Redwood strong in furniture market

FTEDWOOD furniture is unique. fINo other furniture uses wood grown in only one place in the world. Almost no other furniture can be traced in origin to one of five manufacturers.

All of the redwood furniture found in the gardens, patios and leisure areas ofthe country originates in a region of Northern California called The Redwood Region. The majority of redwood casual furniture sold through home centers, patio shops, discount stores, department stores, mail order and catalog houses comes from Little Lake Industries, Harris of Pendleton, Crown Redwood Co., Inc., A. Brandt Co., Inc., or Vandy-Craft.

Little Lake and Crown Redwood Co., Inc. are located in the heart of the redwood producing area: Little I-ake, a division of U.S. Leisure, at Willits and Crown Redwood at Fortuna. Harris manufactures at Pendleton, Or., and A. Brandt Co., Inc. , at Fort Worth, Tx. Vandy-Craft is located in Chicago, Il.

Competing with metal, plastic and white wood in the outdoor furniture marketplace, redwood has gained favor in the past few years. It is especially popular on the East Coast, according to Dave Cubit, Little Lake industrial products manager, who explains this is due in part to the great mass of population located there and lllYlTlllc relaxation. redwood casual furniture f rom Linle Lake shows several popular pieces. Umbrella tables, lounges, lootrests and cqnbination cluirs and tables are best sellers nationwide. a more appreciative attitude towards redwood as a species.

The redwood furniture market is "nothing but growth," comments Jean Nichols at Crown Redwood. This firm, the newest in the redwood furniture market, is experiencing continued growth. Nichols credits redwood's popularity to it being a natural as well as a unique product.

The manufacturing process is virtually the same at all companies. Little Lake, called the world's largest manufacturer of redwood outdoor furniture, buys 25 to 30 million board feet of l0 to 20 foot lengths of redwood from neighboring mills each year, keeping several million board feet as an air drying yard inventory at

Story at a Glance

Redwood gains lavor in casual lurniture market manufacturer's reps aid dealers . appearance, durability, good performance attract. homeowners.

parts depends on the extent of the lines manufactured. For example, the inventory at Little Lake includes 725 wooden parts for 14 furniture lines.

Finished parts are matched according to product, packed in cartons and shipped to assembly plants located throughout the country by Little Lake and Harris. From these sites, the assembled furniture with cushions is sent to retailers. Furniture from Little Lake which is also sold with Sierra Leisure or house brand labels is assembled in Calhoun, Ga., Longview, Tx., Alexandria, In., Pottstown, Pa., and San Bernardino, Ca.

Crown Redwood assembles. cushions and packages its furniture in Fortuna. Sixty to 75 piggy back vans of completed furniture leave the plant each month enroute to warehouse distributors, according to Nichols. Their lines are marketed under the Crown Redwood label.

Sales staffs and reps spend a lot of time educating dealers on redwood furniture sales features. They all stress that redwood furniture is not an item which must be replaced each year. "If maintained as suggested, redwood will last for years," Cubit says. all times. After six to nine months in the yard, the redwood is transferred to dry kilns for two to four weeks of final drying. Crown buys most of its redwood ready to use since its kilns cannot keep up with production demand. Out of state companies have to transport the redwood to their manufacturing facilities.

Reasonable care includes protecting the wood with an oil base penetrating semi-transparent stain. This should be renewed after a light "kiss" sanding each year or so. Ifthe homeowner likes the natural silvery patina that bare redwood acquires, no finish is necessary since redwood is considered the ideal outdoor wood.

An essential maintenance step often overlooked is the tightening of the bolts. Contractions of the wood may loosen these, causing the furniture to become wobbly, but an annual spring tightening will keep it in good shape.

Redwood furniture manufacturers convey a special feeling about their unique product. A feeling shared by the retailers and consumers if one can judge by the success of the industry.

Dried lumber travels through a plant being cut, shaped and finished into the parts needed for outdoor furniture, including frame sides, arm rests and wheels. The number of