(931) 258-3944
(800) 844-3944
About Our Company
GF Hardwoods – Quality Lumber with a Commitment to Service
GF Hardwoods is a supplier of hardwood lumber for domestic and international customers. Our company has been serving the wood manufacturing industry since 1979 by providing Appalachian hardwood products in eight species and a choice of thicknesses. GF Hardwoods customers include hardwood flooring companies, cabinetmakers and manufacturers, furniture companies and individual purchasers. We also sell to customers who operate concentration yards and distribution centers.
G.F. Hardwoods has served thousands of customers by remaining true to our core values and our mission: providing a quality product at a fair price and being there for our customers. Quality is our number one priority. The lumber we produce is not only high-yielding, it is consistent in color. That’s because logs for our lumber are acquired within a 30-50 mile radius of our plant. We obtain our hardwood lumber directly from our own support company, Moss Sawmills, which operates a milling operation within our company’s wood products complex in Moss, Tennessee.
Our Beginning
The late Doug Smith, GF Hardwoods’ founder, developed an appreciation for wood products from his father, Lemuel, who operated a sawmill to supplement income from the family farm.
“Dad put the sawmill in during the 1940s,” recalled Doug, who grew up not too far away from the wood industry complex the Smith companies now occupy in Clay County, Tennessee. “It wasn’t much but just enough to keep some money coming in during the off-season. By the time I was 11, I found myself in the mill, working with dad and the few people we had on-hand to mill the lumber.”
By the time Doug earned a degree in engineering from nearby Tennessee Technological University, his father had stopped operating the mill. After a few years in the professional world, Doug decided to return home to start up the sawmill again. Moss Sawmills was founded in 1968. Additionally, Green Forest Wood Products, a service company, started with only a handful of employees, focusing on supplying milled products for area businesses.
“Something about working with the wood just appealed to me,” Doug said. “It was like I was being called to discover how I could combine that appreciation with what I learned in school.”
It took a few years, but eventually, Doug found the answer to that burning call. In 1974, Doug and his father decided to use some of the mill’s larger logs to build a log home for Doug and wife Janie. That was the first of what would become many over the next four decades with the founding of Honest Abe Log homes in 1979. GF Hardwoods was also founded that year to process lumber for shipment across the country and the globe.
Since Doug’s passing in 2011, Janie and their children, Shane Smith and April Smith Patterson, have been at the helm of the group of Smith family-owned companies. These include wood industry related businesses such as GF Hardwoods, Moss Sawmills, Honest Abe Log Homes, Southern Timbercraft, Barky Beaver Mulch & Soil Mix and several other enterprises and farms.
GF HARDWOODS PRODUCES QUALITY LUMBER
Who We Are
Our team of employees at GF Hardwoods is committed to quality in production, selection, shipping, pricing and customer service. Both companies have operated for more than 40 years, and several of our employees have been part of the team for decades. Employees at GF Hardwoods efforts are tightly coordinated by the management team to ensure that quality standards are met and exceeded throughout the process. There’s also a commitment by the companies’ leadership to provide a safe work environment for all employees. This commitment is rewarded with incentives and gifts for maintaining safety standards.
GF Hardwoods is one of several family-owned businesses, including sawmills, lumber production, mulch, log home and timber frame manufacturing and wood component sales. We understand the wood business, and we work together as a team to make sure every customer has the best product possible as well as the customer service they deserve.
We invite you to meet our GF Hardwoods employees by reading a little about them below. We’re proud of our employees and realize that their hard work makes the products we offer desirable to our clients and something we can all be proud of.
The Team at GF Hardwoods
MEET THE DOUG SMITH FAMILY
After the passing of Doug Smith in September 2011, the family continues the legacy with a passion for serving customers and their employees. Janie Smith still works in the day to day operations along side her son, Shane Smith, daughter April Smith Patterson, & son-in-law, Dr. Nick Patterson. Shane's wife Lesley is an incredible guidance counselor at the local K-8 school, and we look forward to welcoming Isaac, Eli, Andrew, Lily, and Axel into the family businesses when they are ready!
Our Team's Commitment to Quality: We hire the best people available (the backbone of our business) and train them appropriately. We constantly update our equipment, upgrade our technology and make other changes that demonstrate to our clients that – even after four decades in business – we remain current and are prepared for the future.
