Coomer and Sons Sawmill

Coomer & Sons Sawmill was founded by Charles L. Coomer, in 1978. Charles bought the business when it was financially ailing. Charles learned the business was for sale from a friend, a banker who had repossessed it. The business had a forklift, a radial arm saw and some customers. Charles began buying pallet material and assembling pallets by hand with pneumatic nailing tools. He had four or five employees when he started.

 

In the late 1970s, Charles operated the business out of a garage and barn with a few saws. Later he bought a gang-rip and cut-off saw. Then he bought tables to increase pallet assembly. The company continued to grow and moved to its current location in 1978. In 1981 Coomer & Sons bought its first sawmill, a Meadows Mill portable sawmill; they ran it for a few years but outgrew it. Over the years the company added trucking capability, too; today Coomer & Sons owns five semi-tractors and several trailers.​

 

Coomer & Sons buys hardwood logs from logging contractors. Sometimes it sends company trucks to a logging job or wood yard to pick up logs. Along with pallet production, Coomer & Sons also sells mulch from the grindings, extra wood pieces not needed for the pallet, mixed with bark from the logs. Another by-product that is sold to customers is the sawdust. These two operations vary by season, in the summer months mulch is a higher demand than sawdust and vice-versa in the winter months.​

 

The company buys cottonwood, hickory, poplar, maple, oak and other species. “Anything you can think of, we cut,” Jeff said. “We’re not particular since it’s going to pallets.” The company buys 5 million board feet of logs a year.​

 

Pallet assembly operations are automated with a Viking Duo-Max nailing machine. It produces between 1,800 and 2,000 pallets a day. Custom pallets, small orders and other specialty products, such as boxes or crates, are assembled by hand with Stanley-Bostitch pneumatic nailing tools. The company uses Mid Continent bulk nails and Stanley-Bostitch bulk and collated nails.​

 

Coomer & Sons Sawmill has a Kiln-Direct heat-treating system that enables them to supply heat-treated pallets needed by companies that ship overseas. In fact, most of their customers require export pallets, so heat-treating is a necessity.​

 

Coomer and Sons Sawmill is built on a strong Faith and Family foundation, and we only hope to continue with those same values for many generations to come.