Posted on 07/02/2025 8:45:34 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Weyerhaeuser has broken ground on a $500 million plant in Arkansas to produce engineered lumber from the small trees that have piled up across the pine belt after the closure of many pulp and paper mills.
It is a big bet on one of the most depressed commodities in America: pine trees that are too small, crooked or otherwise unfit for making lumber. The decline of pulp and paper mills has left some timberland owners with wood they can’t sell.
Several ventures have sought to capitalize on the pulpwood glut, including burning it to generate electricity—locally and abroad—and manufacturing oriented strand board, a type of wood panel known as OSB.
Weyerhaeuser’s plant will be largely heated and powered by burning bark, branches and sawdust, but its gambit is more like making OSB.
The factory near Monticello, Ark., will produce TimberStrand, a laminated strand lumber made by pressing together and gluing thin slices of wood. It is stronger and stays straighter than regular lumber and is used for headers and footers and to frame tall walls, and for studs that hold up cabinets and heavy tile.
Weyerhaeuser and others currently make laminated strand lumber with low-value hardwood, such as aspen and birch. Weyerhaeuser has a facility in Ontario, Canada, that is perpetually sold out. Chief Executive Devin Stockfish said Weyerhaeuser figured out how to use Southern yellow pine.
Stockfish said he expects the Arkansas plant to sell out its 10 million cubic feet of annual production once it opens in 2027 and to annually generate about $100 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Pulpwood prices have plunged since the digital age closed the book on paper demand. Although Americans are consuming more cardboard than ever, new domestic mills are fed with recycled boxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at us.atoshipping.com ...
How long would it take for those trees to grow back? Around here, it takes about 17 years from seedling to a pulpwood cut and 25 years for a sawlog cut. Barring any droughts.
So that explains the bear commercials...
Cardboard is now the largest percentage of the “Trash Stream” for all municipalities.
My town has two dumpster/containers just for Cardboard. One dumpster/container for everything else.
Grand Prairie, AB is still running.
As is Weyco’s other mill in Alberta.
However, they have agreed to sell the Princeton, BC mill to Gorman Brothers Sawmills. Who was their largest customer for that sawmill. Gorman makes 1” boards primarily.
Weyco also operates Raymond & Longview, WA as dimension mills producing KD and green Douglas Fir dimension.
Plus Cottage Grove, OR which is more of a timber/cutting sawmill.
Then they have multiple mills in the southeast and south central USA making Southern Yellow Pine dimension lumber.
They also have multiple OSB mills.
They are also the largest private land owner in the state of Washington.
It's not too bad with Red Hot and Chipolte {after you soak it in bourbon}.
It can cause cramps and should not be consumed if you are pregnant.
LOL...nice one.
I am not sure where in WA state you are referring to. I am buying lumber from several mills in WA, ID, OR. MT.
The main thing in the lumber industry is consolidation. Especially in the last ten years.
Whether it is in Canada, US, Europe.
West Fraser, Canfor, Interfor, Mercer, Binder, Weyerheauser, Sierra Pacific, Stimson, Idaho Forest Group, Potlatch/Deltic, Resolute, Lebel, Schwaiger, GP, Western Forest Products, Teal Jones, Dunkley, etc.
All of these saw milling corporations have gotten larger. Either by building new sawmills in the southern USA or buying out the smaller mills.
I have been a lumber broker for 40 years. I can not even begin to name the mills that have gone out of business. Some because of restrictions/reductions in public timber. Many just because they did not reinvest to make their operations more efficient. Therefore, they were not making any money when bigger mills were. Enabling the larger mill to pay more for the timber than they could.
In MT there were 25 sawmills at one point. Now there are FOUR. FH Stoltz in Columbia Falls, Weyco in Kalispell, Sun Mtn in Deer Lodge and Livingston. All the others went out of business because the lack of public timber being sold by the government. Federal and state. The last three used to be owned by other companies when there were built.
In WA Western Forest products sawmill at Columbia Vista just burned two days ago. This was a Douglas Fir cutting mill that made a lot of export metric sized timbers. The Japanese export market is really depressed. So, it is questionable whether they will rebuild.
