“We keep going back to USNR because of the quality of service.” —Baird McIlvain, President, TBM Hardwoods
			Tom McIlvain Jr. with son Baird McIlvain III

With the Hanover distribution yard holding more than seven million BF in stock, the company specializes in high quality, ready-to-use hardwood lumber and millwork for all manner of woodworkers, from large companies to small shops.

TBM Hardwoods has continuously invested in state of the art drying systems to dry a wide variety of domestic and exotic hardwood species. The company’s most recent expansion included the installation of four new USNR package kilns. TBM Hardwoods now operates a total of 18 USNR - Irvington Moore dry kilns with a total drying capacity of 1.2 million BF.

“USNR has an excellent reputation when it comes to drying," Baird said and added, "Coupled with really great service and helping us make good decisions on the number of kilns, the capacity and their locations, it really makes a difference. Bob Pope, USNR's sales representative, has been extremely helpful with that.”

TBM Hardwoods buys green lumber from a network of selected sawmills, and dries, grades and sorts it according to strict NHLA guidelines. The wood goes through an extensive seasoning process that can take weeks or months, depending on the species and thickness. Dried and stress-relieved wood is then moved to protected sheds, where it awaits a trip either to the full-service millwork shop, or directly to a customer on one of the company’s trucks.

TBM's dry kilns use heat, spray and venting to achieve a relative humidity conducive to drying lumber. In addition to controlling heat and humidity, concrete slab kiln-weights are used to keep lumber flat and straight during the drying process. The whole process is very scientific and varies for each species and thickness and follows a strictly-controlled kiln schedule.

Just one USNR Kiln Boss computerized control system runs the whole operation. The entire yard at TBM Hardwoods is set up on a wireless network. The kiln operator uses a golf cart to get around the facility, taking his laptop with him to access the Kiln Boss and make schedule changes as necessary. He also has remote access to view and control the kilns from off-site as well as on the facility grounds.

"We usually like to have a whole lot more room," Bob added, "but we managed to use an area that otherwise would have been wasted space.”

TBM Hardwoods also has a USNR - Irvington Moore trim, sort and stack line that is about 15 years old now. TBM Hardwoods was the first on the East Coast to incorporate a bin sorter and Lunden (now USNR) auto-stickering stacker in a hardwood operation. That system included a double package tilt hoist, grading chains, drop saw trimmer, bin sorter, and Lunden stacker. It was a unique installation at the time because of the use of traditional West Coast technology in a hardwood application.

The 25-bay sorter system enables TBM Hardwoods to sort widths and lengths in increments up to 1/100th of an inch, with color and figure sorts available in select species. Baird said, “It’s pretty old but it’s a good one, it's still working. The fact that we’ve had very few issues with the equipment shows its value and longevity.”

"Overall, we’ve just developed a really great relationship with Bob, and USNR always works really hard for our business, harder than anyone else." And according to Baird McIlvain, "That’s what it takes."