Production Process

Notes for highlighted items:

Often sawmills will employ their own dedicated staff to carry out the logging (cutting down of trees), but it is common practice for loggers to be independent of any sawmill. Independent loggers will therefore agree/negotiate a price for the logs upon arrival at the sawmill. This price is known as the �gate-price�.
Only the highest quality logs are reserved for veneer. Veneer production can either be done within the sawmill (if they have the facilities), or the logs can get re-sold on to veneer mills domestically or even overseas.
Typically, American hardwood lumber is graded once after it has been cut from the logs and then again after it has been kiln dried. This is done adhering to the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) Grading Rules. In most cases the highest grades of lumber will be selected for export and will often end up as furniture, flooring, joinery and many interior applications, whilst the middle and lower grades are most often sold in the domestic market and used for numerous furniture and interior applications, as well as railroad ties and pallets.
Sawmills often have their own sales office, which deals with the sale and distribution of its products. But sometimes they may well sell to a �Concentration Yard� which will buy the lumber, green or kiln dried, from one or more sawmills and then deal with drying, grading, packaging and reselling to national and international distributors.
Importers and/or distributors are not always used in the process. Sometimes, if a buyer (for example a large furniture manufacturer) wants to buy a large quantity of hardwood, and can afford to wait longer for it, then it can be more cost-effective for them to buy from the sawmill directly, thus skipping a link in the chain.