Graf Brothers Flooring and Lumber

Graf Brothers Flooring and Lumber
Private
Industry Manufacturing, Basic Materials
Founded 2003[1]
Headquarters South Shore, KY
Key people
 David Graf, President
Products Hardwood Flooring and Lumber
Owner David Graf; Greg Graf
Number of employees
 275[1]
Website www.grafbro.com[2]

Graf Brothers Flooring and Lumber specializes in, and is the world's largest manufacturer of, rift and quarter sawn oak products.[3] Rift & Quartered lumber results from a unique way of sawing that maximizes the yield of lumber with vertical grain. Vertical grain is preferred because of its excellent technical properties. Lumber that has been sawed using this method expands evenly and vertically. Vertical grain also increases the structural integrity of the wood.[4]

Graf Bros produces 125,000 board feet (290 m3) of lumber and 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) of flooring per day.[1] The company maintains 2,500,000 board feet (5,900 m3) of logs, 5,000,000 board feet (10,000 m3) of lumber and 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of flooring in inventory, including stocks at four West Coast warehouses. Graf Brothers sells approximately half of its lumber to distribution yards and flooring and millwork manufacturers, and the other half goes into its own flooring production.[2] Graf Bros maintains lumber inventory at four different warehouses on the West Coast. The company's flooring is shipped to distributors in Europe, Japan, and Asia, as well as 260 flooring distributors in North America.[3] Graf Brothers also has a sales office in Brussels, Belgium.[2]

Graf Brothers' headquarters and main sales office is a site of 70 acres (300,000 m2) in South Shore, Kentucky. This area houses a log yard of 5 acres (20,000 m2) that can hold up to 3,000,000 board feet (7,000 m3) of logs under water, an ultra high-tech band mill, 18 kilns capable of drying 2 MMBF of lumber per month, a Walnut steamer, several warehouses, and two state-of-the-art computerized rip lines for manufacturing ripped-to-width lumber and flooring blanks. All of these facilities have been built since the site was acquired in 2003. Graf Brothers also operates satellite log yards in Vanceburg, Kentucky, and Chillicothe, Ohio. In addition to its own mill, Graf Brothers is supplied by two dedicated contract sawmills, Brown Brothers Lumber in Otway, Ohio, and Redoutey Lumber in Henley, Ohio. Appalachian Wood Floors (AWF), owned by the Grafs' brother Jim, molds the flooring exclusively for Graf Brothers at its plant in nearby Portsmouth, Ohio.[2]

Graf Bros partakes in two practices that are unique to the lumber and flooring industries. The first is the production of "Monster Boards", which are boards with width offerings ranging from 9 to 32 inches.[2] The second unique practice is offering sorted or fixed widths in rift and quarter sawn lumber in almost any width the customer wants.[1]

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