Deer Park Lumber Inc., Tunkhannock, PA, produces kiln-dried Northern Appalachian hardwood lumber. Hardwoods including Red and White Oak, Cherry, Ash, Hard and Soft Maple, Birch and Poplar are available in 4/4 through 8/4 thicknesses.
Deer Park Lumber Inc. Upgrades For The Future
By Paul Miller Jr.
Tunkhannock, PA—Deer Park Lumber Inc., based here, produces kiln-dried Northern Appalachian hardwood lumber. Hardwoods including Red and White Oak, Cherry, Ash, Hard and Soft Maple, Birch and Poplar are available in 4/4 through 8/4 thicknesses.
The lumber producer ships globally and offers customer pickup at the mill, flatbed delivery and/or container loading for both railcars and export shipping.“We’re marketing to distribution yards and direct to furniture and kitchen cabinet manufacturers both internationally and domestically,” said Joe Zona president of international sales and domestic sales representative. “We’re shipping into China, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, mostly in Pacific Rim countries.”
Striving to continue to provide the highest quality hardwoods, the company recently made upgrades to several areas of their production process. “We upgraded our scanning system on the head saw with a USNR G3 software upgrade,” Zona said. “We also made upgrades to our edger with the USNR M6 scanning software. Two of our kilns have new American Wood Dryers controls and we’ve added several items to our rolling stock, including a new Taylor Machine Works forklift.”
Deer Park’s sales team (L to R): Cam Koons, Joe Zona and Steve Fox.
“We are constantly looking to improve and stay on top of an ever-changing global market,” he continued. “We understand that ownership of forest property brings with it many rewards and responsibilities, which is why we have a staff of professional foresters to help from the beginning to the end. Many other changes and updates have been made at Deer Park Lumber, including the addition of a new log truck for picking up roadside purchased logs, and steam heat has been added to the grading station building. Steam heat is now generated by our boiler to our grading station to add to the comfort level of that building in the colder months,” Zona noted.
The company also added two new employees to its forestry staff. Paul Reining and Anthony Juser are now on board to assist with log purchasing. In 2011 Deer Park Lumber added a forestry division that helps individuals make informed decisions where their timber tracts are concerned, thereby preventing needless damage to forestry resources.
“We take steps at Deer Park to ensure we offer the best quality we can. It begins with our logs,” added Steve Fox, sales manager. “We rotate the inventory as quick as we can, but we have a generous log supply and the heat is on in the summer so we use the black Shade-Dri®. Black actually reduces the heat by 10 to 15 degrees in a log pile, which stops checking and staining. We also use U•C Coatings Corporation’s Anchorseal® on the lumber to wax and seal, and as we’re drying it we use 8-inch concrete rooftops that run through the drying process to keep the lumber flat. This is especially important for the top packages, the bottom packages get weight from all the other packages. The ones on top don’t have any weight unless we put these rooftops on them.
This is partial view of kiln-dried lumber stored in the firm’s warehouse.
“In the manufacturing process we also have our lumber cut 2-inches over for 8 footers, 2 1/2 inches for 10’s, 3-inches for 12 footers, 3-1/2 for 14-footers and 4-inches in the final product for 16-footers,” he continued. “This offers the customer more trim length if they need it, or more yield, which is very important today.”
Deer Park Lumber has a total dry kiln capacity of 410,000 board feet and an annual production of approximately 12 million board feet. The average lumber inventory available is 2.5 million board feet. Log inventory is approximately 800-950,000 board feet to allow about a three-week turnaround, preventing defects and staining in log form. The kiln-dried warehouse will hold about 3.5 million board feet.
The Deer Park Lumber Construction Company purchased D & K Lumber Co. in August of 1972. The partnership incorporated in 1978 and became Deer Park Lumber Inc. By 1982 the firm was purchased by Ronald Andrews, who, according to the company’s website, would forever change the dynamics of the operation by leading the way for it to become the prosperous business it is today.
At the firm’s air drying yard 6-inch steel rod reinforced cement tops are placed on the lumber, which follows the lumber through into the kilns keeping the top two layers from twisting and warping.
Andrews and his family manage the business by promoting self-growth, customer service, harvesting quality timber, which in turn enables Deer Park to produce quality lumber. Because of his dedication to sustainable forestry for both the state of Pennsylvania and the rest of the country, Andrews purchased and donated a truck and trailer for the WoodMobile, which travels Pennsylvania as an educational exhibit. This exhibit is displayed at schools and county fairs where people can learn about the forest and how it plays a part in our everyday lives.
Organizing and participating in several Cameron County Outdoor Youth Activities that focus on sustainable forestry and protecting the environment, Deer Park Lumber is involved in educating youth on a large scope.
Deer Park Lumber Inc. is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Penn-York Lumbermen’s Club, Keystone Wood Products Association, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association and Northern Tier Hardwood Association. For more information visit www.deerparklumberinc.com.
The lumber producer ships globally and offers customer pickup at the mill, flatbed delivery and/or container loading for both railcars and export shipping.
