Holiday Party - 

Christmas Eve 2013 

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed the afternoon together and celebrated the holidays with a pig roast. We have many people to thank for the combined effort that made the event possible. The event was a true display of the strong community spirit and teamwork we share at Wightman Lumber and Building Supplies, Inc.

       Bob Tomazin supplied the roaster and the expertise to roast the pig. The night before Bob and Lance Holliday did the prep work to prepare for the roasting that would begin long before dawn on Christmas Eve. Anita Tomazin was also busy in her kitchen baking cookies, brownies, vegetable lasagna and chicken pot pie to complement the meal. At the same time next door Leah Foster was making fresh baked rolls by the dozen. Cyndi Miller coordinated the event and also prepared the salads, baked beans and boiled potatoes.  Bob Tomazin and Matt Wightman arrived at 5 am on the morning of Christmas Eve to light the fire and start the roasting process. By mid day the air was filled with the sweet smell of the meal that would be served. We finished the meal off with an amazing cake, which was topped with a hand sculpted chainsaw made by Caitlin Wightman.

                             The remarkable team work really exemplified what Wightman’s is all about as the retail area was transformed into a dining room. Thank you to the retail staff Pat Wightman-Yank and Marty Corsi for their time and effort provided to utilize the retail area. Cliff Clune provided the sound system and holiday music. We send out an enormous thank you to everyone who lent a helping hand to make this holiday meal possible.

Lastly a very important thank you to Dan and Dave Wightman, owners of Wightman’s for their holiday generosity!!!

 

  

We at Wightman Specialty Wood want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and a very happy, safe and prosperous New Year.

 

1^st major snow fall.

Last weekend a winter storm blew making it festive and white for the holiday season.  

Our grading shed staff brings great experience and expertise to the job. 

Each piece of wood contains different characteristics. Leah Foster has been working for Wightman Lumber for 16 years. She is the grader who reviews each piece of lumber to determine its potential value and use. After she evaluates and marks each board it is carried by conveyor to the pilers,

  Adam Moore, Tim Cooke and Zack Vandewerker, who place the dried sawn lumber in the appropriate cart for bundling. 

 

After sorting, pilling and bundling has occurred Bob Tamazin tallies each piece to determine the board footage of each pack.

What occurs in the grading shed is very important to insure that the lumber is sorted appropriately and inventoried accordingly. This group of employees bring another 49 years of experience to our group, bringing the total number of years of experience introduced to you so far to 419 years.

Happy Holidays …… As the holiday season is upon us many woodworkers are putting finishing touches on projects that will be treasured gifts for generations to come. I would like to welcome you to share photos of your work with us. Mailing address is PO Box 386, Portlandville, New York 13834 or e-mail logpro@wightmanlumber.com.

Monday morning and we are hard at work...

Don Elliot running the slicer, scaling logs.

 Our planer mill staff.......

Lamarcus Pickens, Nathan Foster, Josh Paulson and Matt Wightman are busy getting retail and wholesale product ready.

Calling all woodworkers…..

Wightman Specialty Wood open house is only 2 weeks away, Saturday, Oct. 5^th.  We invite you to display your wood work. Entry form can now be down loaded from our web page. The open house banner is up; it’s a sure sign that the Wightman's Fall Family Festival is not far off. 

We are gearing up for our coming Fall Family Festival – Oct 5th

Join us on Sat. Oct. 5^th and be amazed at how much fun a block of wood, nails and rubber bands can be.

Mary Peterson has been hard at work prepping for our kids of all ages craft project. OWL – Oneonta World of Learning will be joining us to make the wood craft project for this year. It is very fun to make and even more fun to play with.

Fall Family Festival, 145 Cty. Hwy. 35A Portlandville, NY 9 am to 3 pm 

PDF Catalog

Fast, easy and convenient. You can now down load a PDF version of Wightman Specialty Wood’s catalog from our web page. 

Open House Sat. Oct, 5th

 Please plan to join us on Sat., Oct. 5, 2013 for our 20^th annual open house. We will have lots going on for the whole family:

• Mill Tours
• Live Music – Clune’s Tunes and Steppin Out Barbershop Quartet
• Great Food – Proceeds to benefit Ronald McDonald House of Albany
• A Live Radio Theater Production
• Kids Craft – Kid (of all ages) friendly wood working project with Oneonta World of Learning
• Speed Tracker Rides -Leather Stocking Railroad will be joining us and offering an opportunity to ride the rails.
• Woodworker show

 Please contact Cyndi Miller 607-286-9201 or logpro@wightmanlumber.com for details on showing your woodwork.

Please come join us for a day of fun this fall 9 am to 3pm!