Woodgrain just announced the closure of their Pilot Rock, OR sawmill a few days ago. This was an old line mill that Woodgrain purchased from Boise Cascade seven years ago along with two a mill in La Grande, OR and Emmett, ID.
My understanding is they will increase their production at La Grande. Woodgrain is the largest producer of solid wood doors. They also make windows and other mill work. They also bought Huddig distribution a few years back.
So, Woodgrain is a vertically integrated privately held corp.
So, to sum up. The big mills keep getting bigger and buying up the smaller mills or forcing them to close. Just like the game of MONOPOLY.
No idea. Dad was a forestry major and would know, but he’s gone to Valhalla.
Bronze star, Legion of Merit, air medals, EIB.
I I know softwoods like conifers grow faster than deciduous/ hardwoods.
I’ve never been a fan of particle board. They tried renaming it OSB and now it looks like a new rebranding to Laminated Strand Lumber. But the can’t fool me. It’s still particle board.
Pre-curved boards from Home Depot - great for home boat building.
Particle Board is not the same as either OSB or Laminated Strand Lumber.
Particle board was made with sawdust and an Interior glue.
It was made to be the core of furniture, like a table top.
OSB and Laminated Strand Lumber is formed into multiple layers with larger wood chips and a WATERPROOF EXTERIOR GLUE. Which is why mills like Huber can offer a 50 years warranty on their Advantac underlayerment.
The adhesives holding together the wood is very expensive.
There are many wood products like finger joint lumber that use a glue similar to Gorilla Glue. It is very expensive and
will never come apart. The bond is stronger than the wood itself.
All of these products are made to be more dimensionaly stable than solid wood. The LMS Studs are used in a lot of high end houses especially in the walls in the kitchen where they are going to mount kitchen cabinets. That way the walls are perfectly straight and plumb. It makes the cabinet installation much easier.
Trees in the Southeast/South Central USA grow quicker to a mechantible size than any other area of the world. Other than the Amazon.
Which is why every major sawmill corporation has built or bought Southern Yellow Pine sawmills from VA to TX, AR in the last thirty years.
The production of Southern Yellow Pine lumber is also the least expensive wood fiber in the world. This is why all the big corporations continue to build now primarily in MS & LA.
Then close mills in Europe, British Columbia and even South Carolina/NC.
Canfor just announced the closure last week of two mills in SC that they bought about twenty years ago.
In most of the colder areas of the Northern Hemisphere it takes 60-80 years to grow a tree to harvestible size.
The farther you go north, the shorter the growing season.
Politics also has a lot to do with where mills are built and trees are cut. The USA has a Countervailing Duty and an Anti Dumping Duty on all lumber coming from Canada. The amounts of those are both scheduled to go up again this summer.
This will make lumber in the USA more expensive on average.
Prior to Russia invading the Ukraine there was a lot of timber coming out of western Russia and going to mills in Germany, Sweden, the Balics, etc. That is because Russia has OLD GROWTH Spruce timber. Literally the nicest in the world.
All the mills in Europe were buying it because it was better and cheaper than timber from their own countries.
My company was importing Russian lumber mostly in the form of 1x4 & 1x6 high grade boards. As soon as Russia invaded they put a 30% tariff and a lot of companies would not buy it for political reasons.
Do you happen to know how many mills are still running in East Texas? When I did a cut about four years ago, they were hauling the logs to Camden, I believe. 70 miles away. Some of the hardwood went elsewhere.
Those are called rainbow boards and are for the LGBQT+ crowd. I have no idea what they do with them.
Good the Weyerhaeuser is investing in conservation fewer forset fires if many more would do the same.
Small brush burns first and fast.
I just asked one of the SYP traders. He said there are only about six left. We deal with three of them.
Thanks, Butch. So OSB can last quite a while exposed to rain? The reason I ask is that I am currently building a home and the decking has some exposed spots where the underlayment has blown off due to storms. It has been rained on multiple times since March. The builder says it is “fine”. He says the roofers will check it and replace what is rotten.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.