by Web Editor | Nov 15, 2018 | News
Dying, deformed and diseased trees will be key ingredients of particleboard manufactured at the new Arauco panel mill in northern Michigan.
“All of these degraded trees need to be removed to better manage our forests,” said Scott Robbins, director of the Michigan Sustainable Forestry Initiative implementation and forest policy for the Michigan Forest Products Council (MFPC). “The Arauco mill is going to source these types of trees to make their product. It’s always good to get rid of the bad trees so you can grow more good trees.”
Randy Keen, wood procurement manager for the Grayling mill, said the current plan is to use 60 percent roundwood and 40 percent clean sawmill chips and other lumber processing byproducts.
“There are not enough sawmills in this area to run a mill this size so that’s why we have to use a combination of pulpwood and mill residuals,” he said. “The main species used will be pine, fir and spruce softwoods, but mixed hardwood species, mainly maple and beech, will be used as well. In the case of pulpwood, we’ll be using the very top of the tree that typically gets left in the woods after the log material is removed. These are small diameter logs that are not suitable for anything else.”
“We believe in the highest and best use of the tree,” Keen said. “If there is a saw log in the tree, we want it to go to a sawmill. By using the stuff that is crooked or has a little bit of rot in it to make our particleboard, we help use the whole tree and help clean the forest for the next generation of trees.”
Read more on this from Woodworking Network at https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/new-arauco-michigan-mill-convert-low-grade-wood-quality-particleboard/
by Web Editor | Dec 4, 2017 | News
Congress Gears Up For A Fight Over Mass Timber Legislation
The battle over the 2017 Timber Innovation Act is gaining momentum in Washington, D.C., where two new Senate sponsors and four new Congress members have signed on to it since this past May. The pending legislation would provide funding for research into innovative wood materials and mass timber structures above 85 feet. The bill’s proponents are hoping that it will be an impetus for transforming cities and towns across the country with a bevy of mid-rise and high-rise mass timber buildings.
“I am very impressed with the large cross-aisle support,” Chadwick Oliver, director of Yale University’s Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, said. “You have Bruce Westerman, a Republican congressman from Arkansas and Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon who has been on the side of environmental groups. This looks like a bill that is quite serious about moving forward.”
However, the concrete and steel industries are vigorously lobbying to derail the legislation, and have established a website called Build with Strength that contains a detailed critique of the new generation of wood buildings. “It is a piece of legislation that props up one industry over another and we think that it is misguided and dangerous,” Kevin Lawlor, a spokesperson from Build with Strength, said. “We don’t think that it is safe in three-to-five story buildings, and we don’t think that it is safer in taller buildings.”
The wood products industry, the U.S. Forest Service, and other advocates claim that technological advances make the new generation of tall timber buildings more fire resistant. In fact, according to Dr. Patricia A. Layton, director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute at Clemson University, that is because of the way it chars in a fire: By insulating its interior, an exposed wood beam can actually be structurally stronger than a steel one. “Steel loses its strength at a lower temperature than does wood,” she explained. “If you expose concrete or steel it is combustible, and it does feel the effects of fire.”
Many of the act’s supporters say that allowing buildings to be built from wood technologies such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) will result in a host of economic and environmental benefits. Most of the Timber Innovation Act’s sponsors hail from states where the wood industry is struggling to recoup from the recent housing downturn and also suffering from the decrease in demand for paper that is a result of the increasing digitalization of the economy.
From The Architects Newspaper: archpaper.com
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by Web Editor | Feb 24, 2017 | News
Hall 26 will once again be home to the Wood Industry Summit during Ligna 2017 in Hannover, Germany and Hatton-Brown Publishers is once again an official partner of the event. Hatton-Brown Publishers is affiliated with Panel World, Timber Processing and Wood Bioenergy magazines.
The Summit made a very successful debut in 2015, with international customers achieving an investment volume of some €30 million. As an international meeting place for the primary industry cluster, the Wood Industry Summit features innovative solutions for harvesting and processing and for integrating the various stages of processing.
The Summit is divided into three areas: an exhibition, a forum and a matchmaking hub. Every day from Tuesday, May 23, to Friday, May 26, the forum of the Wood Industry Summit will highlight a topic of current international interest in the industry, with experts from Germany, Austria, Canada, Russia, Sweden and Spain giving presentations and fielding questions from the audience.
