About Wood Castle

Norway then, Oregon now

Following their Norwegian and American ancestors’ furniture building traditions, the Loe family began Wood Castle Furniture in Oregon in 1978.

From a garage in Corvallis then … to a factory and showroom campus in nearby Albany now, Wood Castle has grown steadily for more than a quarter century. Over 40 employees help craft America’s finest bedroom and occasional table furniture for both retail and commercial clients.

A no-compromise passion for quality

Ron Loe, Wood Castle’s president and a founder, graduated from Oregon State University in the early 1970s and worked for a wood products mill as a factory representative. In travels around Oregon he witnessed the production of furniture substituting particleboard and plastic for higher quality (and cost) real wood.

Ron believed the cost/quality tradeoff was a fool’s bargain. He was convinced that he could build real wood furniture for discriminating buyers eager to pay a bit more for quality craftsmanship. Ron’s passion for building fine wood furniture had begun.

Ralph and Rita Loe, Ron’s parents, helped Ron and his wife launch Wood Castle. The family’s long experience in mill and lumber sales helped ease resource issues and the Loe family history of furniture making in Europe and America gave them the confidence needed to be successful.

Oak, oak and more oak

The first pieces were manufactured from oak, a species enjoying a big revival in the ’70s. The first collection, the Casion, was a big success and was widely imitated. Bookcases and bedroom pieces formed the bulk of the early years of production.

Sales, at first local, slowly expanded to regional retailers. Fast forward to today: Wood Castle now partners with networks of retailers across the U.S.

Key employees join Wood Castle

Frank Schoorl joined Wood Castle in 1984 and is manager of operations today, overseeing both design and production phases of retail collections and commercial custom projects.

Mike Alexander, company CFO today, joined in 1985. Mike is key not only to financial matters but also coordinates inventory management and product shipment/delivery.

With Ron and his wife Shirley, the four form a visionary management team for the company.

Phoenix rises from ashes

A devastating fire in April 1996 leveled the manufacturing facility in Albany. The Loes made the difficult decision to rebuild after weighing both monetary and stress costs that they would face. It turned out to be a wise decision.

An all-new factory building was designed and built in less than a year. Long-time vendors, local companies and the community all extended their understanding, their patience and their help.

Out of the ashes came the opportunity to rethink the layout and tooling of the new factory. Ron and Frank searched for the world’s best technologies for case good manufacturing.

A in-house, custom designed information system for bill of materials, inventory and production operations came on line in 2000, vastly improving the company’s management of production costs and efficiencies.

Today, Wood Castle Furniture remains strong even in today’s superheated competitive environment of offshore manufacturing. Ron Loe, since the beginning, remains passionate about building fine hardwood furniture and sharing it with the world.

How we do it

Hand-crafted still

After rebuilding Wood Castle’s factory following the fire loss in 1996, much thought, research and planning went into facility layout and new technologies. Handcrafted fine hardwood furniture was still the goal, while taking advantage of safer and more efficient tools.

Best tools, tolerances, strength

Our new manufacturing plant features world-class machinery, enabling precision milling and component accuracies to within one one-hundredth (0.01) of an inch. This accuracy, significantly improved over traditional tolerances, enables Wood Castle to engineer drawers interchangeable with others in the same – or even a different – case (chest, dresser, etc.).

A well-built drawer requires a stout case. Wood Castle, unlike most manufacturers, builds each case good around an internal “web frame.” Like a skeleton or cage, this frame provides remarkable strength to the overall case. Thus when moving a piece across the room – or across the country – the racking and twisting forces are greatly dampened.

Thus, Wood Castle drawers fit right for life. And they’re strong enough to take abuse of their own. Our drawer glides are rated at 125 pounds strength per drawer, far exceeding the normal weight capacity likely to be stored. But, wait, there’s more (as they say): A dust molding gussets the plywood bottom to the drawer box back. Further, the bottom piece is stapled and glued all around. A French, sliding dovetail secures the drawer front to the drawer box. In short, Wood Castle drawers are the simply the best and strongest in the world.

A great finish

Beautiful natural hardwoods deserve a beautiful, careful finish, not just to enhance the wonder and luster of grain but also to protect the furniture’s surface. Wood Castle employs “pre-catalyzed,” specially formulated lacquers in our multi-step finishing process. After careful hand sanding, two or more lacquer coats are sprayed on each piece, building a “cross-linked” finish that gives excellent resistance to moisture and mars. Our finishes require only minimal care. link to Care of Wood Castle Furniture

Delivered factory-fresh, no assembly required

Wood Castle’s trusted retail dealers receive our furniture in high-strength cardboard cartons. These cartons are wrapped and stapled around hardwood shipping pallets. Larger case goods, to facilitate dock loading and warehouse storage, feature four or more easy-roll castors.

Confident that our products are defect free, the retail store delivers Wood Castle furniture to the customer in these same shipping cartons. From factory to customer, our furniture needs no assembly (other than bed set up) and always arrives in the customer’s home factory-fresh. Few manufacturers (of any product) can boast Wood Castle’s low returns rate.

Great people teams

Building great hardwood furniture is always challenging. Wood Castle, like other manufacturers, is not immune to raw material cost increases, machine downtimes, and other factors. Organized around teams empowered to anticipate and adjust to change, Wood Castle is nimble within a framework of efficiency. Our on-time production is not by luck but by careful management and planning.

People: the first of four P’s

Our company brochure talks about the four P’s: “People, Products, Precision and Pride.” “People” is in first position for a good reason. Though competition, price hikes and interests rates, among other factors, can be significant challenges, we believe our continued success is largely controlled by us. We work each day to improve what we do and how we do it.

We are our future. Thus our management style is inclusive. We encourage employee feedback. We reward increased efficiency. We foster a team attitude and a positive concern for others. More important to our company is where we can go, not where we have been.

Our guarantee

Wood Castle’s fit and finish rivals that of fine European manufacturers. We’re so confident in our ability to produce durable quality heirloom furniture that we proudly state:

Wood Castle guarantees its furniture for the lifetime of the original purchaser under normal use. Wood Castle will repair or replace any item found to be defective in materials or workmanship. (See Warranty Guidelines.)