The Use of Lumber by New Hampshire's 

 Wood-Using Industries 



Introduction 



Three-fourths or more of the total wood cut in New Hampshire forests 

 is manufactured into luniher yearly. It is produced hy sawmills number- 

 ing at one time more than 700 but now 200 and still decreasing. A study 

 of the marketing of eastern white pine lumber by sawmill operators was 

 made in 1957. 1 



In 1960 a study of the marketing of lumber, its purchase and market 

 channels from sawmill to wood-using industry, was undertaken by the 

 University of New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station. This 

 was part of a Northeast Regional Research Project, NEM - 24. The initial 

 phase resurveyed sawmill operator marketing practices for all lumber 

 cut and purchased by sawmills. Only the hardwood sales of these oper- 

 ators are reported because they had not been previously covered. The 

 second phase of the project was a survey of procedures and channels 

 through which New Hampshire's wood-using industries obtained their 

 lumber. (Wood not classed as lumber was excluded.) Only those indus- 

 tries purchasing lumber were included. 



A graduate research assistant 2 conducted all the field work and assisted 

 in the data analysis. Field schedules were prepared by a sub-committee 

 of the Regional Technical Committee and approved by the whole com- 

 mittee. These were filled in during field interviews with company per- 

 sonnel. 



Ninety-three sawmill owners and 53 wood-using industries were inter- 

 viewed. The latter were stratified by number of employees and the 

 former by volume production. All wood-using industries contacted pur- 

 chased some lumber. 



Only 30 percent of the sawmill lumber went directly to wood-using in- 

 dustries; the balance, 63 percent, went primarily to wholesalers. How- 

 ever, these industries reported obtaining 65 percent of their lumber 

 needs from sawmill production and 35 percent from wholesalers' stocks. 

 Since these figures are not for the same year, exact volumes are not 

 comparable. 



This report has been divided into three major parts: product char- 

 acteristics, industry characteristics and marketing practices. Both saw- 

 mill and wood industry operations are discussed under each major head- 

 ing. The single product is lumber but it varies in quality and degree of 

 manufacturing as well as in moisture content and species. 



The Product — Lumber 



The term lumber applies to piece of wood at least 6 feet long, 4 inches 

 wide and three-quarters of an inch thick. If a customer asks for canned 



1 Wallace & Amidon. 1958. Marketing of Eastern White Pine Lumber from Maine 

 and New Hampshire. New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 452. 

 2 1958-59 Raymond Woodbury; 1960-61 Michael Massie. 



