Missouri Walnut: Delivering Superior White Oak And Walnut Lumber
“We have a world class facility and the capabilities to develop more secondary White Oak and Walnut products to meet the needs of our customers globally. We listen to our customers’ demands carefully and want to provide them with their exact needs.” – Alan Gong, CEO, Missouri Walnut LLC
SII Dry Kilns
From humble beginnings, nearly 30 years ago, Hong Hong Chen founded Missouri Walnut LLC, starting with one sawmill, that eventually grew to five small mills with enough drying capacity to accommodate their Walnut production. “However, today nearly three decades later the company is no longer a primary producer, but a partner to over 200 sawmills operating a world class, state of the art, concentration yard in Neosho, MO and laser focused on providing not only Walnut, but White Oak as well,” said Alan Gong, CEO.
With 30 years of experience and knowledge working with Walnut, which makes up only three percent of the forest, it is well known that it is highly sought after by the most discerning buyers throughout North America and around the globe. “So Missouri Walnut decided nine years ago to use their experience and knowledge by also supplying White Oak, which too is a prized species among high end woodworkers, distribution yards, furniture, flooring and cabinet manufacturers, millwork and moulding plants, and other appearance grade manufacturers around the world,” said Gong. “We realized our customers buying our Walnut were also buying White Oak.”
CEO Alan Gong and GM Mike McCormack
“As mentioned, we work closely with about 200 sawmills that supply the White Oak and Walnut for our concentration yard,” said Mike McCormack who is the general manager. The company produces their high-quality White Oak primarily from Indiana and Pennsylvania because of the consistency in color, texture and grain pattern that comes from that region. “We purchase from green sawmills and mills with dry kilns that dry 4/4 and 5/4, but don’t have the drying capacity to dry No. 2 and Better 6/4, 8/4 and 10/4 that we buy all the time,” said McCormack.
“These mills we have relationships with are quality conscious operations that we have helped their business grow and in turn they have helped us grow our business,” said Gong.
“The green White Oak we purchase is tarped before leaving the mill, which we pay for, to prevent surface checking enroute to Neosho to be processed. Once it arrives, within a short period of time, it is graded and put on uniform aluminum sticks, dipped to keep mold and fungus from growing on the lumber which keeps the product fresh and bright, and waxed to help prevent end splits. The lumber is then moved to a covered air-drying yard with a mesh material, called Shade-Dri, that extends the length of the covered air-dry building, and from the top to the ground below to slow down the air flow which provides a consistent air-drying environment to a targeted moisture content before going into the dry kilns. We take great measures to ensure our customers receive the highest quality product possible that mother nature provides us,” said Gong.
Mixed Truck Load of Walnut, White Oak plain sawn, Rift & Quartered
The Northern No. 2 Common and Better White Oak supplied on a continuous basis is 4/4 -8/4 in a variety of ways to meet the customers’ needs. “For example, we are seeing more and more demand for width sorts, which we are able to provide in 1-inch increments starting with 5-6-inch, 6-7-inch, 7-8-inch, 8-10-inch, and 10-inch and wider again in 4/4-8/4. Furthermore, we are able to provide Rift and Quartered with the majority of these products being 5-inch and wider in 4/4-8/4 thickness in FAS grade. We can deliver Rift only or Quartered only in FAS. Because we are buying over 15 million feet of White Oak a year, it allows us the opportunity to provide highly specialized products to our distribution yard customers that we serve directly and to their customers that we serve indirectly! We do not compete with our distribution yard customers that provide a service and a function we cannot provide,” Gong said.
Missouri Walnut Facility Aerial Overview in Neosho, MO
In Black Walnut the company is marketing No. 2 Common and Better 4/4-12/4 plain sawn, Rift and Quartered, and a proprietary grade known as Superior Walnut. Superior is 6-inch and wider and heavy 7-10-inch with the vast majority being FAS2F boards. The product is square edged on ends. The 4/4 is (90/70), 5/4 (90/70), 6/4, 8/4, 10/4 and 12/4. “The company produces over 15 million board feet of Black Walnut a year, so we can accommodate our distribution yard partnerships with the product and programs to meet their specific needs,” said Gong.
All the No. 2 Common and Better White Oak and Walnut purchased is graded before and after drying. It can be graded a third time when the lumber is surfaced through the Newman 382 Planer. The company is a NHLA grade certified member and lumber is available in full units, half packs and quarter packs.
TS Manufacturing Lumber Handling Line
The facility sits on 150 acres and currently utilizes approximately 60 acres. The firm has over 300,000 square feet of warehouse space with an average inventory on hand between 10 to 11 million board feet of White Oak and Walnut, processing 30 million feet a year. “We are working on pouring concrete and expanding our drying capacity for thick stock White Oak, by adding 12 SII dry kilns and an additional boiler by the fall of 2026. This will give us the ability to dry and condition over seven million board feet a month to a targeted moisture content between six percent to eight percent with 52 SII dry kilns powered by three Hurst 600 HP boilers and the SII Walnut steamers to accommodate their Walnut production,” Gong said. To efficiently handle the production requirements, the company chose TS Manufacturing to put in a turnkey material handling system that can process more than three million feet of lumber a month with a production capacity beyond that. There are four grading stations on this line and once it is graded the lumber passes through a grade mark reader and from there that information goes to the USNR scanner and optimizer. The USNR lumber scanner and optimizer translates the grade, length, thickness, and width of every board as it moves through the double end trimmer and is scanned again for length before the product is dropped in one of 96 bins on the sorting system. Once the bin is full the lumber is dropped and transferred to the stacker and the Accu Stick Placer that places the stick every 12 inches.
White Oak on Aluminum Sticks with end waxed
The sales team consists of Steve Arnold, domestic sales manager, with over 20 years of experience, who oversees the North American market. He is also the representative for the Southern California market. Anthony Moody takes care of TX, GA, FL and AR. Greg Stascavage, handles NE, NY, PA, VA and NC. Larry Ellison covers LA, MS, TN, SC and Northern FL. Joe Jones markets the lumber in Northern CA, WA, OR and the Rocky Mountain states, such as UT, CO, as well as IL and IN. Rodrique Guerra, is the sales rep for South America and Mexico. Lastly, is William Quan who is the export sales manager.
“We have three strategic locations to expedite our lumber from Chino, CA, Mercersburg, PA and our headquarters in Neosho, MO. We keep about a million board feet of lumber in both Chino, CA and Mercersburg, PA,” said Mike McCormack.
White Oak and Walnut KD Inventory
USNR 3D Lumber Scanner
In closing Gong said, “We have a world class facility and the capabilities to develop more secondary White Oak and Walnut products to meet the needs of our customers globally. We listen to our customers’ demands carefully and want to provide them with their exact needs!”
Missouri Walnut is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, the American Hardwood Export Council, the American Walnut Manufacturers Association, the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, the Missouri Forest Products Association, the Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Inc., the Kentucky Forest Industries Association, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association and the National Wood Flooring Association.
For more information, Missouri Walnut LLC can be reached from their website missouriwalnutgroup.com.
