Owners: Phillip Darden and Kevin Griffith
Location: Southeastern Virginia
Phone: 757.647.9432
Bronco member Phillip Darden always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Six years ago he started his own tree service. Two years ago, he parlayed that experience into co-owning his own logging company.
“Kevin Griffith and I own the company together,” says Darden. “Kevin was working for Davis Logging in Courtland and their business got so big, they were trying to sell off three of his jobs. So Kevin and I bought one.” Darden went to work for Davis for a year to learn the ropes of the business, and now they are off and running.
Two X Logging is involved mostly with cutting hardwood trees and transporting them to various sources for a number of uses. “We haul some wood to Franklin, to the paper mill,” says Darden. International Paper operates the integrated Kraft pulp and paper mill which manufactures offset paper, postcard paper, one-sided coated paper which is later converted into book covers, envelope paper, brown Kraft envelope paper, Kraft bag paper, office paper and forms paper.
“We also contract through Virginia-Carolina Forest Products, Inc. in Lawrenceville. With hardwood, you’ve got your veneer hardwood logs that you cut for furniture and graded hardwood lumber.”
Veneer logs include red oak, white oak, yellow poplar, hard maple, ash, hickory, sap gum, walnut and Southern yellow pine. Veneers are very thin layers (about 3 mm thick) of wood used to give furniture and other materials (like vehicle interiors) a fine wood grain appearance without the expense of using solid wood materials.
Veneers can be used on functional kitchen cabinets to give them an updated look without replacing the cabinets entirely, and veneers are used for such things as parquet flooring and to make plywood (layers of wood veneer glued together).
Graded hardwood lumber is also used for things like fine furniture (such as dining room sets and bedroom furniture) and cabinets, but is more expensive and considerably heavier.
Darden notes that starting a business in this economy can be tough, but it is possible to succeed. “The way times are right now, I don’t think financially we could have started a log job from scratch. Good fortune and good people helped us out.”
Some of that good fortune came from being a member of Bronco. “Most of our dealings have been with Rob Purvis,” says Darden. “He gave us a loan for a few road trucks and a trailer. It’s been very good working with him.”
Darden also likes the fact that doing business with Bronco is like working with a member of the family. “We’ve got a trucking account and a logging account there. When you go in, it’s like home. Everybody knows you and they call you by name. It’s just really nice to visit with them. And they’re all very good to work with.”