Amazing Cherry

 Marino Zullich purchased rustic grade cherry boards which he had milled by Wightman Lumber’s mill shop to his specification. The homeowner then used this wood as cherry flooring allowing him to achieve his very own personalized look at his farm house, located in Walton, New York. Stunning!

We thank you Marino for sharing the photos of your work in process. 

Our forestry team brings extensive experience and expertise to the job.

Bob Williams stopped in and talked with Dan Wightman just after Wightman’s had purchased a tractor trailer about part time work. Part time lasted 2 weeks and Bob has been busy working full time driving the log truck for 13 years. Prior to working for Wightman’s Bob had 10 years of logging experience. 

Bob enjoys being on the road, seeing the country side and getting to meet many different people. In his spare time Bob enjoys singing as a member of Steppin Out, Barbershop Quartet and the Oneonta chapter of Midstatesman Chorus. Steppin Out will be performing at our annual open house on Oct. 5, 2013. Please plan to join us. 

Ben Williams has spent his adult life around logging and milling. After spending 10 years logging independently he joined Wightman’s starting out on the green chain (stacking lumber). He then moved in to the maintenance department, then to a logging crew. Around 5 years ago he returned mill to drive log trucks and do maintenance on the large trucks.

Ben tells me he enjoys being on the road and being outdoors. He does not mind the extreme weather conditions because he enjoys what he does so much. With 20 years experience he must love what he does.

The math:

Ben brings 20 years, Bob 23 years, Tom 14 years and Chris 18 years. A total year of experience for our forestry team is an amazing 75 years. Added this to the previously introduced employees we are now up to 330 years of experience. It is no wonder that Wightman Specialty Woods produces the top quality wood products!

Chris Burke handles the general organization of the forestry group’s daily activities by dispatching trucks, organizing rotary and veneer sales, working with land owners and loggers, and balancing supply verses production demands.

Chris brings a well rounded background of education and experience to the group. He graduated from SUNY Morrisville with a concentration in Natural Resource in 1995. A love of the outdoors and nature drew Chris into this line of work. Immediately following graduation Chris joined Wightman’s in the mill then on the logging crew.  10 years ago he became a full time forester.

Tom Foster brings education and experience to the group. Tom graduated from SUNY Ranger School in Wanakena, NY and SUNY Environmental Science in Forestry, Syracuse, NY. After graduation Tom worked for the US Forest Services, NYS Forest Inventory Services and Analysis and as a forester prior to joining our team 2 years ago. Combined he brings 14 years of work experience to the group.

Tom shares that he finds fulfillment in helping land owners reach their individual goals for their forest. Tom works with land owners to achieve individual goals such as improvement of wildlife habit, creating a healthy forest and maximize the financial return of the property. 

More to follow on forestry team. 

Lumberjack – a combination of two terms ‘lumber’ and ‘jack’. Jack being the term for the average Joe or working man. Lumber is a reference to the trade.

Lumberjill – was coined around the World War II era for women carrying out this task while men were at war.

Logger – term used for workers in the 21^st century after the invention of chainsaws and other modern logging equipment. 

Photo from New York State Wooodsmen's Field Day. http://www.starwebhosting.net/woodsmen/

WOODSMEN'S FIELD DAYS Boonville, NY Aug. 16 - 18

Log Procurement

Our process starts with the purchase of logs. At Wightman Specialty Woods we are committed to the protection and preservation of our environment and other natural resources. The tree harvesting and log delivery process is overseen by our Foresters, Chris Burke and Tom Foster.

Logs are procured in two ways.

1. Standing timber woodlots are purchased through competitive bidding. Then independent contracted loggers are hired to harvest the trees.
2. Logs from professional loggers are purchased road side and at our gate.

Stay tuned, we will be introducing our Forestry Team.

Rocking Chair Therapy –

Rocking regularly in a good rocker has the ability to calm the spirit, soothe a stressed body, focus the mind and gently exercising even the weakest of muscles.   

Rocker created by Daniel Zook from Wightman Specialty Woods' Red Oak. 

Art Spranger shares his long history with Wightman Lumber....

Sixty-one years ago Art Spranger came to Crumhorn Mountain for a two week vacation, met up with Charlie and Cy Wightman, and never went back to New Jersey.

Art started working with the 1^st generation Wightman brothers in 1952. He worked in the woods, the sawmill and on the farm doing whatever needed to be done. Art recalled that in the early years he helped out when the mill ran with only 2 men. He was cutting slabs off logs and turning them into firewood for sale.  From time to time he even assumed the role of babysitter for the young Dan and Dave Wightman.

