NEW VINEYARD — The hum of machines punctuated by the sound of saws can be heard as workers at Maine Wood Concepts turned hardwood into specialty items Wednesday.

Brothers Wayne and Earl Fletcher bought a shuttered mill in 1971 in the heart of this rural town and began making mostly novelty-type turnings, including wooden dart barrels, toy wheels and candle cups, President Doug Fletcher, Wayne‘s son, said. The brothers and their wives, Faris and Laverne, respectively, were the only employees at the time, he said.

Eventually, Earl Fletcher sold his interest to Wayne. And in 1994, Doug and his brothers Gary and Jody bought the company from their father, Wayne.

The business continued a steady climb until about 2000, when it started to drop off, Doug Fletcher said. There were 80 employees. Also around that time Milton Bradley Co. discontinued its stacking game called Bandu, for which the Fletchers’ mill supplied the wooden pieces. And U.S. businesses also began to take work overseas to China, he said.

Now, the business is growing once again and will be recognized by peers in the Maine Wood Products Association with the Pine Tree Award on Aug. 7 at a celebration at the University of Maine at Farmington.

“Maine Wood Concepts is the leading U.S. manufacturer of custom wood turnings, wood tool handles and custom molded wood parts,” according to the association’s news release.

Today, there are 105 employees who make products that are sold internationally.

The majority of the manufacturing is done in two, large two-story buildings, with several warehouses, six kilns and a finishing department at the site.

The Fletchers have diversified and expanded their product lines, often by buying bits and pieces of other companies. They make specialty dowels, spatulas, piano bushings, toy parts, wooden handles, wooden nickels, and game and craft pieces. They also make parts for Lufkin folding rules.

In 2005, the Fletchers bought Northeast Wood Turning, the Lutz File & Tool Co., and the custom wood-turning division of Pride Manufacturing, which they renamed American Pride.

They changed their company’s banner name to Maine Wood Concepts, under which Maine Wood Turning, Inc., Fletchers’ Mill and Lutz File & Tool Co. operate.

Earlier this year, the Fletchers bought the Vic Firth Gourmet kitchen products line and renamed it Fletchers’ Mill. The line includes pepper and salt mills, muddlers and rolling pins. The hardwood pepper and salt mills are various colors and shapes, including lighthouses and snowmen. The company will eventually sell the pepper mills online at www.fletchersmill.com and from its main office.

Fletchers’ Mill also makes a specialty line of pepper and salt mills and rolling pins for Mario Batali, a top world chef, and the Border Grill line of mills.

Doug Fletcher and his brothers have worked their way up through the company,  learning all aspects of the business.

“A third generation is working their way up through the ranks now,” Doug Fletcher said.

He credits the dedication of quality employees, good business decisions and God for their continuing success.

“As Christians we strive to please the Lord in both our private and professional lives,” he said. “We all faithfully attend local churches and are supporters of those organizations. We know where our blessings come from and we’re quick to thank God for each one.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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