NELMA Archives - Page 12 of 15

2014 NELMA Safety Awards Announced

Posted on April 7, 2014 by

NELMA is pleased to announce the 2014 Safety Award winners, honoring the 2013 calendar year lumber manufacturers’ safety performances. The Awards are given in three categories, Planer Operations, Sawmill Operations, and the Combined Operations High-Honor Awards. Each category has multiple Division winners based on total operational man-hours as reported to NELMA.

Congratulation to the following member mills for their outstanding First-Place performances in 2013

Combined Operations (5 Divisions)

Division 1: Brojack Lumber – Scott Township, Pennsylvania
Division 2: Hammond Lumber – Belgrade, Maine
Division 3: Hancock Lumber – Pittsfield, Maine
Division 4: Robbins Lumber – Searsmont, Maine
Division 5: Irving Forest Products – Dixfield, Maine

Sawmill Operations (4 Divisions)

Division 1: Hammond Lumber – Belgrade, Maine
Division 2: Hancock Lumber – Casco, Maine
Division 3: Milan Lumber – Milan, New Hampshire
Division 4: Irving Forest Products – Dixfield, Maine

Planer Operations (5 Divisions)

Division 1: Pleasant River Pine – Hancock, Maine
Division 2: Moose River Lumber – Jackman, Maine
Division 3: Milan Lumber – Milan, New Hampshire
Division 4: Fraser Timber – Masardis, Maine
Division 5: Irving Forest Products – Dixfield, Maine

For a complete list of Safety Award winners and Honorable Mentions, please click here.

Again, congratulations to all our members for an excellent overall safe year at NELMA’s lumber manufacturers!

Eastern White Pine Flooring Options: Choosing a Grade

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Jeff Easterling

When you’re choosing new wood flooring, whether it’s for a single room or a large commercial project, there are a lot of factors to consider. You’ll have the option of solid wood or a manufactured wood product, raw or pre-finished. You also have to choose a wood species, a stain and a plank width, all of which can totally change the overall look, feel and durability of the flooring. But there’s one element to choosing wood flooring that many people overlook: selecting a grade.

All wood species are available in multiple grades. Grades describe certain characteristics found within the wood, and range from industrial grade to finish grade. So what makes one grade more suitable for a certain project than another?

The two top grades outlined by NeLMA for Eastern White Pine are C Select and D Select. C is the highest NeLMA pine grade. While some pieces are clear, most have minor characteristics that don’t affect their quality or appearance, making them excellent for natural or stained finish, fine woodworking or interior trim. While C-Select Eastern White Pine generally has a very fine, smooth finish, D-Select wood has more pronounced characteristics that give it a slightly more rustic look and feel. These two grades are combined by NeLMA into a single grade called D & Better Select.

The other four official grades are Finish, Premium, Standard and Industrial. These grades include varying amounts of certain limiting characteristics including knots, checks, slight knife marks, a bit or raised grain here and there, and a machine burn or two. You’ll get lots of natural color highlights and a very natural look.

For more information about wood grades, including photos, and to find a retailer of Eastern White Pine flooring near you, check out Nelma.org.

NELMA Participates in JLC Live Residential Construction Show

Posted on April 4, 2014 by

Under the banner of Wood, Naturally, NELMA was one of five wood product associations that collectively took part in this year’s JLC Live Residential Construction Show, held March 21 & 22 in Providence, Rhode Island with more than 8,000 in attendance. This popular New England event was the first Softwood Lumber Board (Lumber Check-Off Program) sponsored activity for the North American industry’s “appearance” type wood products, which includes interior pattern products, exterior siding, and outdoor decking. Participating associations included NELMA, the Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA), the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA), the California Redwood Association, and the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (WRCLA) in this unique combo promo.

In addition to having a kiosk within the 25’x25’ prime exhibit space located just outside the entrance doors to the show floor, each Association was permitted to have their respective species’ products incorporated within selected demonstrations and clinics held throughout the 2-day event on the Show floor. Two separate demonstrations were targeted to utilize NELMA’s Eastern White Pine products, both repeated a second time.

