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# Ipe Markets Tighten
Published: April 7, 2011 | Author: Shannon Rogers
Importing exotic hardwoods like Ipe to the US market is an in depth process that not only needs to consider federal and foreign government regulations, but also cultural and climatic differences. In many cases we deal with a different hemisphere so while the US enters prime deck building season, much of South America is still in their rainy season.
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During the rainy season, Ipe harvesting comes to a halt as the forests flood and transportation of lumber to the mills is next to impossible.
In fact most South American sawmills have been shut down for several months as the US market begins to ramp up for a big buying season. This means that the material that is coming into our yards from the ports right now is the tail end of the supply for the season. Harvesting will begin again as thing dry out in late June and early July but the trees still need to be transported out of the jungle to export centers where it is sawn into lumber and milled into decking products. Eventually, new stock is loaded onto ships and hits the water in October and November. We begin to receive fresh supplies right around the Christmas season and continue to receive it until right about now (early Spring).
Freshly cut Ipe waiting to be transported from the forest to the mill.
This brings about a classic supply and demand issue where we want to make sure we have the supply to last through our buying season yet know that our inventory as it stands now may be all we have to sell until the new harvest is processed, shipped, and received at the beginning of Winter. We continue to buy Ipe from Brazil as long as we can since it is one of our larger products; however, the price begins to soar as the Brazilian mills start to run out of stock.  And so the bidding wars ensue. The problem is that Ipe prices have been climbing steadily in this recessive global economy as saw mills producing responsibly harvested and quality materials start to disappear.  This constricts the supply even further. While Ipe may still be available, it becomes even more imperative that buyers like us pay careful attention to the credentials of these mills to ensure that neither lumber quality suffers nor that the mill is using questionable harvesting practices. Environmental sustainability is paramount with this market and there are mills that are doing an outstanding job of protecting the forests while still producing high quality lumber. It is these mills that we continue to buy from each year.  Reduced supply and increased demand can very quickly cause a lapse in these practices in order to fulfill orders.  We have to be very cautious of this slippery slope.  Each year we are approached by suppliers whose  is not up to snuff and their credentials are, shall we say “questionable”. It is a strong fear that rising costs may prompt more reckless harvesting that can jeopardize the entire ecological system, not to mention the future of the market.
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One of many stacks of Ipe currently in our lumber yard.
This is not to say that J. Gibson McIlvain does not have a supply of Ipe. In fact, we are overflowing with it. As mentioned in a  on this site, we buy our entire year’s supply all in one short period so our yards are positively overflowing with it. We also are aware of a growing demand for tropical decking and a slight uptick in our economy that may produce even more demand for Ipe decks this summer. Of course the costs will rise as the supply runs out, but it never seems to return to previous lows when the supply is plentiful. This overall trend concerns us and it is this issue that is prompting us to consider alternatives to Ipe like  and Massaranduba. For now Ipe remains the best solution for a long lasting and beautiful deck, but in the future we must consider what price to your wallet and the environment is really acceptable.
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#### About Shannon Rogers
**Director of Marketing, J Gibson McIlvain Company**
Shannon is a wood nerd, nuff said. As a woodworker, furniture maker, podcaster, blogger, teacher, and Director of Marketing for one of the oldest Lumber companies in the country, he really can't stop talking about wood and the beautiful ways it can be used.
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# Value Engineering Millwork and Mouldings
Published: November 11, 2011 | Author: Shannon Rogers
!I’m decidedly biased in this statement but I’ll say it anyway.  Wood is beautiful.  Natural wood mouldings make an incredible statement in any home.  I think many will agree with me as we are seeing an increase in millwork jobs and the design styles in vogue are starting to feature more natural wood.  The issue however is that for several decades the growth of composite and engineered materials made many forget that wood is grown not made.  You cannot always get the sizes and exact color match that you get with an engineered product.  An intimate understanding of the lumber industry is often required to ensure the mouldings and designs in your head or on paper are achievable in the real world.
