HARMONY, Maine – Customers of Thomas Firewood can choose kiln-dried, seasoned, or unseasoned wood. It’s good to have choices.
In fact, in a relatively new venture Thomas Firewood offers another option: shrink-wrapped firewood bundles for campgrounds. It’s all about being a reliable vendor, explained Derek Thomas, owner of the company.
“We cut, split and deliver firewood,” said Derek, summarizing what his company does. His father, Doug, started the business in 2000. “I was there pretty much from the beginning,” said Derek.
Why did Doug launch Thomas Firewood? “He saw a demand,” explained Derek. At the time father and son were driving log trucks. They were hauling tree-length saw logs to mills. However, the work slowed considerably in the summer.
Today, Thomas Firewood operates with a full-time team of six employees that includes Derek and Doug. They also have a part-time mechanic who does fabrication and welding. The business is located in Harmony, a small town in central Maine, about 50 miles northwest of Bangor.
Processing firewood on company’s newest Multitek 2025 machine, which uses a circular slasher saw for bucking.
Father and son began working full-time in the business shortly after they started it. Today Derek oversees the day-to-day operations of the business. He may be interacting with customers, delivering firewood, running equipment, or answering the phone and taking orders. His father, 75, still works; he drives a truck to pick up a load of logs, picks up parts, and other tasks. “He won’t slow down,” said Derek. His stepmother, Linda, also takes some phone calls and firewood orders.
With the know-how and pieces in place for building, Derek and Doug decided to construct a dry kiln to kiln-dry firewood. They built the first about four years ago. They used scrap wood to heat it. The first do-it-yourself kiln taught the team a lot, explained Derek, although it caught fire and burned to the ground. They built a second one from two shipping containers, but it, too, caught fire, and the flames left the containers. The Thomases are rebuilding it.
After that experience they decided to turn to a kiln company to supply a firewood kiln. They chose North Carolina-based Kiln-Direct. Two years ago they invested in a Kiln-Direct TinyQuick firewood Kiln, the newest – and smallest – model from the supplier. Customers also can choose from natural gas if available.
Thomas Firewood kiln-dries about 20 percent of its firewood production. However, that figure is likely to grow quickly. “Anyone who tries kiln-dried doesn’t want anything else,” said Derek.
Kiln-Direct, located in Burgaw, N.C., manufactures not only kilns for drying firewood but also kilns for drying lumber and kilns for heat-treating pallets. It leads other U.S. manufacturers in the production of pallet kilns, according to the company.
The company has been running this Multitek model 2025 firewood processor for 24 years. It is scheduled to be replaced with a new Multitek model 2040XP2.
Just as Thomas Firewood gives its customers options – green, seasoned, or kiln-dried in firewood – so, too, does Kiln-Direct give its customers options. Kilns reflect well-thought-out variety in sizes, loading schemes, sources of heat, and logistical controls.
Moreover, Kiln-Direct continues to respond to what it learns and hears from customers. Its recent introduction of the TinyQuick kiln is a good example. “We first decided to manufacture this smaller size when we heard from one of our customers about a smaller-sized kiln on the market,” said Maury Wilkinson, sales representative at Kiln-Direct. Seeing a niche market for a kiln smaller than its compact MiniQuick, Kiln-Direct decided to manufacture a kiln to serve that market segment. And to make it easy for the TinyQuick user to grow.
“Once we decided to make a small kiln, we wanted to allow our customers to grow into our large kiln models seamlessly,” primarily by using the same logistics and metal baskets for loading and unloading the kins. The TinyQuick also uses the same software control system as the company’s larger kilns.
The TinyQuick can be a good fit for a business where firewood is not the primary product, noted Maury. It could be a landscape business, tree service company, mulch producer, or a logger who generates a small revenue stream from firewood.
The Kiln-Direct TinyQuick can dry a load of firewood in about 36-48 hours. It can dry up to two or three cords of firewood at a time, up to nine cords per week; in a year, that amounts to 300-400 cords. The firewood is loaded by forklift in six metal baskets that hold a half-cord each. The wood is dried to 14-15 percent moisture content, depending on the species and conditions.
Many of the Thomas Firewood customers who buy the kiln-dried firewood are using it to heat their homes in winter. Beside drying about 20 percent of its firewood production, Thomas Firewood sells about 40 percent seasoned and 40 percent green. Thomas Firewood delivers across the state of Maine.
