Great Lakes Lumber Company, Custom Millwork and Flooring

Great Lakes Lumber Company, Inc. began in 1990. We are a small, family-owned business that tries very hard to give you a very nice, high quality, custom made, solid-wood product at an affordable price.

While we are small, we have all the equipment necessary to take a tree and turn it into a finished product such as lumber, flooring, or tongue and grooved paneling.

Lumberbob operating the sawmill. Please click to enlarge.

Where does the wood come from? (Click to enlarge)

Some wood is bought from local loggers. It is cut into boards, with our sawmill. Then, the wood is stickered and air dried for several weeks (stickering is the process of putting "sticks" in between the boards every 16 inches to allow air to flow through the piles). After the wood is air dried to a certain moisture content we move the stacks into our small, 4000 board foot dehumidification kiln and we bring the moisture down to the recommended 8% . This is the moisture content that is the best for interior use and will keep your finished product from twisting and cupping. We are members of the Great Lakes Kiln Drying Association which is run by the Universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin (through this association, we continue to learn new processes and stay abreast of current standards). The rest of our wood, is purchased from the largest, quality lumber mills. This lumber arrives already kiln dried to an 8% moisture content. We buy in large quantities to get the best pricing and are then able to pass this savings on to our customers.

Jason ripping boards for width using the Gang Rip Saw. Please click to enlarge.

What happens next? (Click to enlarge)

The dried lumber is ripped to the correct width on our "gang" rip saw. This 50 horsepower saw can hold up to 12 saw blades at one time, so we can cut multiple widths of boards from a single piece of lumber at one time.

Jason is shown here taking the mouldings from the moulder and sanding them. Please click to enlarge.

Moulder: (Click to enlarge)

When we have ripped enough lumber for the project we are working on, the next step is running the boards through our moulder. This is the 'workhorse' main machine of our business and it transforms the lumber into products. With it we make cabinet parts, crown mouldings, cove mouldings, base and casing for houses in addition to beautiful flooring and paneling. Our five- head Weinig moulder is a German made, high tolerance machine, weighing 12,000 pounds. The machine has a 20 hp motor powering each head. Our products have a very tight tolerance, because the tooling we use is primarily, precisely ground, carbide inserts.

Here is Lumberbob feeding boards through the Timesaver. Please click to enlarge.

Added Services Available: (Click to enlarge)

Sanding: Often when people purchase tongue and grooved paneling for a vaulted ceiling or walls and don't want to sand it themselves. We offer this 'time saver' service we have a two headed "Timesaver" sander. This machine allows us to use two different grits of sandpaper at once and sand it twice in one pass. On the paneling or even some flooring we can put an 80 grit on the first head and a 120 grit on the second head for a smooth finish. This eliminates the need for sanding later.

Here is our Automatic Flat Line Finisher. Please click to enlarge.

Finishing: (Click to enlarge)

If you would like a finish put on your product, so when you nail it up, it is done, we can do that also. We have a flat line spray finisher that does an excellent job on finishing products like the paneling. It has three multiple spray heads so we can control the amount of flow and angles of all heads. Usually we put on one coat of a clear vinyl sealer called "Magnalac," rack dry it, and finish it with one coat of "Magnalac Clear Satin Lacquer" This lacquer is a pre-catalyzed product and dries to a very hard, cabinet-quality finish. Then the order is packaged up and is ready for pick up.

As a small business, we get real joy out of seeing customers get the solid-wood, paneling and floors they dreamed about at an affordable price. Since we began in 1990, we have many happy customers. Most of our business comes from repeat customers and customer referrals. We will be happy to answer any questions you might have and you are always welcome to see our shop and showroom of products. Since this is a "working shop" with a very, small staff, please call first to set up an appointment.

Our customers have a true appreciation for the beauty of natural wood and are proud of their installed products. Often, they call to tell us stories of how amazed visitors are at the beautiful end product and each floor, wall and ceiling is unique! These are the people that said that they were looking for something different, when they called and they got it!

It is fun working and sharing the stories of people building, 'adding on to' or remodeling their homes and cabins. They are people who take pride in their projects and a job well done! We would love the opportunity to work with you also.

Thank you,

Bob Ross (dad)
Jason Ross (son)