will operate as part of US LBM’s Professional Builders Supply division.
Georgia Truss will operate as part of US LBM’s Brand Vaughan Lumber, which has multiple locations in Georgia, including a floor and roof truss manufacturing facility outside of Atlanta that opened earlier this year.
NATION’S BEST ADDS SC HOME CENTERS
Nation’s Best, Dallas, Tx., has added Palmetto Home Center’s two locations near Charleston, S.C., to its family of businesses.
As part of Nation’s Best’s strategy, Palmetto Home Center will maintain operations under its existing name and leadership, including co-owners Brandt Mitchell and Donnie Canaday, as well as Donnie’s son, Jamie Canaday.
HIXSON NOW CARRYING COMPOSITE LINES
Traditionally a distributor of its own milled and treated wood products, Hixson Lumber Co. is now distributing a third-party non-wood brand: Fiberon.
Hixson, a division of Doman Building Materials, will stock Fiberon composite and PVC decking, railing, fasteners and Wildwood at its Mineola, Tx., location, then forward them to its branches in Magnolia and Plumerville, Ar.; Hattiesburg, Ms.; and Caddo Mills, Carrollton, Houston and Willits, Tx.
According to Hixson president Mark Chatfield, the expansion into such products “is in line with what other Doman divisions, such as California Cascade and Honsador, are doing.”
KODIAK PURCHASES GOODRICH, SUNRISE
Kodiak Building Partners completed two more deals in the East, acquiring century-old Goodrich Lumber, Kingston, Ma., as well as two-unit Sunrise Builders Supply of Mississippi and Tennessee.
Founded in 1906 and long operated by the Goodrich family, Goodrich Lumber changed hands to new ownership in 1993. In 1996, Kevin Medeiros, president of Goodrich Lumber, began working with Goodrich and later purchased the business in 2012. It now includes a 45,000-sq. ft. drive-thru lumberyard, 8,500-sq. ft. store and showroom, and 1,700-sq. ft. millwork shop.
Kodiak will maintain Goodrich Lumber’s existing suppliers, products, management, manufacturing footprint, employees and distribution network.
Led by its president, Charles Thomas, Sunrise was founded in Horn Lake, Ms., in 1996. A second location was added in 2019 in Arlington, Tn.
Kodiak now has over 100 locations in 25 states.
------------| SUPPLIER BRIEFS
Snavely Forest Products opened a new 17-acre,
rail-served distribution center in Gonzales, Tx., to better serve the San Antonio/Austin and southeast Corpus Christi markets. Marshall Owens is GM.
Stella-Jones has completed the purchase of Texas Electric Cooperatives’ wood pole
manufacturing business in Jasper, Tx.—becoming its 43rd treating facility.
Novo Building Products’ Empire Moulding
& Millwork division has opened a 217,000-sq. ft. distribution center in Amherst, N.H.
ABC Supply division Town & Country
Industries has purchased the assets of T&C Sales, Rockledge, Fl.
ABC Supply division L&W Supply added a
branch in Long Island City, N.Y. (Dave Dickerson, mgr.). Huttig Building Products is now distributing
the full line of Fiberon products from its DC’s in Rocky Mount, N.C.; Greenville, S.C.; and Davenport, Jacksonville, Riviera Beach, and Fort Myers, Fl.
Beacon acquired 18-branch specialty waterproofing products distributor Coastal Construction Products, Jacksonville, Fl. Coastal CEO Martin Harrell will stay on to lead Beacon’s new specialty waterproofing division. Beacon also opened branches in Indianapolis, In.; Burnsville, Mn.; Leitchfield, Ky.; and Hampton, Va.
CALI Floors opened its first custom-built distribution center in Summerville, S.C., with additional DCs in the works.
Digger Specialties is now branding its columns as Westbury Columns.
New South Construction Supply, Greenville,
S.C., has acquired 11-unit Malone Steel Corp., Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl.
Arbor Wood Co., Duluth, Mn., thermally modified wood producer, is partnering with wood salvage specialist Cambium Carbon, Washington, D.C., to introduce Carbon Smart Wood, which utilizes wood from urban settings that would otherwise be left to the landfill to create cladding, decking, furniture and more.
National Nail’s Stinger EXO Synthetic Underlayment was recently listed as an acceptable alternative to roofing underlayment by the Texas Department of Insurance.
