Besse Veneers Incorporated, located in Trafalgar, Indiana (15 miles south of Indianapolis) was acquired in 1994 and became the sixth Forest Products Company owned and operated by the Besse family.

This 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility (formerly Hoosier Veneer Corporation) provides both Custom Cutting and production of sliced hardwood veneers such as Red Oak, White Oak, Cherry, Hickory, Pecan, Walnut, Ash and Birch.

Veneer logs are delivered by truck and rail to the mill and then cut into flitches using a circular sawmill. After the flitches are prepared, they are placed in one of seven steam heated water cooking vats. Each species has its own cooking schedule to ensure the veneers are produced properly. After cooking, the flitches are plain sliced, quarter sliced or true rift cut on one of their three Capital slicers. Besse Veneer's lathes have the capability to slice in thicknesses from 1/75th to 1/16th inch and in lengths up to 204".

After slicing, veneers are moisture conditioned in the Babcock Press Dryer, graded, and neatly stacked before packaging in individual flitch crates, unitized pallets. The mill also features a new CBT line where veneer is clipped, bundled, tied and electronically measured to the customer's specifications.

Besse Veneers excels in serving the specialized needs of the domestic and export markets.