!Value engineering is a term that gets thrown around a bit in the construction industry and it refers to the practice of designing things like moulding size with wood species limitations in mind.  For example, 10 inch wide baseboard mouldings in Mahogany are possible but will be significantly more expensive than an 8 inch wide moulding due to sawing practices and the time required to cull the 10″ material from a much larger pack of average 6-8 inch Mahogany.  In the long run, will the extra 2 inches be noticed or missed from the finished baseboard?  Is that 2 inches worth the exponential increase in cost to the customer?  The savvy architect or designer will recognize these opportunities and re-engineer a specification to add greater value to their client.
## Color Matching Your Mouldings
The biggest issue we encounter is color matching.  Large runs of mouldings, flooring and paneling are bound to have color variation throughout.  If the initial blue prints call for single piece crown moulding for a 20 foot span, this may be possible but it will require sorting of a significant amount of lumber to get those lengths.  Once you find all the pieces necessary you find that none of the color is the same because you now have lumber from 7 or 8 different logs.  !!Each log can only yield so much long and/or wide lumber so it is guaranteed that several logs will be needed to meet the design specification.  For exotics species, regulations prohibit the import of logs in the US so the lumber supplier has very little control over the variety of color present in a container of lumber thus compounding this issue even further.  In other words, making the transition from wood sample or “swatch” to the finished room is a very big leap and the savvy designer will be aware of the extreme difficulty in getting everything to match perfectly.  These designers plan on incorporating a stain to unify everything or barring this, they specify a wood that have a more uniform color and grain pattern that can be more easily matched.
## Millwork Involves Many Players
Ultimately with so many variables in play with a naturally grown building product, the builder, architect, and designer need to communicate with their lumber supplier or millwork house to let them know which elements are most important to realize the vision.  The lumber expert can identify pitfalls and make suggestions that will make the design possible and sometimes more affordable.  It is the inconsistencies that come with using wood that truly make it so beautiful, and by working together with our customers we can make beautiful ideas a reality.
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# The Importer of Record
Published: July 1, 2011 | Author: Shannon Rogers
Over the last 4 weeks, we have talked about the regulations, obstacles, penalties, and relationships required to import lumber. It is a bumpy road from forest to your job site and to wrap up our series on lumber importing and the implications to the buyer and the environment, I wanted to offer a solution that should make all of this a whole lot easier.
## Buy your lumber from the Importer of Record
End markings on Ipe showing port of entry and Importer of Record, J. Gibson McIlvain
What does this mean?  The importer of record is essentially the owner of the lumber as it comes into this country.  In the simplest terms buying from the importer of record means fewer hands on the lumber and a more direct line to the forest and source.  Every entity that touches that lumber can muddy up the process and most certainly will take a bit of a cut of the profit off the top.  There is lumber sitting in your local yard that has been received and shipped by 10-15 different companies and touched 3 and 4 continents on its way to that lumber rack.  Every exporter, shipper, local tax, storage cost, wholesaler, distributor, dealer, manufacturer, and even contractor has contributed to the price you pay.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that buying direct from the importer of record will be dramatically cheaper as that importer has to absorb all of the same costs.  The fact that they do it in house can definitely contribute to keeping prices down.
More importantly however as indicated by our last post on the , knowing where your lumber came from is vitally important.  Having fewer stops along the way and businesses getting involved will allow the ultimate user to be able to state with confidence that they know their lumber was harvested legally and responsibly.  The same can be said for .  Extra diligence is needed here and the importer or record has done the leg work.
## The Importer of Record makes your job easier
So after 4 weeks of tracing the lumber trail, here is our first semblance of a sales pitch: J. Gibson McIlvain ***is*** the importer of record on our exotic hardwoods.  We have a clear line of sight into where our lumber comes from, how it was harvested, who did the harvesting, the long term sustainability plans for that species, extensive knowledge of the species, and over 200+ years of relationships with the sawmills.  This pedigree goes a very long way to ensuring you get legal lumber of the highest quality at a market price.  Just to sweeten the deal, we will air dry and kiln dry it, mill it, mould it if applicable, and ship it nationwide.
In other words if you are already a J. Gibson McIlvain customer, don’t worry about the previous posts on ensuring legality and environmental responsibility.  We’ve got you covered.  If you are not a customer then maybe it’s time you became one.
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