hange has been good for Louis Irion, who es-tablished Irion Lumber Co. in rural Wellsboro,Pa., in 1997. The niche business caters to smallcustom furniture and architectural millworkshops, supplying wide and figured lumber fromsingle boards to matched sets and lumber flitch-

es from the same log, as well as extra heavy stock, crotchesand other unusual pieces of wood.

Irion ran a furniture shop for nearly 20 years before be-coming a full-time lumber dealer and sawmill operator. As aresult, he has a unique insight to the needs of his customers.

“Our strength is the fact that we have been involved in thelumber business for so long, and have the background in thefurniture business. That really has been much more of anasset than we ever realized because we also understand theprocesses that go with wood,” he said.

The company stocks more than 100,000 bf of cherry, tigermaple, flame birch, walnut, mahogany and other hard-woods. Irion estimates the value of his inventory at three-quarters of a million dollars.

The business sits on a 300-acre farm, located in the heartof the infamous cherry belt of North-Central, Pa., which isabundant with other quality hardwoods as well. With 80percent of customers from out of state, it’s clear to Irionthat good wood is hard to find. That’s why he and his wife,Wanda, routinely visit sawmills and log broker facilities, nor-mally within a 100-mile radius, to hand-pick stock.

Wide lumber existsIrion said furniture makers often don’t know the type of

wood he sells is available.“I hear so many times that woodworkers can’t find wide

lumber, let alone matching sets of the same, and it isn’t thatscarce. You just have to know where to look for it, andprobably pay a little more,” he said.

While attending an industrial arts class at Millersville Univer-sity in Millersville, Pa., in 1972, Irion searched and couldn’tfind the right crotch-walnut panel for the main door of agrandfather clock he was making. Since every tree has acrotch, Irion knew the piece was somewhere. He gave upthat search and became focused on wood availability in gener-

As a furniture maker, Louis Irion discovered how difficult it was to find wide, matchedboards. Now his Irion Lumber Co. helps other woodworkers find what he couldn’t.

Title: OwnerBusiness: Irion Lumber Co.Location: Wellsboro, Pa.Services: Hardwood supplierand sawmill

Source for: Cherry, tiger maple,flame birch, walnut andmahogany

Resume: 35 years as a furnituremaker and lumber dealer

Quotable: “To have evolvedfrom a furniture maker all the wayback to the point of operating asawmill, it’s been somethingwe’ve really enjoyed.”

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March 2006 WOODSHOP NEWS 39

‘LUMBERHEAVEN’

B Y J E N N I F E R H I C K S

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Louis Irion, owner of IrionLumber Co. in Wellsboro, Pa.,

and employee Myron Yoder(right) pull an extra-wide board

from an extensive inventory.

Louis Irion, owner of IrionLumber Co. in Wellsboro, Pa.,

and employee Myron Yoder(right) pull an extra-wide board

from an extensive inventory.

al. After graduating, Irion took an ap-prenticeship with his father, Louis Irion,Jr., at the Berwin Furniture Shop inBerwin, Pa.

His father made several 18th-centurydining room chairs for the WhiteHouse during the Kennedy Administra-tion, and was acquainted with GeorgeNakashima and Wharton Esherick.Irion grew to know and appreciate thephilosophies of the two, as well as thatof James Krenov. All stressed how thebeauty of wood enhances the finalproduct, Irion said.

In 1977 Irion founded his own busi-

ness, Irion Co. Furniture Makers of Paoli,Pa., which restored 18th-century origi-nals, and built period-style replicas. Woodfor those projects was obtained from agamut of commercial sawmills and lum-ber suppliers. But he encountered a lackof matching sets, which was critical.

“When you look at the old stuff, yousee part of the harmony is the fact thatit was made from the same tree, andthey typically used wide lumber ratherthan smaller pieces glued together,”Irion said.

As Irion developed sources looking forthe right lumber for the period-style de-signs, he knew he was on to something.The thriving furniture business eventual-ly expanded to 25 full-time employees,which was Irion’s cue to move on.

