Lumber Slingers

Bots and Boards kicks off with the man who was warning everyone about AI back when nobody wanted to hear it. Charles Jennings, author of Artificial Intelligence: Rise of the Light Speed Learners and former CEO of NeuralEye, joins Natalie and Chelsea to explain what AI really is, why researchers call it a black box inside a black box, and what “math cookies” have to do with training it. He also lays out a plan overseas aimed squarely at wood products that the industry should be watching. Then the practical stuff: whether the doomers have a point, how to get a skeptical company to use AI without trying to boil the ocean, and the question everyone’s asking at dinner, whether AI can ever be conscious. He even splits his own firewood, so he counts as one of us. Like and subscribe so you don’t miss parts two and three, and reach out anytime at [email protected].

Two lumber podcasts walk into a newswire. Ashley Boeckholt of The Lumber Word joins Natalie, Chelsea, and Trent to announce something big for the 30th NAWLA Traders Market in Anaheim. Ashley was at the very first Traders Market, and he has stories: wild cab rides, protesters, and the tech booths hidden in a corner. Trent then runs the week’s news. There’s an acquisition with a confusing name, Canada’s first robotic roof truss line (Natalie disappears to find the video), a sawmill expansion, and what we’re officially calling CFO Appointment Season. Ashley also gets his first taste of the headshot rating panel. Plus diesel pain, Oregon’s pump-your-own-gas era, an unexpected Bucky’s fan club, and where mortgages and lumber landed this week. Find The Lumber Word on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. If you liked this one, like and subscribe, and send us your questions or thoughts at [email protected].

This episode is sponsored by Valon Kone. Natalie and Chelsea go international with Sebastien, Teemu and Shanna of Valon Kone, the Finnish family company that went from hand-peeling logs after World War II to running debarkers in sawmills around the world. We get into why bark is a bigger deal for your chips and your saws than most people think, how you fit a debarker into a shipping container, and what a mill manager with a thirty-year-old machine is really signing up for. Plus where cameras and AI are headed on the mill floor, the species debarkers love and the ones they hate.. Like and subscribe, and send your questions to [email protected].

More information on Valon Kone? Visit: www.valonkone.com

Trent’s adding life coach to the résumé, starting with some hard-won advice about puppy yoga and black pants. Natalie and Chelsea report from a team build that had more “blessings” than yoga. The crew also takes on Elon’s flying roadster and the great FedEx vs. UPS feud, then gets into the business news: the new softwood lumber duty and tariff rates taking effect Monday, composite decking changing hands again, RP Lumber and Kamps adding locations, another mill closure in the Mountain West, and a patent attorney taking over at PABCO. Stick around for gas prices with brand new intro music, mortgage rates, a neighborhood housing check from three markets, and a preview of next week’s costume episode. Like and subscribe, leave us a comment and reach out anytime at [email protected].

Roseburg native Rick Sohn grew up in the family sawmill his German-baker father built from scratch, one of the first computerized sawmills anywhere, and later ran Lone Rock Timber. He joins Natalie and Chelsea to talk about Forest Bridges, the group he co-founded that puts timber people and conservationists at the same table to find a better way to manage BLM lands. We get into why the old growth reserves are burning faster than they can grow, what 3,000 years of pollen tells us about how Oregon’s forests used to look, and where Forest Bridges thinks the upcoming BLM western Oregon plan should land compared to the target that’s been making headlines. There’s also the story of how Rick spent his first year in silviculture working as a getaway driver for a forester who had too many speeding tickets. To learn more or become a friend of Forest Bridges, visit forestbridges.org. If you enjoyed the episode, like and subscribe, and reach out to us anytime at [email protected].

Lumber Slingers is back after an unplanned two weeks off, and Trent has a score to settle with FedEx. Before we get to the news, we cover a haircut gone very wrong, Natalie’s diesel habit, and a tour of Trent’s china cabinet. Then we get into it: a sawmill is shutting down and going out with class, RONA has a new CEO, and ABC Supply is changing its Chief Information Officer. Trent also starts a new gas price segment, so get ready to wince at the pump. We cover mortgage rates and applications, explain what a looper is, and check on lumber prices, which Trent calls boring. Like and subscribe, and reach out to us at [email protected].

Allison DeFord of the North American Forest Foundation (NAFF) joins Natalie and Chelsea to talk about what the next generation actually believes about trees, and what it takes to change that one classroom at a time. Trent is out this week but sent his homework, so we still get into a Fed decision nobody saw coming three years ago, a Canadian curveball out of Brussels, two mill investments worth celebrating, a new name at the top of a big wood company, and yes, a headshot grade.

NAFF is the industry's nonprofit teaching kids the truth about trees. Its Truth About Trees kits go to K-5 classrooms free, funded entirely by donors, and there is a waitlist a lot longer than you would guess. Donate at northamericanforestfoundation.org, and check whether your employer matches, because a lot of them do.

Like and subscribe wherever you listen, and reach out anytime at [email protected].

Lumber Slingers is back after a long summer break, and Natalie, Chelsea, and Trent waste no time getting the band back together, sound effects and all. Between Italian ER visits, Scottish forestry trips, and a fight over who gets to press the air horn button, the crew digs into the trade war chaos that took over the summer: tariffs moving in both directions, USMCA in limbo and the AR7 final rates landing in October. They also cover two more mill closures, one class act response, and a little good news out of the media side of the industry. Rusty, unfiltered, and better than ever. Like and subscribe so you do not miss what is coming next, and reach out any time at [email protected].

This week's Newswire hits different. The crew opens with a heartfelt tribute to Robbins Lumber and the community rallying around them after a devastating fire — a reminder of what really matters in this industry. Then Trent steers the ship (loosely) through lumber pricing that's about as exciting as a flat board, mortgage rates that just hit a nine-month high right as summer heats up, and gas prices that are making everyone reconsider their life choices. Kevin Warsh is officially in the Fed chair seat, and Natalie has opinions. There's also a full Costco tangent, a Taco Bell social commentary detour, and somewhere in there dead-face Gen Z, and what jobs will even exist in five years. Like and subscribe, and reach out to the crew at [email protected] — they want to hear from you.