B&M Wood Products was started by Fred Blackledge and Roy Musgrove in 1966 as a post mill. They had a peeling operation and a creosote retort for pressure treating the posts. The posts were cut by small crews using a chainsaw and farm tractors. They used the suppressed trees from Southern Yellow Pine forests because they were very dense and straight—perfect for fence posts.
In 1974, B&M Wood Products was purchased from Fred and Roy. At the time, B&M Wood Products had sales of $400,000 and employed 8 people. In 1978, another retort was installed to treat using CCA since creosote was becoming more expensive. Also, we installed a ring-type debarker, and the production and sales increased 50% over the next three years. In 1984, a pole peeler was installed to peel larger “barn” fence poles, ranging from 4” to 8” in diameter and up to 25’ long.