Lumber Quality
At Associated Hardwoods, it’s our goal to produce the highest quality kiln-dried lumber on the market. Whether we are buying green lumber, or producing it in-house at our automated sawmill, we keep craftsmanship at the forefront of everything we do. Our team is intentional about each step of the process, which starts in the forest and ventures all the way to the finished product.
Check out the below for more detail on each step in our lumber processing:
The Sourcing Process
Lumber is a lot like wine — different types of grapes grow in various geographical areas, and the same general concept applies to timber. Our NHLA-Trained Purchasing Team knows precisely where on the Eastern Seaboard to source the highest quality lumber.
These experienced buyers travel the Appalachian forest in search of the finest of hardwood lumber, and don’t stop until they deliver on both quality and quantity. By having long-established relationships with the top sawmills, they consistently deliver – time and time again.
The Buying Process
When buying standing timber, we purchase the entire forest which ensures the best logs are not sold for staves, veneer or export. This protects our customers from having limited access to the leftover materials.
Our white-glove customer experience provides you priority access to the best lumber on the market.
Don’t just take our word for it – as members of the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA), the experts at Associated Hardwoods abide by rigorous rules and regulations. This ensures we are delivering on two of our most important priorities:
1) We are handling our greatest natural resource with sustainable practices, and
2) We are providing increased profitability for our customers.
The Procuring Process
When the lumber arrives from our sawmill or procurement team, we expertly grade to make sure you’re getting the best possible result. We check—and double-check—to make sure we executed flawlessly.
Robotic stick laying, computer-controlled fan sheds, and dry kilns all help to ensure slow, gentle drying for superior lumber quality. Long-term storage happens in our climate-controlled warehouses to protect the lumber from moisture and weather damage.
The Quality and Quantity Guarantee
At Associated, it is our goal to always keep stock on-hand so that we never have to say “no".
Our teams is dedicated to making sure we offer exactly what you’re looking for – in both sufficient quality and quantity.
Some of our best practices include:
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NHLA-certified graders examine every board for QA purposes.
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Lumber is perfectly stacked with robotically-laid sticks. Through automation, this process allows us to precisely lay sticks every foot, which results in the flattest lumber possible.
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Our higher-end products are never exposed to the elements, like sunlight or rain. Thanks to the computer-controlled fan sheds and dry kilns, our lumber is protected from the environment’s damaging effects.
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Heated warehouses are leveraged for long-term storage. This prevents moisture from going back into the lumber, and is an essential step in our process, as it prevents the need to re-dry lumber after storage
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When it comes to drying lumber, there is definitely a perfect way to do so. Our kilns help ensure gentle and slow drying for superior lumber quality through a state-of-the-art computerized weight-based system. This weight-based drying allows us to monitor the exact moisture content of the wood throughout the process.