Two years ago, Michael Frankhauser was a burned out college student studying biology at the University of Toledo.
Today, he's having fun while standing the northwest Ohio tree industry on its head with sustainability practices he hopes will help his young company grow into a successful business.
Frankhauser says that when trees are trimmed or cut down, some of that wood is sold, but often it's given away just to get it off a tree-trimmers hands -- or, simply thrown away.
"The same thing with wood chips," Frankhauser says. "A lot of guys in Toledo dump them illegally. You go down a country road and there will be a big chip pile that goes completely wasted."
Now, some of those companies are giving Frankhauser their high-grade logs. He has friends cut the logs into lumber and then dries it in a solar kiln. At first, he was simply trying to re-sell the lumber, but notes that "there's already a lot of lumber out there."
More recently, he's been giving the wood away to craftsmen who turn it into fine furniture. They bring the furniture back to Frankhauser and he sells it, splitting the profits with the craftsmen 50-50.
But Frankhauser takes it one step further -- he requires those who make the furniture to bring him the scraps. Not only does that solve a disposal issue, but it's allowing Frankhauser to amass a volume of sawdust and scrap that he eventually hopes to sell to biomass plants as feedstock.
Frankauser says he's finally doing something he loves. He says he's helping the environment. And, with 35,000 board feet of kiln-dried lumber already in storage, he says he's poised for growth. He has one employee, but says he anticipates adding more next year.
"Every step I've taken, I've made money on. I absolutely see it growing."
Source: Michael Frankhauser, Woods to Woods
Writer: Gene Monteith