Doug chose Kiln-Direct after seeing a MiniQuick kiln in operation at a trade show in Bangor in 2023. He bought the unit that was being demonstrated and had it delivered immediately after the show.
“The people at Kiln-Direct are fantastic,” said Derek. The Kiln-Direct team helped Thomas Firewood resolve an issue with the unsteady power supply it has at its site. Power companies cannot easily switch transformers as they do in populated areas when a tree takes a line down. Compensating for power fluctuations is a must.
Thomas Firewood recently added equipment and operations to supply campgrounds with shrink-wrapped bundles of firewood for campers. Derek bought the shrink-wrapping machine used. In addition to that venture, the company now supplies a pizzeria with firewood for the pizza oven.
Still, for now, most sales are made to customers who use it to heat their homes. In fact, before Doug started Thomas Firewood, he heated his house and his shop entirely with firewood. The house had a wood-fed boiler, and the shop had forced air heat. Each burned 10 to 12 cords per year.
From left to right, Pete Peterson, Christopher Bemis, company founder Doug Thomas, Doug’s son, Derek, owner,and Eric Page. Pete, Chris, and Eric operate and maintain equipment.
So Derek and Doug had a lot of experience with firewood before deciding to start a firewood business. One thing experience taught them – among other things – was the importance of clean firewood. They prefer to buy logs – mainly tree-length – from fully mechanized loggers because they supply “nice, clean wood,” said Derek. “We try to stay so that we’re not selling a lot of muddy wood.”
The wood may be clean. However, it’s not perfect, of course. “We do a lot of big, ugly wood,” said Derek. “We buy off a high-grade wood yard.”
If it’s not a good saw log or too big for chipping – and clean – the wood is a good fit for Thomas Firewood. The main species the company buys are yellow birch, red oak and maple.
“In winter, customers request ash,” said Derek. “It’s the best to burn green.” And customers on limited budgets must often choose green to economize.
Since the inception of the business, a Multitek firewood processor has been the machine at the center of the firewood production operations. There’s a good reason. “They are the Cadillac of firewood processors,” said Derek.
Doug was drawn to the brand when Multitek exhibited at the Northeastern Forest Products Equipment Expo in Bangor 25 years ago. “Dad decided it was the best,” said Derek. His father bought a Multitek model 2025 firewood processor after the show and has been running it ever since – 24 years. They plan to replace it soon with a Multitek model 2040XP2, which will provide a bump-up in horsepower. Thomas Firewood also has a second Multitek model 2025.
Powered by a John Deere 125 hp diesel engine, the Multitek 2040XP2 is a significant step above the Multitek 2025 model, which is powered by a 99 hp engine. The Multitek 2040XP2 can produce 4.5 to 7 cords of firewood per hour.
Multitek, based in Prentice, Wisconsin, has been manufacturing firewood processing machines for 41 years. It offers models for homeowners and commercial firewood businesses. For example, the Lil Beaver 14 model can process one cord per hour with its 13 hp engine. That’s a good fit for a homeowner. At the other end of the spectrum is the Multitek 3040XP2, a model for firewood businesses that can handle logs up to 32 inches in diameter.
The business is located on about 50 acres. One of the firewood processors is under roof in a pole barn and the other, with an enclosed operator cab, is outside. (The third machine currently is not in use.) They also have a 40×60 shop with two bays.
The company has five medium duty trucks with dump bodies for deliveries. For customers who come to their wood yard, Thomas Firewood will help them load a pickup truck by hand and use a skid steer for loading if they have a trailer to fill.
Thomas Firewood has a website and uses it to promote its reliability, experience and dedication.
“The customer is always right,” said Derek, summing up the philosophy that guides him and his father. “Good wood at a fair price” is the business philosophy of Thomas Firewood.
“I love delivering the wood,” said Derek. “Everyone is very happy to see me, very appreciative.” It’s particularly gratifying to be able to deliver firewood to those who need it for home heating, said Derek – especially when a customer did not think they would be able to locate more firewood.
Derek will turn 53 in July. He is very happy with his leadership role at Thomas Firewood. “We take pride in our work,” said Derek. “I love coming to work.”
In his free time Derek enjoys the outdoors. “I like to sit around a campfire – and to hunt and fish,” said Derek.
