Lumber Slingers

About Lumber Slingers

Lumber Slingers is the podcast for everyone in the wood products world, from the trading floor to the mill floor. We bring the industry intel you usually only get behind closed doors, and we make it a good time.

Publisher

Chelsea Zuccato & Natalie Heacock

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

31 Jul 2019

Latest episode

26 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

155 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Oct 2026

   156. Bots and Boards: The AIs Are Coming

   Bots and Boards kicks off with the man who was warning everyone about AI back when nobody wanted to hear it. Charles Jennings, author of Artificial Intelligence: Rise of the Light Speed Learners and former CEO of NeuralEye, joins Natalie and Chelsea to explain what AI really is, why researchers call it a black box inside a black box, and what “math cookies” have to do with training it. He also lays out a plan overseas aimed squarely at wood products that the industry should be watching. Then the practical stuff: whether the doomers have a point, how to get a skeptical company to use AI without trying to boil the ocean, and the question everyone’s asking at dinner, whether AI can ever be conscious. He even splits his own firewood, so he counts as one of us. Like and subscribe so you don’t miss parts two and three, and reach out anytime at lumberslingers@gmail.com.

2. 

   23 Oct 2026

   155. Two Pods, One Booth: The Lumber Word Crashes Lumber Slingers

   Two lumber podcasts walk into a newswire. Ashley Boeckholt of The Lumber Word joins Natalie, Chelsea, and Trent to announce something big for the 30th NAWLA Traders Market in Anaheim. Ashley was at the very first Traders Market, and he has stories: wild cab rides, protesters, and the tech booths hidden in a corner. Trent then runs the week’s news. There’s an acquisition with a confusing name, Canada’s first robotic roof truss line (Natalie disappears to find the video), a sawmill expansion, and what we’re officially calling CFO Appointment Season. Ashley also gets his first taste of the headshot rating panel. Plus diesel pain, Oregon’s pump-your-own-gas era, an unexpected Bucky’s fan club, and where mortgages and lumber landed this week. Find The Lumber Word on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. If you liked this one, like and subscribe, and send us your questions or thoughts at lumberslingers@gmail.com.

3. 

   21 Oct 2026

   154. Bark to Basics: Valon Kone on Why Debarking Matters

   This episode is sponsored by Valon Kone. Natalie and Chelsea go international with Sebastien, Teemu and Shanna of Valon Kone, the Finnish family company that went from hand-peeling logs after World War II to running debarkers in sawmills around the world. We get into why bark is a bigger deal for your chips and your saws than most people think, how you fit a debarker into a shipping container, and what a mill manager with a thirty-year-old machine is really signing up for. Plus where cameras and AI are headed on the mill floor, the species debarkers love and the ones they hate.. Like and subscribe, and send your questions to lumberslingers@gmail.com. More information on Valon Kone? Visit: www.valonkone.com

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

11,353

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 63 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

68

Social presence

0

YouTube

72

Engagement

71

Contact Lumber Slingers

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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• 

  The Lumber Word

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  The Joe Rogan Experience

Questions about Lumber Slingers