Meet Rex Condie and LaVor Smith of Wine Glass Bar Sawmill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rex Condie and LaVor Smith.

Rex and LaVor, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Wine Glass Bar Sawmill is part of the “urban lumber” craze—where sawmills in metropolitan areas are “repurposing” trees used in landscaping and turning them into lumber for mantels and counter tops, fine furniture, clocks, flooring, plaques and more.

According to co-owner Rex Condie, the way the sawmill ended up in Phoenix was sort of a fluke. “My cousin, LaVor [Smith] wanted to build a barn in Utah,” Rex says. “He wanted to use beautiful, rustic wood, and you can’t buy that kind from any retail lumber or home improvement stores.” Smith found information about a new type of band sawmill being used by serious hobbyists to mill lumber for furniture and crafts and asked Condie, long-time owner of a Phoenix welding company called Conrex, (dba Burn a Rod) if he could build such a sawmill.

Condie set to work, happy to be involved in something he had become familiar with as a young boy in Preston, Idaho. “When I was growing up, Dad loved to go into the national forest and get trees. They would sell them for 50 cents each when they wanted them thinned out. A good percentage of our barns, managers and calf pens were from that lumber.” The sawmill Condie constructed worked like a charm. “We put the first tree on it, and it cut perfectly,” he said.

However, the rest of their plan was flawed. The city in Utah where Smith lived would not grant him a permit for a sawmill on his property. That’s when the cousins discovered a Plan B that offered an exciting alternative. “We found there was a need and an important reason for a sawmill in Phoenix,” Smith said. “Often trees are blown down during the monsoons, die because of disease or insects, or mature trees need to be removed for new construction or when their roots begin damaging driveways or foundations,” he said. “We heard an estimate once that 100 trees a day come down in the Phoenix area,” Condie said. “And, that means hundreds of thousands of pounds of wood are being chipped or used for firewood or unnecessarily–and at great expense to tree removal companies–are going to the landfill. Instead, with a sawmill, we saw we could salvage these trees, repurpose them and put them to good use,” Condie said.

Since the cousins had both worked on their grandfather’s ranch, “We chose to use his brand, Wine Glass Bar, as the name of our mill,” Smith said. “Grandpa used to joke, ‘It’s a wine glass without the wine.’ He never drank, but he was quite proud of his brand.” Wine Glass Bar Sawmill was born and, in the four years since its inception, has continued to grow and to improve the service it offers. Condie explains that many species of trees in the Phoenix area have been imported from various parts of the world. Sissoo, for example, is a true rosewood from Madagascar, and is “used in making musical instruments and turned items and is some of the finest wood you can use in furniture.” Also found in the Valley is acacia, African sumac, silk oak and olive, among others. Mesquite trees, too, have beautiful wood, Rex says.

Wine Glass Bar Sawmill works with arborists, tree removal companies or individuals who have trees they need to be removed. “We have the equipment to pick up the large, millable logs and take them to the mill.” To be millable, a log must be at least 12” in diameter, and, with the recent addition of a new saw, they can mill logs up to 5′ in diameter and up to 20’ long. For the best-finished product, “drying the lumber properly, is equally important as the cutting,” Rex added. “We have a computerized kiln and the expertise specific to the conditions and the species found in Arizona, so we can do what no one else in Arizona is able to do.”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any time you work with natural resources–and any time you work with a new, up-and-coming idea–there are some challenges along the way. Our first challenge was to find the trees to mill, so we focused on working to establish relationships with several tree removal companies and land developers, and some of the municipalities in the Phoenix metro area. Once we had managed to develop fairly steady sources of trees to mill, we next had to turn our focus to find the customers for the beautiful and unique lumber we had to offer.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Wine Glass Bar Sawmill – what should we know?
“It’s been fun creating a business that didn’t exist in Phoenix and to see that we have been able to offer a tremendous service–one that is greatly appreciated by those we do business with. People appreciate knowing we can take a resource that had been looked at almost as a liability and turn it into an asset,” Rex said.

Wine Glass Bar Sawmill was recently featured in a documentary, called ‘Felled,’ that is available for viewing on Amazon now. The documentary also included Norm Abrams, of ‘This Old House’ fame and tells the story behind the urban lumber movement.

We are proud to say that–as two mature retirees–we have created a new business that is not only environmentally helpful, but that also helps take people back to former times when it was much more common to participate in building and woodworking and to have items in the house that allowed people to enjoy the beauty and warmth of wood.

We find many people who work behind a desk are envious that we are involved in something that is so hands-on and creative–while being able to offer unique and beautiful products that are useful to others.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Since both of us had owned or managed businesses in the past, we had a pretty good idea of what would contribute to a successful business. We also had a strong desire to make it work and we soon found how worthwhile and rewarding it was to run this kind of a business.

We also were determined to minimize debt while growing our business and to carefully weigh options when it came to adding new equipment. For example, we use a forklift every day but chose to buy one that was used that we could still get some good use out of. On the other hand, when it came to our kiln, we knew we wanted a top of the line, state of the art unit that would allow us to dry wood properly for the specific conditions in Arizona.

Above all, we have tried to be fair, to honor our word and to treat our customers the way we like to be treated.

Contact Info:

• Address: 4048 East Air Lane Phoenix, AZ 85034
• Website: www.wineglassbarsawmill.com
• Phone: Rex – 602-689-8620 and LaVor – 623-208-9578
• Email: wineglassbarsawmill@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wineglassbarsawmill/

Image Credit:
Cecily Condie

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