Promoted as “Crafting Dramatic Interior Ceilings”, NELMA’s E&CB pattern drew the attention with attendees of the natural beauty and the value-added aspect of the product used in this type of application. The other demonstration was touted as “Installing a High Performance Integrated Siding System”, prominently using Eastern White Pine Bevel Siding within the 1-hour clinic. Both demonstrations were a reunion for NELMA with JLC’s Builder/Presenter Rick Arnold. Rick was the expert used in the Association’s last demonstration and video project at JLC Live in 2011. His how-to videos from that event may be seen on YouTube’s NELMAtv, which provide expert tips and advice that resonate with the truly “hands-on” builder and contractor.

“This SLB-sponsored activity was an excellent first-step in extending the Check-Off program’s funding to support promotional opportunities for appearance-grade lumber and wood products, such as NELMA’s Eastern White Pine,” according to Jeff Easterling (NELMA President). “We would not have been at this event otherwise as it was not a budgeted marketing activity for 2014”.

NELMA would like to extend its gratitude to SFPA’s Eric Gee, who served as coordinator for the jointly-staffed exhibit space which incorporated large images and a continuous video loop of softwood applications on a large-screen monitor within the exhibit. In addition, a special thank you to Alden Robbins of Robbins Lumber for providing the pattern material and transportation of the product to the JLC Live Expo venue.

NELMA Exhibits @ NRLA’s LBM Expo ‘14

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

NELMA’s See the Stamp, Trust the Quality trade show exhibit showcased the Association’s presence at this year’s Lumber and Building Material Expo held February 26-28 at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center. For 33 straight years, NELMA has participated in this annual convention and largest gathering of the northeast region’s lumber retailers, a key audience for marketing the Association’s softwood lumber products. The exhibit provides the opportunity for the Association to distribute important product reference materials and discuss the general marketplace with attendees of the show, in addition to acting as a home-base for the multitude of NELMA members in attendance.

Four reference material items made available at the Expo were popular pick-ups with the retailers, led by our newly-published 2014-2015 Membership Directory. The Pattern Profile Booklet, the all-inclusive northeastern softwood Map, and the Eastern White Pine grades Swatch rounded out the literature line-up. The Swatch in particular has become a popular, must-have by lumber retailers and beyond, as NELMA has distributed 3,515 since its debut in 2008.

Lumber & Timber Grading Outreach in April

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

NELMA will partner with two organizations in April to offer lumber and timber grading overview information in multiple-day workshops. Coming up first will be the Dimension Softwood Lumber Inspection program set for April 2 & 3 at the Northcentral Technical College’s Antigo, Wisconsin campus. This 2-day course will draw individuals from the lumber industry throughout the Great Lakes region and include both classwork and hands-on instructions provided by a trio of NELMA Inspectors; Don Pendergast, Murdock McLeod, and Jason Ostrem.

The following week, NELMA will team up with the Timber Framing Engineering Council on April 7-9 in Washington, Massachusetts to provide 3 days of instruction and hands-on grading of full-size structural timbers at their Timber Grading Training Course. NELMA’s Matt Pomeroy and Don Pendergast will provide the grading expertise during this workshop.

“Both of these events provide NELMA with the opportunity to convey the importance of lumber and timber grading to an extended audience, while solidifying the Association’s role as the expert authority on grading”, stated Jeff Easterling, NELMA President. “We look forward to working with additional lumber and timber related industry groups in the future to further extend our grading educational outreach.”

2014-2015 NELMA Membership Directory Now Available

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

The newly-updated NELMA Membership Directory is now available for distribution. This handy reference tool is designed for use by current and potential customers of the products and services provided by the members of NELMA. It continues in its small booklet, spiral-bound, one-page per member format, and is divided into the following categories:

• Lumber Manufacturers (alphabetical by state)

• Secondary Wood Products Manufacturers (alphabetical)

• Lumber Wholesalers (alphabetical)

• Industrial Equipment Manufacturers (alphabetical)

• Industrial Services Providers (alphabetical)

These directories connect potential buyers with manufacturing and affiliated members of the Association and are distributed at trade shows and via mail request throughout the year. The Directory had its typical debut at the recently held LBM Expo in Boston for lumber retailers.

This information is increasingly being accessed by customers on NELMA’s website under our “Member Locator” sector, where information is continually revised as necessary to ensure that the absolute most current member information is viewable. With this change to more online searching, the Directory will now be a bi-annual printing.

Copies will be mailed to NELMA’s members soon, with additional copies availble by contacting NELMA, via phone (207-829-6901), fax (207-829-4293), or email (info@www.nelma.org).