In Europe and Asia one of the key products made by many flooring manufacturers is 2-Strip and 3-Strip Engineered Flooring. This commodity product is the European equivalent of 3/4" x 2-1/4" Strip Flooring manufactured in the US market. In Europe·these flooring strips or "blocks" are surfaced on all four sides, precision trimmed square-to-length, then slit into 4 or 5 top layer pieces that are subsequently glued to an engineered substrate.
The advantages Midwest brings to the flooring strip market are:
| Volume | Competitive manufacturers might make 1 - 2 containers per month of strips and are subject to lumber thickness variances as they are supplied by multiple manufacturers, Midwest makes 8-12 containers per month. |
| European Thickness | 2-3 strip manufacturers are use to a 30 mm green thickness in their White Oak strips and have been unable to find this in North American sourced products, this is important as often times manufacturers find when using North American species they only get 4 top layers due to thinner input |
| Dryness and Steaming Consistency | Midwest owns the sawmills, dry kilns and chopping facilities products sourced from Midwest in consistent load to load, year to year. |
| Custom Length Mixes | The volumes Midwest Hardwood manufacturers we can easily accommodate custom lengths and specific percentage flooring strip orders without extended order fulfillment times· |
Comparison of Strip Manufacturing Methods
| Attribute | European Sawing Method | American Sawing Method | Midwest Hardwood Sawing Method |
| Full 26mm Thickness | YES | NO (varies as buying from assorted sawmills yields varying thicknesses. USA 1”=25.4mm) | YES |
| Full 70/76mm Width | YES | YES | YES |
| High % of Sap | YES (40-50% estimate) | NO (#2 Com 15-20%) | NO (0-10%) |
| Sap Orientation | Vertical | Horizontal | Horizontal when available |
| Mixed Rift/Quartered | YES (20-40% estimate) | NO (nearly all flat sawn) | YES (20-40% estimate) |
| Availability | Custom sawing (would require buyer to take all the lumber from each log) | Low/Varied (From small chop shops with limited cash to buy necessary lumber) | Very good (10+ containers/month) |
| Price | High (+50-60% above current market as more of the log would go to strips) | Low (subject to rapidly increasing #2 Com prices, will confirmed orders ship??) | Moderate (competitive with #2 Com when shipping reliability is factored into cost) |
