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Timber Vs. Lumber

Timber Vs. Lumber

Monday, June 03, 2024

North Carolina Forests include highly diverse forest ecosystems that support a very strong forest industry in the state, producing forest products from medicines to log homes. The state includes approximately 18.4 million acres of forestland, 61% of the total land area. Approximately 82% of this forestland is owned by private landowners, which supplies timber for a significant portion of the state’s overall industrial output.

The state’s forest industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, providing jobs for thousands of employees and producing timber products shipped worldwide. Over seventy-two thousand workers are employed in the timber and lumber industry in North Carolina.

Timber Vs. Lumber: The Similarities And Differences

The industry is very strong, producing timber and lumber products from hardwood and softwood species grown on private and public lands in the state.  Timber and lumber are often used interchangeably to describe products from over 240 primary processing plants across the state.

Church and Church Lumber Company, one of these primary processing plants is located in Wilkes County, NC, and procures timber throughout the southern Appalachians to produce lumber products to meet the industry demands. 

We harvest various trees for timber production utilizing professional loggers supervised by a staff of foresters to ensure that the land is protected and the forest is managed for future forest health and sustainability.

Timber and lumber sound a lot alike, and they both generally refer to the same thing: wood. But when exactly is wood considered timber, and when is it considered lumber?

In the US and Canada, timber is typically used to refer to trees collectively or the wood of such trees that have yet to be cut or processed. In contrast, lumber normally refers to wood that has been processed as a building material.

What Is Timber?

Timber most commonly refers to the wood of trees that can or will be used for building materials. The word can refer to living, standing trees themselves or trees that have been cut down but not yet processed (meaning they have not yet been milled or cut into planks).

More generally, timber can refer collectively to living trees or to a wooded area, regardless of whether the trees will be harvested for wood. When such land is used for logging, it is referred to as timberland.

What Is Lumber?

Lumber typically refers collectively to wood that’s been processed for use as a building material—wood that has been milled and cut into boards or planks. This cutting happens in a lumber mill, and the finished product is sold at a lumberyard.

Timber And Lumber Products In North Carolina

As mentioned before, both timber and lumber are sometimes used interchangeably. However, timber refers primarily to standing trees, and lumber includes primarily building products. All products generated from the harvest of trees can be considered timber products, including lumber, but lumber products refer primarily to dimensional products such as two-by-fours or flooring.

The primary processing mills in North Carolina produce a variety of timber products, both lumber and otherwise. The overall breakdown of timber products produced in North Carolina are:

  • Sawlogs for lumber 43%
  • Timber for pulpwood 32%
  • Timber for bioenergy 14%
  • Timber for veneer 7%
  • Timber for misc. 3%
  • Poles/pilings 1%

All of the types can be classified as timber products. The forty-three percent included in sawlogs include dimensional lumber, flooring, molding, pallets, etc. The three percent included in miscellaneous are timber products such as mushrooms, pine straw, mulch, medicines, glues, makeup, etc., that are used from timber that grows in our forests.

Pulpwood is a timber product often produced from the by-product of sawing lumber. It is utilized in making paper timber products or OSB boards, which are sometimes classified as lumber products.

Bioenergy timber products are also produced primarily as a by-product of a lumber mill, but they are utilized as wood pellets for energy or biochar for fertilizer. 

Both pulpwood products and bioenergy are sometimes produced at mills that take round wood or timber directly from the forest in the form of small-diameter poles.

Veneer products are taken from high-quality larger sawlogs that could be cut into lumber but are better suited for veneer if the demand is present. The log is peeled to produce sheets of thin wood that are used in furniture production. The inside of the log, not peeled, is then cut into lumber.

Church And Church Lumber Company Is Important To The Timber Industry

Church and Church Lumber Company is a major buyer of timber products from private land in the mountains of North Carolina. This income provides income to landowners and jobs throughout the state. The income can fund proper land management activities for various natural resources.

Church and Church, a family-owned company, serves much of North Carolina and the neighboring areas. We offer various services, from logging and forest management to direct lumber sales.

Select Hardwoods markets the lumber produced by the Church & Church Lumber Company Sawmill to our customers worldwide. We kiln dry premier Appalachian hardwoods for millwork, furniture, flooring, and other high-end applications throughout the United States and worldwide.

We have 400,000 board feet dry kiln capacity, expertly dry lumber to customer specifications, and prepare lumber for shipment to domestic and export markets.

We specialize in producing high-quality hardwood products procured from across the Appalachians, which is known for its abundant hardwood timber. We supply hardwood species such as white oak, red oak, hickory, ash, beech, cherry, walnut, and yellow poplar in various dimensions and grades to fit your needs.

Contact Church & Church today for more information about how we can help you better manage your timberland.