Woodland, PA — Forcey Lumber Company, located here, is a fourth generation, family-owned concentration yard and veneer manufacturer that purchases approximately three million board feet of Hardwood annually.
Forcey Lumber is an FSC-certified business that has prided itself in consistency and quality now for 75 years. “Load after load is the same, and we are proud of that,” said company President Brant Forcey. “Another thing, too, from a quality standpoint is that our Red Oak product is a true Northern Red Oak product. We are sourcing only the Northern Red Oak species.”
The business began with Brant’s and Ross’ great-grandfather, Maxwell Forcey Sr. in 1946. Brant’s and Ross’ grandfather, Maxwell Forcey Jr., was a sawmiller while their father, Terry Forcey, started the concentration yard aspect of the business as it exists today.
Brant and his brother/company Vice President, Ross Forcey, have worked for the company under their father since 1988. “The three of us, my brother, Ross, myself, and my father, Terry, started the veneer operation to run side-by-side with the concentration yard,” Brant said. The Forcey brothers acquired ownership of the company from their father in 2019.
Forcey Lumber employs 25 people, with 15 working at the veneer plant and 11 at the lumber yard. The lumber yard operates on 11 acres and has 100,000 board feet of kiln capacity. The company’s veneer operation operates in a nearby town, Clearfield.
“It is in the Clearfield Industrial Park,” Brant said. “It is more of a factory-type atmosphere in a 100×200 building where we have two Marunaka Veneer Slicers and an Omeco Dryer to dry the veneer, which is a totally separate facility.”
Recently, Forcey Lumber expanded its operations with a new 20,000 square foot warehouse and manufacturing facility. The company added equipment including an additional furniture splicer, a Capital end-clipper, two Savi jointers and a Monguzzi double knife jointer. “This is all to better service the growing markets in cut-to-size veneers,” Brant Forcey stated.
For its veneer business, Forcey Lumber processes domestic species sourced from the region, as well as Canada.
“We do all the species native to Pennsylvania,” Brant said. Forcey Lumber also manufactures veneers from Eastern white pine and Western Red Alder.
The company’s veneers have been used in projects commissioned for General Motors and McDonald’s Corp.
Although veneers are the heart of Forcey Lumber’s operation, the family name has a longer history in the lumber business. The company operates a concentration yard that buys green lumber from local mills within a 50-mile radius of the Woodland facility.
Forcey Lumber’s Woodland facility uses Breeze Dried™ sticks to keep its lumber flat while drying. The company offers lumber and uses stock in thicknesses between 4/4 and 8/4 available in No. 1 Common and Better. Forcey runs its own planing facility capable of S2S and S4S with a four-sided Pinheiro planer and uses U-C Coatings products for end-waxing to help prevent end splits and checking on their lumber while air drying and stain treatment.
“Everything that we run through our system is green,” Brant said. “This helps keep our quality and what our standard needs to be. Currently, there are no loads of lumber or veneer that go out of our facilities that aren’t produced by our people and with our equipment.
“Probably our proudest point is our relationship with our mills,” Brant said. “We are on a first name basis with many people.”
As a tight-knit family company, the Forcey brothers continue to consult with their father for the future of the company and have maintained the business relationships that succeeded them. “That is why you see so many of these lumber businesses that are named in sons and there are generations, because there is more than a lifetime of experience needed to operate one of these companies,” Brant said.
Forcey Lumber moves its products through an independent carrier to distributors that serve the flooring, furniture, cabinetry and millwork industries throughout the nation, as well as some international countries like China and Vietnam. “We have been loading containers and exporting lumber since the mid 1980s through North American exporters; however, we export directly now,” Brant said. The company provides mixed loads with multiple products and species on a truck or in a container for export.
The Forcey brothers operate the business with sustainability and conservation in mind, with the team reportedly asking itself questions such as “Are we doing the right thing? Are we responsible? Are we operating sustainably?”
Brant said that the company has been a responsible conservationist for many years and is FSC certified and a supporter of The Real American Hardwood Coalition. Brant has been vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association for eight years and is currently serving on the board of National Hardwood Lumber Association. Ross is a board member of the Hardwood Forestry Fund.
Brant graduated from NHLA school in 1988 while Ross obtained a Forestry degree from the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA in 1995.
Forcey Lumber is a member of the Penn-York Lumbermen’s Club, Pennsylvania Forest Products Association, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, Wood Products Manufacturers Association, NHLA and the American Hardwood Export Council.
To learn more about Forcey Lumber, visit www.forceylumber.com.
