Wood turning company sold, new owners to expand markets
Photo / Flickr / Taryn Galbreath / MEDILL
The annual White House Easter Egg Roll attracts thousands of children and their parents to race their wooden, and custom, eggs from Wells Wood Turning and Finishing in Buckfield. The race here was in 2014. Some 100,000 eggs are used.
The new owners of Buckfield-based Wells Wood Turning and Finishing Inc., whose wooden Easter eggs have amused those attending White House holiday events, plan to expand markets and products at the 30-employee company.
Turning Acquisitions LLC bought the company from former owners Tom Wallace and Alan Chesney at the end of November under non-disclosed terms, according to Woodworking Network. Turning principals Christian Chandler and Simon Varney said they would run the company as Wells Wood Turning & Finishing in its existing location and with the employees intact.
Varney, the new vice president, said the former owners, "have done a fantastic job over the past dozen years, building a solid manufacturing operation with high-quality products and a very positive reputation in the marketplace."
“We have found acquirers dedicated to quality customer service, new business development and extending the reach of our products,” said Wallace, the former president of Wells.
Founded in 1985, Wells is known for its rolling pins as well as the multi-colored, collectible Easter eggs from the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The company also makes custom wooden table legs, tool handles, craft parts and mini-baseball bats.
Wells Wood Turning also has Forest Stewardship Council certification for the promotion of responsible forestry management.
The business of wood turning is a traditional Maine industry that in the late 1990s through 2009 was almost lost to lower-cost Chinese products, and only recently has made a comeback locally, Douglas Fletcher, president of Maine Wood Concepts in New Vineyard and a Mainebiz Next 2013 winner, told Mainebiz in a 2013 interview.
According to Fletcher, almost every town had a wood-turning factory in the 1970s, and now only three sizeable mills remain in Maine. They are his, Kingfield Wood Products, known for its music drum sticks, and Wells Wood Turning & Finishing.
Photo Credit: Flickr / Taryn Galbreath / MEDILL
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