The main themes at the Wood Industry Summit 2017 include:
Tuesday, May 23: Forestry 4.0: Vision or Future?
Wednesday, May 24: Development and Infrastructure to Ensure Sustainable Forestry
Thursday, May 25: Forest Fires – Prevention, Detection and Firefighting
Friday, May 26: Fleet Management to Optimize the Logistics Chain from the Forest to the Factory
Exhibition stands located next to the forum will provide an ideal networking environment for exhibitors and visitors. Panel discussions, keynote speeches and the accompanying exhibition will ensure that the 2017 edition of the Wood Industry Summit is once again a major highlight in the primary processing industry’s annual calendar.
Forum participation is free of charge for visitors and delegations, and advance registration is not required.
Ligna will be held May 22-26 at the Hannover Exhibition Grounds. It’s organized by Deutsche Messe AG and German Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers’ Association.
Contact Anja Brokjans, anja@brokjans.com.
by Web Editor | Apr 17, 2015 | News
The American Wood Council has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct research on the fire performance of mass timber buildings. AWC will partner with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Fire Protection Research Foundation and the Property Insurance Research Group.
The AWC proposal is intended to advance the construction of taller wood buildings in the United States by demonstrating the fire performance of newer mass timber products. Over the last several years, tall wood buildings have been completed around the world using this new technology – including a 9-story building in London, 10-story in Prince George, Canada, and 14-story building now under construction in Bergen, Norway. These buildings have consistently demonstrated the successful application of mass timber technologies.
“Findings from this project will inform the building community and the insurance industry, providing an increased level of confidence in both the adequacy of this new construction type and when setting fire insurance premiums. This is a new method of construction to insurers, and in order to provide reasonable insurance coverage, they need to understand the performance of the material,” said AWC Vice President of Codes & Regulations Kenneth Bland. Increased use of wood in building construction also holds great promise for improved environmental impacts.
“Innovative mass timber wood products encourage sustainable forestry and capture large amounts of carbon, thereby reducing greenhouse emissions through both sequestration and the substitution of wood for more carbon-intensive products. The construction of tall wood buildings would put America at the forefront of an emerging global opportunity,” said AWC President & CEO Robert Glowinski.
When announcing the USDA 2015 Wood Innovations grant recipients, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Working with our partners, the Forest Service is promoting deployment of new technologies, designed to support new market opportunities for wood energy and innovative wood building materials.”
From the American Wood Council: https://www.awc.org/NewsReleases/2015/newsreleases2015.php#20150415
by Web Editor | Feb 24, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Martco L.L.C. announced the selection of Corrigan, Texas as the location for a new, state-of-the-art oriented strandboard (OSB) facility. The facility is expected to employ 165. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, with startup anticipated by fall 2017. Corrigan OSB, L.L.C. will complement Martco L.L.C.’s existing wood products manufacturing plants in Oakdale, La. (OSB); Chopin, La. (plywood); and Mexia, Ala. (lumber and timbers).
According to Martin Companies, L.L.C. Chairman and CEO Jonathan Martin, “Ever since my grandfather started out in the wood product industry more than 90 years ago, our family has taken pride in utilizing raw materials to the fullest extent possible. This business model has led to Martco’s growth as a leading supplier in the wood products industry. The timing is right for us to position ourselves to more effectively meet the increasing demand for building products into the foreseeable future.”
“We believe that East Texans have a tremendous amount of community passion, experience and knowledge, and we look forward to becoming a proactive community partner,” adds Roy O. Martin III, president. “Martco will extend its philosophy of being ‘employer of choice’ and ‘vendor of choice’ to this region, while maintaining the stability of a well-established, family-owned, professionally managed company committed to its stakeholders.”
Martco’s commitment to this region reaches beyond its future workforce. Senior Vice President and COO Scott Poole explains, “We look forward to extending our pride and dedication to sustainable forestry practices through additional foresters and loggers. With this expansion, we will continue to be good stewards of our forests, while delivering a full line of wood products across the country and world.”
Based in Alexandria, La., Martco L.L.C.’s existing manufacturing facilities employ 1,100. All of Martco L.L.C.’s wood products are available Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