“It basically came to the point wherewe just had too much to do, Wanda andI, and we decided we just wanted to con-centrate on the lumber end,” Irion said.

In 1995 Irion sold the furniture compa-ny to longtime employees and estab-lished Irion Lumber. From the get-go, heknew his background in furniture woulddistinguish him from his competitors.

Location, locationIrion purchased the Wellsboro prop-

erty in 1994, and opened Irion Lum-ber in 1997. More than just a pic-turesque countryside, the area is thestrongest hardwood region in the statefor quality and quantity. In the late1800s developers clear-cut and aban-doned the land, which later grew backas a hardwood forest, with cherry thedominant species. Also, the central lo-cation offers a good growing climate,according to Irion.

Three white German shepherds runabout the property, ready to greet visi-tors who come to browse the wood se-lection. The boards are stored in thedozen barn-like storage buildings. Eachshelved structure contains the samemixed board collection as the other, astrategic layout.

“The threat of fire is always there inthe lumber business, and that way if wewere to have a fire here, we wouldn’tbe wiped out,” Irion said.

Trucks regularly deliver green lumberand exit with deliveries. Part-timeworker Tom Lauber transports boardsto and from the trucks at the mills andthe yard. Karl Gunderson works in theyard full-time, transporting lumber toand from the kiln.

Green lumber is first air-dried down to20 percent, then stacked in the insulat-ed dehumidification kiln. The tempera-ture in the kiln averages 120 degrees,which is low compared to commercialkilns, Irion said. The gentle, low-heatprocess prevents defects. Three largefans create proper air circulation.

Boards are sorted and marked aftercoming out of the kiln. Wide clearsorts, usually matching from the samelog, are stacked together for large pro-jects such as chests. Smaller sorts of fig-ured wood and crotches are groupedfor smaller matching set projects, topsand panels. Remaining plain, narrowlumber is kept in matches as grade lum-

ber for various purposes such as railsand stiles, feet and moldings.

Sawmill on premisesIrion purchased his Breezewood

band sawmill four years ago off a sup-plier who purchased a bigger mill.Kept under a covered barn-like struc-ture without walls, it features a 26"-wide cutting capacity. Irion likes beingpart of the lumber-producing process,where he can cut pieces to the thick-ness he wants. But he only mills about10 percent of what he sells.

“We don’t try to pretend that we’reloggers, but we do go out and cutdown trees, and take some wood offour own property,” he said.

Metal objects, including nails andfence pieces, occasionally turn up in thelogs. In an effort to protect his expen-sive blade, Irion uses a metal detectoron suspicious logs, or checks them forunusual color resulting from a chemicalreaction with the metal. He then cutsout any bad sections with a chainsaw.Walnut logs tend to have more metalthan other species, according to Irion,who said it’s an open grown tree, oftenlocated at the edge of pastures and yardswhere fences and signs are secured.

A mud saw is the last line of defensefor Irion’s blade. The attachment is de-signed to ride ahead of the blade, toknock off abrasive mud and stone.

Visitors and friends take most of thesawmill waste for their wood stovesand small projects. Irion also donateslog scraps and various shorts to theWellsboro school district.

Satisfied customersCustomers commonly refer to Irion

Lumber as lumber heaven. They pay fortheir own deliveries sent common carri-er, at an average of 25 cents per bf.

Dan Moshein, owner of Dorset Cus-tom Furniture in Dorset, Vt., spends be-tween $10,000 and $20,000 per yearon cherry, mahogany, walnut and curlymaple at Irion’s.

“I like the personal service. I’ll sendthem a drawing and a cut list, andthey’ll call back and explain whatthey’re sending,” he said.

Mark Emirzian, owner of Mark T.Emirzian Mastercraftsmen of Wilbraham,Mass., is a 10-year customer who spends$20,000 annually on matching wideboards for 18th-century reproductionfurniture.

“I needed a reliable supply of tigermaple and quality cherry, and he cansupply it,” he said, adding that Irion’swide boards from the same tree en-hance the quality of his work.

