Deumling says of the white oak’s poor reputation. “So we built our own sawmill and millwork operation to capitalize on that value that we had in our forest.” Zena Forest Products has produced flooring of Oregon white oak since the aughts. Of particular interest to Deumling are young specimens of the tree around 5 to 7 feet in diameter. He reached out to ZGF Architects, lead designers of the airport terminal project, with an idea to produce an edge-grain panel using small pieces of young Oregon oak. Deumling knew similar products existed in Europe, and ZGF connected Deumling with German manufacturer Schroeder, which helped Zena develop a production line for manufacturing edge-grain panels in the U.S. Zena’s hardwood flooring panels will be featured front and center in high-traffic areas of the terminal. Many of the trees that make up those panels were hand-selected by Deumling’s mother, Sarah, whom Oregon Business profiled in 2021 as she and other private forest owners registered a plan to re-assess the state severance tax, which would have been costly to small owners. PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Production of flooring tiles above, and finished products below Ben Deumling is giddy over the impending opening of the new PDX terminal. Fortunately, he has an idea how his product will perform, at least for the first three years. Three years ago, ZGF installed a section of Zena edge-grain panels under a TSA security checkpoint experiencing heavy daily use. “It’s doing awesome,” he says of the panels. “I mean, they’re doing really great.” — Garrett Andrews 41
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