by Web Editor | Sep 6, 2017 | News
Norbord is buying up wood burned by the Gustafsen wildfire. A local logging contractor, Rod Dillman, is the first to begin harvesting in the Gustafsen fire area, says Mike Kennedy, Woodlands Manager with Norbord in an email. He adds that there are some unique challenges logging burned wood.
“According to Rod, a primary challenge in logging the burned wood is the increased maintenance needed on his machines. There is a lot of ash dust which, even more than ‘normal’ dirt, tends to stick to surfaces and must be washed off rather than just wiped. It also makes it necessary to change air filters more frequently. Finally, carbon in the ash is hard on the knives used in the harvesting equipment. Rod also states that they are learning as they go, as this is the first time he has operated in such a large area of scorched timber.”
Kennedy says that luckily there are a few things that have moderated the effect of the fires on the trees, meaning most of the wood is still intact underneath the bark. “Certain species, for example, Douglas-fir with its thick bark, have evolved to withstand the effects of fire, which is a common natural event in the areas where it grows. Fire intensity was not uniform across the landscape, so in many places, trees were scorched on the bark only with minimal damage to the underlying wood. Entire trees are not necessarily affected, with more damage occurring in the bottom portion. It is often possible to buck this out with log processors at the roadside. Processing pressure can be increased to remove most of the severely burned bark or wood.”
They take pride in their adaptability to make the most of the fiber available and are very experienced using dry pine beetle killed wood, he says. “Norbord maintains the highest quality standards for our products and these standards are ensured through third-party certification by APA – The Engineered Wood Association. We have been able to use burned wood in the past.”
From 100 Mile Free Press: https://www.100milefreepress.net/news/norbord-starts-logging-burned-wood/
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 | Feb 3, 2017 | News
For centuries, wood was civilization’s primary construction material, but as the use of concrete, glass and steel grew, wood was largely relegated to flooring and interior paneling.
An exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington challenges that narrow use. It suggests that tomorrow’s buildings will or should be constructed of wood. The exhibition, “Timber City,” highlights the wide range of benefits offered by cutting-edge methods of timber construction, showing that wood is a modern, strong and versatile material.
The show highlights the two winners of the Tall Wood Building Prize, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “One in New York City and one in Portland, Oregon, are two premier cross-laminated (engineered, pre-fabricated) timber buildings going up right now,” said the exhibition’s curator, Susan Piedmont-Palladino. “They’re similar structures. Both buildings are using this material … in slightly different ways, but the goal is to build right in the middle of the city.”
And that’s what makes timber the perfect choice in a busy district like New York’s Manhattan, where construction speed and efficiency are vital. “Buildings go up very quickly. The materials for the building — the walls and the floors and the ceilings — are manufactured off-site. They come on a truck, pre-fabricated,” Piedmont-Palladino said. “So a work crew armed with power screwdrivers can basically assemble the building extremely quickly. There’s no long-term curing of concrete” needed.
Information panels in the exhibition explain that concrete manufacturing is the world’s third-largest source of greenhouse gases, and that harvesting timber — a renewable resource — has a lower environmental cost than mining the materials needed to make steel and concrete.
From VOANews.com: https://www.voanews.com/a/museum-cross-laminated-wood-building-material/3697202.html