Emirzian makes lots of candle-standtabletops ranging from 14" to 19" in di-ameter. “The only way I’ll do those is byusing one piece. The figure changes toomuch if you try to glue pieces together.”

Call for directionsIrion constantly focuses on keeping

business small to maintain quality, anddoes not foresee hiring more employ-ees. He never allows unselected bundles

March 2006 WOODSHOP NEWS 4140 WOODSHOP NEWS March 2006

Louis Irioncuts a

walnut logon his

Breezewoodbandsaw

mill.

Irion LumberCo. is a family-run business.Here, Louisand his wife,Wanda, loadthe kiln.

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of lumber to come in by any means.“We try to keep the business very small

because we’re really particular about thequality of the business. We hand-pick al-most everything we bring in,” Irion said.

Irion usually pays a premium to se-lect his own wood and have supplierscustom cut it to his specifications. Mostsuppliers are within a two-hour drive,several of whom Irion has known fordecades. The one exception is with themahogany, which comes from Peru.The most valuable lesson in workingwith lumber, Irion said, is that businessis only as good as its sources.

Of the 80 percent of the productsshipped across the United States, 40 per-cent goes to New England. Irion saidcherry and tiger maple are popular withcustomers out west who don’t have it soreadily available in their regions. About20 customers are designated as regulars.The rest can be occasional clients orfirst-time buyers. There is a shippingminimum of 200 bf, but no minimum forpurchases made at the yard.

Anyone is welcome to shop at the yardon a self-serve basis. However, callingahead is recommended. The dirt roadleading up to his driveway is difficult tofind in the mountainous area. Farmhous-es, barns and rolled hay barrels scatteredover the vast land are extremely vaguelandmarks. In many instances the policedepartment has had to contact the Irionsand let them know travelers had gottenlost looking for his place.

“We really are the ‘stealth lumbercompany’. People go to the Chamberof Commerce and ask people in townwhere we’re at,” Irion said proudly.

Myron Yoder, 24, of Mansfield, Pa., isIrion’s right-hand man. Hired three yearsago, he handles customers and preparesdeliveries. Yoder said the business is ad-vertised in several specialty woodwork-ing publications, but the strength of itsreputation is word of mouth.

“We take the work out of finding thematerial. A lot of customers don’t wantto take the time to go to a lumberyardand search through hundreds of boardfeet to find a piece,” Yoder said.

Everyday remindersIrion’s house is furnished entirely with

items built by the Irions and workersfrom Irion Co. Furniture Makers. Mostare 18th-century highboys, chests, cup-boards, tables, beds and clocks. Minia-ture replicas around a foot high standnext to their larger counterparts. Theminiatures, scaled precisely off originals,were hallmarks of Irion’s father.

All of the custom pieces in the house re-mind Irion of the trials of selling furniture.

“We just always found that it wasvery difficult making a living makingfurniture. So, certainly in comparisonto that, the lumber business has been alot better for us,” he said, adding he felthis former workers were paid too littlefor their advanced skills.

“I hope to never have to sell anotherpiece of furniture,” he said.

But an extensive hand tool and ma-chinery collection in a shop attached tothe office of the main warehouseshows quite a bit of furniture makinggoes on there. The Irion family, friendsand employees use it when making ran-dom pieces at their leisure.

And that clock, the one Irion couldn’tfind the crotch walnut piece for, standsin the office the next room over.Though Irion can now get crotch wal-nut at the drop of a dime, he leaves theclock uncorrected as a reminder tonever take wood for granted. n

Contact: Irion Lumber Co., P.O. Box954, Wellsboro, PA, 06901-0954. Tel:570-724-1895. www.irionlumber.com P

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42 WOODSHOP NEWS March 2006

This Chippendale-style Philadelphiahighboy, made of

mahogany withcrotch mahogany

door fronts, wasbuilt by Irion Co.Furniture Makers

as a showroomdisplay. Irion kept

it when he soldthe business, and

it now sits in hisdining room.

IRION from previous page