The Process of Making Your Flooring:
Often times, when we go to a retail storeto purchase merchandise we expect that the products in our hands were made in a factory quite some distance from our home, even in another country. This is not the case with Kingdom Forestry Products. The story of your new hardwood floor begins in the forests of New York. The process begins with scouting the woods for tall mature hardwood trees that will be suitable for hardwood flooring. Often, some of the best trees come from overcrowded wooded areas that need to be thinned so that younger trees will have a chance to grow. Once the best trees have been identified, a logging crew will come in and skillfully fell the trees with a hand held chainsaw. Afterward a tractor, called a skidder, will come up to the tree and pull it out of the woods to a roadside landing. At the landing the tree will be cut into smaller lengths for transport. After enough logs have been cut, a truck will come and pick up the logs to be delivered to the sawmill.
Once the saw logs are at the sawmill they are sorted into piles based on the species. The logs are then cut into boards on the sawmill, usually based on a customers needs. After the boards have been milled, they are inspected at the trim saw. The trim saw operator will remove any wane (bark) that is on the board and any other noticeable defects to ensure only the best boards are used for flooring. The boards are then immediately sticker stacked in a pile to begin the process of drying your wood. Sticker stacking is when a layer of boards are placed in the pack, then a series of square sticks are placed perpendicularly on top of them, then another layer of lumber is added. After a full pack of lumber has been created it is usually allowed to air dry for a short time, before being placed into a drying kiln. The kiln will remove the excess moisture, sterilize, and will make the boards into a stable product for your home.
After the wood has been kiln dried the lumber is re-inspected for any defects that may have happened in the drying process. Boards are then sorted into grades and widths. Once an order is placed we re-trim every board for width and length to guarantee that only the straightest flooring will be delivered to our customers. The final step in processing the rough lumber into hardwood flooring is accomplished on a six cutter-head molding machine. In one pass the machine will remove excess material from the face and back of the flooring, add a tongue and groove and then finish the flooring with relief cuts in the back and a fine finish cut on the face of your new floor. After the flooring leaves the moulding machine, we offer a couple additional, optional processes. The floor boards can be end-matched, which is placing a tongue and groove profile on the ends of the boards. This is recommended for the wider floors, or if the flooring is made up of many smaller pieces. The other final option we offer is a commercial grade pre-finishing with any combination of stains and tints that you could dream of; flooring is end-matched prior to this process. After your flooring is complete, it goes through one final inspection as we prepare it for shipment.
With your flooring complete, we will ship your floor to your new home or construction site on your schedule, with trucks that have a forklift attached. If your project gets delayed, we will gladly work with you and store your new flooring until your able to use it. Whatever you need, we will get the job done for you.