TONY HOOPER SAWMILLS

FROM WOODS TOMILLS

By Patrick Dunning

Tennessee’s Hooper operation is wellversed in all facets of the timber products business.

TOONE, Tenn.

The Hooper family and kin are renowned in the Tennessee Valley region for being a friend in each step of the wood harvesting and sawmilling process. Their portable sawmill tradition began almost a century ago with Malcolm The WM4500 model can saw lengths up to 27 ft. and yields additional footage with a 1/16 in. kerf. Hooper, father of Tony Hooper, 64, owner of Tony Hooper Sawmills, Inc., hauling logs in an old pickup truck to his all-manual groundhog diesel sawmill.

Tony has built on his father’s foundation and pursued crosstie markets heavily since the company’s founding in 1970, including the installation in 2018 of a second sawmill company and site, Northside Lumber & Sawmill LLC in Bolivar, Tenn., only seven miles to the south of Toone. Crossties are revered as their bread and butter and for good reason: the area’s Hatchie River bottoms are perfect for large growth and the Hooper sawmills are set up to take advantage of the big logs to produce crossties as well as cants.

Tony’s two sons-in-law manage his sawmills: Blake Sowder at Northside Sawmill & Lumber in Bolivar, and Richard Crowley at Tony Hooper The Hooper’s Wood-Mizer averages 10MBF a day. Sawmill in Toone. Tony Hooper Sawmill operates a Wood-Mizer WM4500 indus- Between the two mills they average way to a finished product.” It’s easier for trial sawmill with vertical bandmill thin- 250MBF weekly. Tony to purchase and select-cut parcels of kerf technology along with a Hurdle head- “Years and years ago a big industry land with his logging crew, and believes rig; while Northside Lumber runs two came here for ties,” Tony recalls. “We landowners get more bang for their buck (two and three head block) Hurdle mills. knew then we like taking a tree all the this way.

“It works better for me to buy land, timber and all, turn around and harvest the wood, then resell the land so somebody can see what their getting.” He owns several thousand acres across Tennessee.

The family dynamic works well for the business. Two of Tony’s nephews oversee hauling procedures from the logging site. His brother-in-law is a foreman, and Tony’s other nephew, Timmy Hooper, is the company’s timber buyer.

Species harvested include: red and white oak, gum, beech, birch, cottonwood and mixed woods. Dimensions of 4x6 Both sawmills weigh gatewood supplied by Tony’s personal logging crew using Weigh-Tronix scales. cants, grade lumber, and random lengths and widths are sold green to Logs are placed on one of two infeed make changes to future models.” cabinet, flooring, furniture and stave mar- decks feeding to either the Hurdle mill or Their Hurdle saw blades have a 1⁄4 in. kets while a portion of the Hooper and the WM4500. kerf and average three to four times more Northside Lumber product mix is dedicat- The Wood-Mizer is regularly used for MBF daily, about 30-35MBF a day. ed to 7x9s and 8x6s for crosstie markets. sawing specialty products with species A pair of Barko 495ML knucklebooms

“We only cut timbers that will make at such as cypress, bridge matting beams fit logs to size and feed a Fulghum deleast a crosstie,” Timmy says. “We don’t and longer lumber up to 27 ft. and cuts barker before going through each mill. cut anything under 14 in. on the stump close to 10MBF a day. Timmy says the After processing, the lumber falls directly and primarily stick to hardwoods.” Wood-Mizer blade’s 1⁄16 in. kerf yields ap- onto the grade chain to be manually gradproximately 33% more product per log. ed while slabs make their way into a 60 MILL OPERATION “It only takes a couple men to run it and in. Fulghum chipper. you’re gaining footage per log.” He also At the Northside operation, John

