MAY 2021
Cover: Dempsey Wood Products Isn’t Slowing Down
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina – In a time when greenfield southern yellow pine sawmills are popping up like seedlings, Dempsey Wood Products (DWP) has been standing strong in South Carolina at its 32-year-old site.
Inside This Issue
The Issues: It’s Next Up For Many Independent Sawmills
The cover story for this issue, on Dempsey Wood Products in Orangeburg, SC, provides further evidence that I am aging quickly. But in a good way. What I mean is, is that the current patriarch of the company, Ronald Dempsey, who is roughly my age, has passed along leadership of the company to his son, Parker, who is roughly the age of our editor, Jessica Johnson, who recently visited the mill and wrote the article.
Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Timber Processing
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Sawmillers Meet In-Person
AUSTIN, Texas – Hardwood lumbermen from across the U.S. gathered in Austin for the Hardwood Manufacturers Association annual meeting, March 23-26. The meeting, held at the Hyatt Regency overlooking the beautiful Colorado River, drew more than 100 under the theme of “resilience.”
PLANERmill BONANZA
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following companies submitted editorial profiles and images to complement their advertisements in the Timber Processing May 2021 issue.
- Autolog
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Second Look: Albany
The cover story of the Timber Processing March issue was the startup of the new Georgia-Pacific greenfield sawmill in Albany, Georgia. The Albany mill fulfilled the “hat trick” of an amazing series of new mill startups by GP that occurred in under three years.
Appalachian Hardwood Procurement
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the second of a two-part series on hardwood mill practices in the Appalachian region, based on studies by the West Virginia University, Appalachian Hardwood Center.
Article by Joe McNeel, Director of West Virginia University Appalachian Hardwood Center (WVU AHC); Curt Hassler, research professor, WVU AHC; and Jordan Thompson, procurement forester, Millwood Lumber
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PRODUCTSCANNER10
- Bandmill Resaw
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- Keen Safety Boot
- Horizontal Grinder
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- Slasher Bar
- Level Switch
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Dempsey Wood Products Isn’t Slowing Down
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Timber Processing
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina – In a time when greenfield southern yellow pine sawmills are popping up like seedlings, Dempsey Wood Products (DWP) has been standing strong in South Carolina at its 32-year-old site. DWP, led by Ronald Dempsey, son Parker Dempsey and project (and mill) manager Michael Gulley, has been moving about the mill the last few years, implementing major projects from one corner to the next. It’s not greenfield, but they’ve nearly built a complete new mill.
For Parker and Gulley, the greenfield designs aren’t fun. The challenge, and fun, comes in putting together the puzzle pieces. For Gulley, who isn’t family but is pretty close having grown up alongside the younger Dempsey and been nosing around the mill since high school, having owners who want to invest in the mill keeps it exciting. But also, he says, looking forward to the projects helps keep him, and the staff of more than 100, always on their toes.
With the latest round of improvements in the sawmill and planer mill, DWP now cuts 120MMBF annually.
Logs are kicked on a Cone-Omega tru-positioning sharp chain for primary breakdown.
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