Viridian Wood Products launches reclaimed veneer panels

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Joe Mitchoff, left, and Pierce Henley this year introduced a veneer panel made from recycled wood.

Viridian Wood Products is reaching into new markets with the recent launch of what's thought to be the world's first reclaimed wood veneer.

Joe Mitchoff and Pierce Henley, co-founders of Portland-based Viridian, spent two years testing and developing a way to affix thinly sliced pieces of reclaimed, refinished wood to a lightweight medium-density fiberboard.

Now the Oregon-made veneer panels are ready for market and Viridian is working on finding a channel partner to help them sell the panels to furniture makers and builders.

The new product will augment an already growing business of diverting discarded wood from the landfill and turning it into beautiful flooring, tables and counter tops. Viridian's wood covers the floors at the new Trader Vic's in Portland's Pearl District and tables at the Thirsty Lion in Washington Square and the Starbucks in Downtown Portland's First and Main building.

The reclaimed veneer 4-foot-by-8-foot- panels were requested by one of Viridian's store fixture clients, B&N Industries. Because the reclaimed wood is used more sparingly in the veneer product, it has the potential to become a big part of Viridian's business.

Viridian got its start in 2004 when Mitchoff and Henley started reclaiming wood.

It started with an abandoned pile of wood discovered in Henley's Scappoose back yard. After a relentless round of inquiries, Henley traced the wood back to the Port of Portland. He asked if there was any more of it and was pointed to a row of dumpsters. Viridian's salvage operation was born.

Today the company operates out of a storefront on Northeast Broadway and a warehouse in St. Johns where three full-time employees and a variable passel of contract workers sort through dumpsters of shipping debris.

Viridian sources 75 percent of its wood through the ports of Portland and Vancouver, taking in huge dumpsters of mixed wood and metal and sorting through it to find the wood that makes up its product line.

That reliance means that a slowdown in the economy proved challenging for Viridian in late 2008 and 2009.

"Literally our ships didn't come in," Mitchoff said.

Other wood sources include discarded redwood barrels from California's wine country and discarded wood such as gym bleachers.

Viridian works with local contractors to finish the wood.

"We support our local mills," Henley said. "We partner when we can and where we can."

Viridian has achieved Forest Stewardship Council's chain of custody certification for its recycled wood.

About 40 percent of the company's sales come from Oregon and Washington, with pockets of Viridian fans elsewhere in the country. Mitchoff and Henley expect to surpass $1 million in sales for the first time in 2012.

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