On May 1st, 2010, my woodworking club, the Gwinnett Woodworkers Association (GWA for short), visited Hardwoods Inc. in Mableton Ga. Hardwoods, Incorporated is a wholesaler and retailer offering one of the largest inventories in the Southeast of specialty hardwoods and related products. GWA members were exposed to a guided tour of the kiln facilities and lumber yard that lasted a few hours and afterwards were able to purchase lumber at discounted pricing - I managed to score three sticks of Honduran Rosewood for an upcoming project at about 50% off. These are the photos I took as we were shown around the gigantic facility - if you ever get a chance to go to s similar kiln/lumber yard facility you should go - for a woodworker it's like going to the Holy Land...
I'm not sure if you can get the actual scale of the building from this shot - at the beginning of the tour we were in the retail space - the racks behind the speaker are all full of retail sales items
The warehouse buildings are quite massive - most of those stacks are 8/4 sticks about 12 feet long.
These conveyor type contraptions help to move sticks as they're graded - quite a job
These stacks were all of 8/4 poplar getting ready for the kiln (so what you see is all wet) - quite a site seeing so much hardwood.
These shots are of the kiln - the control stations in the back let you set the temperature and humidity.
These massive doors slide apart so the pallets of wood can be moved in or out - the smaller door allows the kiln operator access to check the moisture content of the wood - something that's done multiple times as the wood is dried (usually over a period of many days).
The plan re-uses saw-dust as fuel for the kiln - this shows some of the furnace with valves to control the mix.
That's about it - thanks for looking in.
-- John
