MoPac Lumber Company: The Gold Standard In Walnut For Four Generations
“We rely on the distributors to handle and satisfy these smaller customers that are bringing beautiful high end, luxury products into the market.” – Bucky Pescaglia, former president, Missouri Pacific Lumber Company
Shown here is the Pescaglia family. From left to right is Vince Pescaglia, Bucky Pescaglia, Ryan Pescaglia, K.C. Pescaglia and Tony Pescaglia.
Missouri-Pacific Lumber Company (MoPac), located in Fayette, MO, originally Pekin Hardwood Lumber Company, was founded by Louis Pescaglia and his eldest son, Jim, in the 1960s.
“At first, we cut every species that was in the forest and processed it into dunnage material. My dad, Jim, shifted the direction of our business, allowing us to become one of the largest suppliers to the furniture manufacturers in the state of Illinois,” said Bucky Pescaglia, former president of MoPac, and third generation. “And as our family and company grew, we decided to focus on a niche market, allowing us to be a premier source for one specific product that clients could rely on.”
When the company moved to Missouri in 1980 and officially became MoPac, they sat on 36 acres of land situated in the river bottoms. In 1993 they experienced a flood that cost them half of their inventory, left their sawmill under 14 feet of water and their office under nine.
Pictured is Bucky Pescaglia, former president of MoPac.
“We learned an expensive lesson because not only was everything packed in mud after the flood, but we didn’t have any flood insurance because we thought we were safe being two and a half miles from the river,” Bucky remembered. “We found 50 acres up on a hill that was surrounded by beautiful Walnut timber, and this is where we have been ever since.” The company designed the original buildings with plenty of space in between each so that when they needed to grow and expand the growing pains were minimal.
As the company has continued to grow over the years, they have brought in the fourth generation. “I have been with my family’s company for nearly 50 years, and I have been very fortunate to have been a part of this incredible industry and to call so many of my peers family,” Bucky said. “But it is time that I let the next generation fully take on the family business, as I step back and take time for my wife and I.” Bucky will remain on as a consultant over the next few years to ensure that the wealth of knowledge that he has gained is passed down to the next generation.
Pictured here, from left to right, is Justin Wells, head saw filer, Ryan Pescaglia, president, and Scott Schrader head sawyer.
Ryan Pescaglia, who has been with the company for 27 years, is now president of the company. Tony Pescaglia is vice president, Vince Pescaglia is secretary and KC Pescaglia is treasurer. “Vince has served the company as our yard foreman, and Tony has been the sales manager. KC, who is a CPA, recently joined us and is learning everything from the ground up. He is actually outside right now stacking lumber,” Bucky remarked.
“We are heavily invested in Walnut with 95 percent of that being what we produce,” noted Tony. “We also produce Silver Leaf Soft Maple, Aromatic Red Cedar, Red and White Oak.” MoPac takes great pride in the quality and consistency of their products, as this is what has allowed them to be the go-to Walnut manufacturer for so many distributors around the world.
Pictured here, from left to right, is Monica Schaefer, bookkeeper, and Lori Kopp, logistics manager.
“One of the specialty products that we are able to offer that others can’t is Face and Better Walnut in 10” and wider and 13” and wider,” Tony said. “We also offer Walnut and Soft Maple in thicknesses of 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4 and 16/4. We can offer our Aromatic Cedar in thicknesses of 4/4, 5/4, 6/4 and 8/4.
“We also have a superior product coming out of the three sides clear veneer logs that we are able to harvest from the surrounding timberlands. Instead of selling these logs to the veneer plants like we used to, we saw these separately from our normal lumber logs. This superior quality lumber is marketed as 3SV,” Tony continued.
MoPac sells to a variety of customers including distribution centers, flooring and furniture manufacturers, as well as more niche customers such as plaque and gun stock manufacturers.
Adhering to the NHLA grades, MoPac has a grader, like Ayden Richardson here, stand over every piece of lumber that comes through the sawmill.
“Walnut is such a specialty product, so if it is going into a hotel, office, house or what have you, they likely aren’t going to need a full truckload of lumber for the entire project. This is where our relationships with our clients is crucial,” Bucky stated. “We rely on the distributors to handle and satisfy these smaller customers that are bringing beautiful high end, luxury products into the market.”
One of the key aspects that MoPac focuses on to help maintain their strong relationships with their clients is continuously providing a consistently high-quality product across the board. “We buy all of our logs from a relatively small radius around our mill. This ensures that we are bringing in logs with the same color, texture and growth rings so that we can give them that consistent product time and again,” Bucky explained.
MoPac operates a Crosby double end trim saw. This is a pictured their Corley carriage and McDonough band saw.
Due to the careful attention to detail that MoPac puts into their products, their product has gone into the Moynihan Train Hall in New York’s Penn Station, as well as custom built desks for presidents and several high-profile U.S. military leaders’ offices.
MoPac ships their products to over 40 different countries. “Walnut is sought after worldwide, and it really only grows in America. This has shaped our overall sales into the export market to be roughly 60 percent of our overall business,” Bucky noted. “Our biggest market is Europe, with some pretty big clients based in Germany. We also do a lot of business in Asia, specifically Vietnam, South Korea, China and Japan.”
Utilizing American Wood Dryers dry kilns, MoPac has a drying capacity of 600,000 board feet.
It’s not just the selectiveness of where the logs are harvested that has MoPac providing their client base with superior products, but it is the way in which they grade their lumber. Adhering to the NHLA grades, a grader stands over every piece of lumber that comes through the sawmill. All green lumber is end waxed to help prevent the ends from splitting. Once the lumber is dry it is separated and end trimmed if needed, due to splitting.
MoPac runs a Cleereman Debarker and recently replaced all the auxiliary pumps that run in and out of it. They recently put in a new MDI metal detector, as well as a Corley Carriage, Tyrone hydraulic feed, and Lewis Controls Redi-Scan II. They also operate a McDonough headrig, and a Crosby double end trim saw. They are in the midst of installing a Cleereman optimizing edger. The dry kilns are American Wood Dryers with a drying capacity of 600,000 board feet.
MoPac produces 18,000 board feet of Walnut every day.
“We currently have an inventory of about a million board feet and this can range all the way up to 2 million depending on the markets,” stated Ryan. MoPac produces close to 100,000 board feet of lumber a week, with up to 18,000 board feet of Walnut a day.
Missouri-Pacific Lumber Company is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, of which Bucky is the Chairman, the Missouri Forest Products Association, Ryan serves on their board, the Hardwood Manufacturers Association, the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association and the American Hardwood Export Council.
For more information, visit mopaclumber.com.