Tony spends his days on the logging notes how quick the remote Wood-Mizer Deere wheel loaders and a WA200 Kosite, at the sawmill, or in his truck going installation was. “They have their own en- matsu wheel loader transport logs to a to-and-fro. He says people in the area pre- gines and you can set it up on location re- Prentice 3206 knuckeboom to be sorted fer both sawmilling and logging to elimi- ally quick.” Softer woods are typically cut before feeding a Morbark debarker. A nate the middle man. “A lot of mills are using the Wood-Mizer. stationary Barko 295E electric boom dependent on gatewood from other log- Hurdle Machine Works, Inc. manu- stocks two parallel infeed decks leading gers, and loggers are hard to come by so factures Hurdle headrigs about 40 miles through each Hurdle circle saw headrig that’s why we have our own,” he says. from Toone in Moscow. Owner Mr. E.J. before traveling down custom-built roller “We’re in a comfortable niche.” Hurdle was a personal friend to the chains to be manually graded or sent The Hurdle mill setup is under a sepa- Hoopers who helped in many early de- through a Morbark 60 in. chipper. rate roof than the adjacent Wood-Mizer signs. “We’ve been using Hurdle mills Wood-Mizer band saws are sent to a operation at Toone. Loads are scaled on a since we started in the ’70s,” Timmy third-party filer. Blake of Northside Weigh-Tronix then unloaded with 624K- says. “Collaborated together on a lot of learned how to file from an old man who II and 524K John Deere wheel loaders. things; he’d come watch us saw and previously worked with the family for 50

Tony’s daughter Natalie (center), and wife to Blake Sowder, partner at Northside Sawmill & Lumber LLC., with their son, Travis.

Tony Hooper, owner of Tony Hooper Sawmills, Inc., Northside Sawmill & Lumber LLC. Tony’s daughter Mandy, and wife to Richard Crowley, partner at Tony Hooper Sawmills, Inc.

years before going out of business, and now helps with circle saw filing for the company and surrounding sawmills.

MARKETS

“Selling lumber two years ago brought in twice what it brings now,” Tony says of recent red oak depreciation. Effects of the US-China Trade War bleeding into the novel coronavirus pandemic were felt by Northside Lumber.

“Several factories temporarily shut down which impacted our lumber sales,” Sowder adds. Other companies trying to produce minimal board feet effectively overstocked their inventories and marginalized lumber prices. “Another company we sell to just started buying back this month. They wouldn’t take a load from us for three months,” Sowder says. “It’s been pretty rough in some ways but it’s coming around.”

In spite of soft red oak markets, Timmy believes white oak markets are the hottest he’s ever seen. “The white oak market is really hot right now,” he says. “It’s kind of been saving us. We’re staying away from tracts with red oak and buying dense white oak tracts lately.” Tony’s logging crew is traveling

The Hurdle family and the Hoopers have a relationship spanning back to the sawmill’s inception in 1970.

Tony has expanded his reach in the sawmilling industry by adding a stave operation; an entity of Northside Lumber. Northside Lumber was founded in 2018 and increased overall production three to four times with its duo of Hurdle headrigs.

A beehive of John Deere forklifts feed a Barko 495ML knuckleboom before going through a Fulghum rosserhead debarker.

Both mills trend heavy to white oak for crosstie and stave markets.

farther for logs, but the price is right.

Majority of stave and veneer logs go to American Stave Company, Marshall County, Ky. to make stave logs for whiskey barrels. The demand for stave logs is a major reason white oak markets are thriving, leaving the family wondering why there aren’t many instate stave markets.

“There’s barely any stave companies owned or operated in Tennessee,” Timmy says.

To compensate for the gap between consumer and supplier, Tony recently completed installations of a two-line, turnkey stave operation featuring Brewer equipment. The 13,000 sq. ft. facility is attached to Northside Lumber and will begin producing stave logs early next year.

Tony Hooper Sawmill and Northside Lumber sell 7x9, 8x6 crossties, and 10 ft. switch-ties to Classic American Hardwoods Inc., Memphis; Somerville Tie Companies, Holly Springs, Miss.; and Koppers, Inc., Jackson, Tenn.

Lumber is sold green to Ashley’s Furniture manufacturing plant, Ecru, Miss. and flooring company, Bruce Hardwood Flooring, Cape Girardeau, Mo. Local pallet stock companies purchase 4x6 cants.

Tony says that sawmilling has been in their family for generations. “The sawmills are something we’ve always done,” Tony says. “It gives my guys something to do in the winter time so we don’t have to lay them off.”

When it’s cold and wet his crew is producing heavy-duty, 2 in. thick, three-ply mats from mostly cottonwood and used personally or sold to the state.

The Hooper family has created jobs for many families in their rural community; several employees are long-timers. Fifty-five are employed between the two mills with 10 more crew members in the woods.

Both sawmills run four, 10-hour shifts and catch up on maintenance on Friday. TP