Art left the mill in 1955 to serve our country with the US Air Force. In 1977 he returned to Wightman Lumber looking for work and was hired as a delivery person for 75 cents an hour. He tells me he has done just about everything you can imagine around the plant over the years. He takes pride in having maintained the dry kilns and never having a load returned for not being dry.

Art shared that his favorite memory over the years involved a horse named Mike. A local man owed the Wightmans some money so they loaned Mike, a draft horse, to the man to pull out logs to satisfy his debt. Art went to check on the logs and found Mike not being well cared for. He slid a rope around the horse’s neck and walked him home. After about 4 miles they stopped to rest at the mill, located on route 28 at that time, before making the additional 3 mile trek up Crumhorn Mountain.  Art said the break was necessary because the horse was tired, not the handler. Today it would be challenging to find an employee willing to walk 7 miles to bring your horse home.

Although Art retired in 2001 you can still find him around helping out. He titles himself “Fleet Superintendent”.  Twelve years after retiring he is still helping to make things happen by taking care of the vehicle registrations and using his vast knowledge of the business to help source challenging parts.  

Adding 39 more years to the tally brings us up to 255 years of experience. The longevity of the employees at Wightman Lumber is impressive. Art has been around to witness the changes and growth of the business for well over half a century. 

Wightman Lumber commitment to quality extends over decades...

Photo of Cy Wightman many years ago when the sawmill was 1st located on Route 28, Portlandville, New York. 

Photo gives an idea of what the mill was like when Art Spranger started working for Wightman’s well over a half century ago.

Re-saw in feed roll case installation completed

The new roll case installation started last Friday, 7/26/13 was up and running on Monday morning.  

Re-saw in feed roll case installation
 

One of the many upgrades you will be seeing this summer includes a new re-saw in feed roll case. 

It is an exciting time to see so many improvements being done. 

The new roll case is longer than the one being replaced.  Maneuvering the machine into place took some ingenuity and determination.  The new roll case is longer than the one being replaced.  This piece of equipment is used to align the logs going into the 4 foot re-saw. 

Yards, and yards and more yards of concrete….
 

This week concrete walls were poured for the bark pit that is located in the debarker area. The walls will provide a confined space for the bark to fall making it much easier to clean up when we don’t have a truck underneath it to be filled. The walls will also provide controlled run off when the bark gets wet. 

                                 Working around the mill

On Friday we had an opportunity to get some jobs done around the mill while new equipment installation was going on. Jim Runblad, Don Elliott and Jeff Van Derwerker work to set a post in concrete for guide cables by the newly paved parking lot. Thankfully we have a little cooler weather this week.

It goes beyond lumber......

At the sawmill we strive to utilize every part of the logs that come into our yard. Additional products include sawdust, shavings, and bark. Bark chips are used to create mulch. Supreme Forest Products of Harwinton, CT has been purchasing bark from us for many years.
 After loading up the truck I had a chance to talk with Mike Kennedy. It turns out that Mike has been picking up bark from us for 8 years. He tells me that he loves making the trip to New York. After the bark leaves here it will become high quality premium mulch.   To check out the finished product visit http://www.supremeforestproducts.com/ It was a real pleasure chatting with Mike this morning. He sure loves his job and is an ambassador for his company and their products. We look forward to seeing Mike again soon. 

Our Sawmill Supervisor – Rick Whitmore
  

This December Rick Whitmore will celebrate his 30th anniversary as an employee for Wightman Lumber. Rick has been the sawmill supervisor for the past 19 years. His primary responsibility is to insure productivity levels and product quality.  He shared with me that to achieve this goal it requires a combination of training employees so that they are able to achieve high quality standards while striving to meet productivity goals and at the same time keeping a vigilant eye on how the equipment is running. Avoidance of down time is one of his a primary focuses daily.

 

As I have the opportunity to learn more about my co-workers I am finding that many of them have chosen to make this work a life long career. Rick tells me that he has enjoyed his career because he has found “The Wightman’s to be good people to work for who are more than fair and no matter what the job is the owners are right there working beside you.” He enjoys wood products and likes that fact that many of the products produced are exported. He finds satisfaction in the process of taking logs and seeing them all the way to a finished product. In his spare time he enjoys wood working and has turned hardwoods into furniture and cabinetry. In the past he took pleasure in making things for his own home and now for his daughter as she establishes her own home.

With the prior experience he had working for another mill he adds another 31 years to our group.  Adding this to the 185 years already introduced and we are now up to an astounding 216 years of knowledge and experience and there is a lot more to come. It is no wonder that Wightman Specialty Woods produces top quality products with so many years of expertise behind the production process.