Our Wood, Our Craft
It all starts with a passion for the wood.”
—Don Carlisle
Family Crafted
Have you ever studied a piece of beautiful fresh-milled wood? Not just admired it, but really studied it? What story did the grain tell you? The natural color variations? The imperfections?
Here at Carlisle Wide Plank Floors, our entire business has been built by continually — and passionately — studying wood. On a regular basis, I’ll walk over to our manufacturing facility and we’ll shut down the big machines and all gather ‘round in a circle, take a board we’re milling for a particular job and talk about it — what that particular species of wood and the manner in which we treat it will ultimately mean to that individual customer. Because every one of us is just as dedicated to bringing out the full potential of each board as my Dad was forty-two years ago when he started the company.
That’s why our end product is so much more than just a floor. It is nothing less than a true representation of traditional folk art, lovingly crafted and destined to become a treasured family heirloom. Because of this, we take a personal interest in each of our customers — their lifestyles, the type of homes they live in, the kind of looks they have in mind. It sounds so simple to say, but we want to treat them the way we would like to be treated.
The same goes for all the good, enthusiastic and highly skilled people who work here. We try to maintain a real family atmosphere because I believe that kind of working environment leads to better end results. And though we don’t have a formal Carlisle mission statement, we do have a promise. One board at a time, one project at a time, one customer at a time. That’s another thing we’re really passionate about.
One Board at a Time.
It’s no exaggeration to say that from the time one of our rough-sawn boards arrives at our mill to the time the finished floor reaches one of our customers, it will have come under the demanding scrutiny of more than a half-dozen different people — sometimes many more than that, depending on how it is finished.
Skilled craftsmen.
People who know wood and whose hands and eyes are dedicated to bringing out the maximum potential of each individual board — making sure that its unique beauty has been fully expressed. They envision how each completed wide plank floor will look when installed and are guided by this vision throughout the milling process. If for any reason a board doesn’t please them entirely, it will never be a part of your floor.
McKenna Lumber Company
Photo: Clark Kinsey