Niche in air-dried wood

FILLING A NICHE: Newport Nautical Timbers President Mike duPont operates a sawmill at his company, which produces air-dried timber used for boat building and furniture. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY
FILLING A NICHE: Newport Nautical Timbers President Mike duPont operates a sawmill at his company, which produces air-dried timber used for boat building and furniture. / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY

Newport Nautical Timbers produces air-dried timber for boat building, furniture and other uses, filling a vacuum in the market, President Mike duPont says.

DuPont co-founded the company in 2011 with a fellow graduate of International Yacht Restoration School in Newport who has since left the firm, duPont said.

Coming from the school, learning how to build wooden boats and then working in the wooden-boat field after graduating, duPont discovered, “There’s no place to buy wood because every place commercially has kiln-dried wood and what you need is air-dried.”

Drying the wood in kilns petrifies the wood, whereas air drying, which can take about a year, helps the wood retain moisture, duPont said.

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“Boat construction relies on wood to expand or swell with moisture and that creates a water-tight seal,” he explained. “A kiln-dried product won’t do that.”

To air-dry wood, special sticks called “stickers” are laid down on the board so other boards can be stacked on top. Employees place a sticker every linear foot. The firm also uses specially molded stickers instead of rectangular ones, so there’s less contact with the wood and better air flow, duPont said.

Though he declined to disclose annual revenue, duPont says the success of the business is in the care taken in buying, drying, milling and selling planks of wood up to 52 inches in width and up to 45 feet in length and getting “good feedback” from customers.

“We’ve been able to find material, dry it appropriately and provide clients with it,” he said.

The firm has a client base of more than 200 customers, predominantly in New England. About 50 to 60 of those are repeat clients, with the majority being boat builders. Other key segments of the market include furniture makers, homebuilders, restoration specialists, students and hobbyists, duPont said.

The company has both a warehouse and sawmill, and employs two individuals besides the owner who work full time, plus one part-timer.

The company gets its wood, including white oak for boat building, as well as walnut, cherry and maple, chiefly from New York state forests, but also from southern Ohio and Virginia. Sitka spruce from Alaska is used for masts. Imports include high-grade Honduran mahogany, he said.

Challenges include finding trees that are large enough and free of defects, the owner said.

DuPont, who calls himself a manufacturer and not a salesman, approaches the business by doing the job right and solving problems for customers, he said.

“We’re in business to sell wood, but the reality is, I’ve taught employees … not to sell as much wood as possible, but rather to help the client find the best solution for his or her needs,” duPont said. “That person will leave happy, their project will work out and they’ll come back.” •

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