Timber / Wood Processing
Sawmilling and Kiln Drying
- Sawmilling converts logs or flitches into lumber, boards, or dimensions using a headrig such as the FPRDI portable horizontal bandsaw mill or Wood- Mizer. It consists of four basic operations: headsawing, resawing, edging and trimming. With its versatility, the Wood-Mizer performs headsawing, resawing and edging – functions normally done by separate machines (headsaw, resaw and edger). Trimming, on the other hand, is performed using a chainsaw.
- Lumber manufacture requires producing the highest volume of useful material of lumber from logs while satisfying the specifications and standards for grade, size and dimension.
- Kiln drying is the artificial drying of wood and non-wood forest products using the 1,000-board foot capacity FPRDI furnace-type lumber dryer and applying the appropriate drying schedule. This process reduces the raw material’s or product’s moisture content to the desired level. Moisture loss is measured by subsequent weighing of sample boards/products. The final moisture content is determined by oven drying method.
- Based on ASTM D143-09 (Standard Test Methods for Small Clear Specimens of Timber).
