Durgin & Crowell Lumber Co. Inc.: Manufacturing High Quality Eastern White Pine
Bryan Darrah has been a Sales Representative at Durgin & Crowell Lumber Co. Inc., an Eastern White Pine sawmill located in Springfield, NH. Darrah is also responsible for scheduling production for the planer mill and seeing orders through to completion.
Since its founding in 1976, Durgin & Crowell has grown to become one of New England’s largest manufacturers of kiln-dried Eastern White Pine lumber, annually producing up to 31 million board feet of 4/4 stock. The company produces all NELMA grades and patterns and sells its products FOB mill.
According to Darrah, the sales team at Durgin & Crowell is very hands on throughout the entire lumber-manufacturing process from taking the purchase order until the load is strapped to the truck bed. He is proud to be part of such a dedicated team for nearly five years.
When Darrah is not working, he enjoys golfing, kayaking and enjoying hand rolled cigars. In the wintertime, he enjoys snow-shoeing and skiing with his nephews.
Durgin & Crowell is a member of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association and the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association.
For more information about Durgin & Crowell, visit www.durginandcrowell.com.
Vaagen Brothers Lumber: Producing Premium Softwoods
Hunter LeCaire is a mill salesman at Vaagen Brothers Lumber/Wildwood Trading Group, with mill locations in Colville and Usk, WA, and a trading floor in Tualatin, OR. LeCaire’s responsibilities include quoting and selling lumber, keeping stock of inventory, and communicating with the production team to make sure customers’ needs are being met.
Vaagen Brothers is an inland lumber mill that produces 220 million board feet of lumber annually from their mills in Colville and Usk. Vaagen produces 8-feet through 20-feet in 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, and 8-feet through 10-feet in 2×10, in Fir Larch, SPF-s/ELPAF, Hemlock-Fir/White Fir and Cedar. Vaagen offers grades that range from No. 4 Common through No. 2 and Better, Select Structural, decking blanks, CLT, LAM, MSR and tongue and groove. Wildwood Trading Group offers all of the products milled at the Vaagen mills, as well as borate fire treated and pressure treated boards, and all dimension long lengths. Wildwood inventories lumber at reloads in Oregon, California, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona.
Vaagen and Wildwood are able to custom cut PET in all markets, and offers grooved dunnage, MSR graded lumber and has the capabilities to remanufacture products into different sizes.
LeCaire recently joined the Wildwood mill sales team. He started in the forest products industry in 2018, where he was log truck driver, skidder, processor and log loader operator. LeCaire graduated from Colville High School in Colville, WA, and studied at OXARC School of Welding in Spokane, WA.
In his off time, LeCaire enjoys spending time with his family, enjoying the Colville National Forest, hunting, cutting firewood and driving around his rebuilt 1983 Toyota pickup. He also spends time helping his father work at his orchard/tree farm, and he still gets to climb into the lowboy truck for his family’s construction equipment rental company, delivering equipment on the weekends.
LeCaire has been married to his wife, Bethany LeCaire, for four years and has one son.
Vaagen Brothers Lumber/Wildwood Trading Group is a member of Machine Stress Rated Lumber Producers Council, Western Wood Products Association, North American Wholesale Lumber Association, Building Component Manufactures Conference and Timber Products Manufacturers.
For more information, call 509-680-2408, email hlecaire@wildwoodtg.com or visit www.vaagenbros.com or www.wildwoodtg.com.
LaSalle Lumber: Marketing Southern Yellow Pine Throughout North America
Robbie Temple is the assistant sales manager for LaSalle Lumber. LaSalle Lumber Company and Bienville Lumber Company are a 50/50 partnership between Hunt Forest Products, based in Ruston, LA and Tolko, based in Vernon, BC. LaSalle and Bienville are sawmills that produce a total of 725 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine in 2x42x10 in lengths 8-20 feet and 4x4x8’s that are sold in the United States and Mexico.
Temple has been in the forest products industry for 22 years with his first job at Georgia Pacific in distribution sales. He also worked in sales at Dixie Plywood, purchasing at Bison Building Materials and as sales manager for Bluelinx. Temple has been with LaSalle for three years.
Temple graduated from Ruston High School and then earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech University.
Temple has been married to Virginia Temple for 21 years and has a 16-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter.
LaSalle Lumber is a member of the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau, the Lumbermen’s Association of Texas, the North American Wholesale Lumber Association and the Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association.
For more information, call 318-242-4024, email robbie.temple@lasallelumber.com or visit www.lasallelumber.com.
TUFF-STIK LLC: Reimaging Kiln-Stick Technology
Steve Templeman is the CEO of TUFF-STIK LLC, located in Wildwood, MO. TUFF-STIK is a global manufacturer of TUFF-STIK™ aluminum pro-grade kiln sticks and TUFF-STIK™ aluminum 4×4 cross-outs.
Templeman has been a product developer for the forest products industry since 2005 and has been in new product development since 1980. Over the course of the past 19 years, he has designed and patented four different kiln-stick technologies and has provisional, design, utility and world Steve Templeman patents.
Templeman attended Joplin Parkwood High School and Ozark Christian College, in Joplin, MO, and Avila University, in Kansas City, MO, where he studied design and business administration.
Templeman has been married to his wife Carolyn for 48 years and has one son, one daughter, two grandsons and five granddaughters.
TUFF-STIK is a member of Indiana Hardwood Lumbermens Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association, North American Wholesale Lumber Association, Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association, Southern Forest Products Association, International Woodworking Fair, and the Wood Protection Association.
For more information, call 573-525-8587, email steve@tuff-stik.com or visit www.tuff-stik.com.
